Mobile field controller for measurement and remote control

• US 9,377,301 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2014
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hexagon Technology Center GmbH (Hexagon AB)
• Original Assignee: Hexagon Technology Center GmbH (Hexagon AB)
• Inventors: Neier, Gunnar, Metzler, Bernhard
• Primary Examiner(s): RATCLIFFE, LUKE D
• Application Number:
  US14/175,825
• Publication Number:
  US 20140247439A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: 356 301- 515
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/002 Active optical surveying means optical plumbing G01C15/105
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 3/06 Use of electric means to obtain final indication
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/42 Simultaneous measurement of distance and other co-ordinates indirect measurement G01S17/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/66 Tracking systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/86 Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/87 Combinations of systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/782 Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations

Abstract

A mobile field controller, together with a geodetic surveying device, forms a one-person measurement system for geodetic position determination. The field controller allows the spatial orientation of the field controller to be determined. The field controller supports a geodetic target object and has a distance-measuring unit that measures the distance between the field controller and a target point, the distance being optically marked by the field controller, as a result of which a 3D point cloud is generated without physical contact to a target point. When surveying a specific terrain region, algorithms analyzing the 3D point cloud are saved in a control and evaluation unit of the field controller. The absolute position of the target point is calculated from the data of the spatial orientation of the field controller, the distance between field controller and target point and the absolute position of the geodetic target object.

Claims

1. A mobile field controller for measurement and remote control, configured in such a way that it forms a system for coordinative geodetic determination of the position of target points together with a remote controllable geodetic surveying device having distance and direction measurement functionality, the field controller comprising:

a control and evaluation unit with an electronic display for controlling the surveying device remotely and for evaluating and/or transmitting measurement data;

a housing that can be hand-held coupled with the control and evaluation unit;

a geodetic target object supported by the housing, an absolute target position of which can be determined by the surveying device by means of a direction-based and laser beam-based distance measurement; and

a distance-measuring unit for determining the distance between the field controller and at least one target point without contacting the ground, wherein the at least one target point is optically marked by means of the field controller,

wherein;

a spatial orientation of the field controller can be determined;

the geodetic target object and the distance-measuring unit are in a defined spatial reference relationship to an internal reference system of the field controller, and

an absolute position of the target point is calculated from the absolute position of the geodetic target object by means of the determined spatial orientation of the field controller and the determined distance between the field controller and the target point.

2. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the control and evaluation unit is configured to;

register measurement data for determining the spatial orientation of the field controller; and

partly or wholly evaluate the target position of the geodetic target object and the distance between the field controller and the at least one target point.

3. The field controller according to claim 2 wherein:

the absolute position of the at least one target point is calculated from the measurement data;

the absolute position of the at least one target point is stored and made available to the user by means of an output means of the field controller; and

the position data and/or measurement data can be transmitted to external devices.

4. The field controller according to claim 1 wherein:

the distance-measuring unit comprises an electrooptic or an electroacoustic distance measuring unit.

5. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the field controller has an inclination sensor and/or an accelerometer configured to determine;

at least one alignment angle of the spatial orientation of the field controller;

or

changes of at least one alignment angle about at least one axis of the spatial orientation of the field controller.

6. The field controller according to claim 1, further comprising:

a unit that can be sighted optically by the surveying device and is configured to be used by the surveying device or the field controller to determine an alignment angle about at least one axis of the spatial orientation of the field.

7. The field controller according to claim 1, further comprising:

a unit that determines a direction of incidence of a laser beam emitted by the surveying device.

8. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the geodetic target object is a retro-reflective prism reflector; and

the field controller has an attachment of a defined length, by means of which the prism reflector is supported by the housing.

9. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the distance-measuring unit is embodied as a laser rangefinder, with a laser source for emitting optically visible laser light.

10. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the distance-measuring unit has;

a drive unit, which can be guided in a manual or automated manner, for one-axis or two-axes alignment of the measuring direction; and

means for determining the measuring direction relative to a zero axis.

11. The field controller according to claim 1, further comprising:

a digital camera that records a digital image of a target point terrain region, which is displayed to the user on the electronic display.

12. The field controller according to claim 11, wherein:

the electronic display is a touch-sensitive display; and

at least one target point is selected in a manual or automated manner for determining the position or marking by means of the digital image.

13. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the distance-measuring unit and the control and evaluation unit are configured to register multiple terrain points within a specific contiguous region in the case of a respectively known or synchronously determined measuring direction;

the obtained data are stored as 3D point cloud, wherein the distance-measuring unit is included in at least one of;

a laser scanner;

a range image camera;

a stereo camera;

or

a light-structure 3D scanner.

14. The field controller according to claim 13, wherein:

the 3D data are visualized on the electronic display and at least one point is selected in a manual or automated manner.

15. The field controller according to claim 11, wherein:

algorithms are saved to the control and evaluation unit, wherein the algorithms, when executed;

perform an analysis of the digital image and/or of a 3D point cloud in respect of specific geometric properties, to automatically find and/or fit geometric forms;

identify or derive, from the analyzed geometric properties, one or more points serving to identify a target point;

superimposing the analyzed geometric properties and identified or derived points onto the digital image or onto the visualized 3D point cloud on the electronic display; and

performing at least one of;

adopting position data of the identified or derived points directly from the measurement data underlying the 3D point cloud;

establishing the position data by calculating points of intersection of the fitted geometric forms; and

performing a target point distance measurement on the basis of the target point identification.

16. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the control and evaluation unit calculates the absolute position of points of a 3D point cloud from the determined spatial orientation of the field controller, from the target position of the geodetic target object and from position data of the 3D point cloud.

17. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the housing has a joint that can be rotated in one or two planes within a specific angular range and to which the target object is fastened, wherein the joint has one or more absolute or incremental position sensors for measuring the at least one alignment angle relative to a zero axis.

18. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the housing and the reflector or the attachment has fasteners in such a way that reflector or attachment are replaceable; and

the attachment has an encoding that establishes the length of the attachment, such that the spatial reference relationship of the reflector to the reference point of the field controller is established automatically by the control and evaluation unit.

19. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the control and evaluation unit is configured in such a way that determining the position of at least one target point can be carried out completely from the location of a target point, the control and evaluation unit having a trigger unit, by means of which synchronized measurements of the target position of the geodetic target object, the distance between field controller and target point and the spatial orientation of the field controller can be initialized.

20. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the control and evaluation unit is configured in such a way that measurements of the target position of the geodetic target object, the distance between field controller and target point and the spatial orientation of the field controller in respect of a target point are performed a number of times during a measurement process and the absolute target point position emerges from the mean values of the individual measurements or as mean value of the plurality of absolute target point coordinates.

21. The field controller according to claim 1, wherein:

the field controller and the geodetic surveying device have synchronized GNSS-based, clocks, on the basis of which individual measurement data can be marked in terms of time.

22. A measurement system for geodetic position determination comprising:

a field controller according to claim 1;

a remote controllable geodetic surveying device having distance and direction measurement functionality, including angle measurement functionality, wherein the following can be performed in a synchronized or continuous/periodic manner;

determination of the spatial orientation of the field controller relative to the absolute external reference system by means of the field controller and/or the surveying device;

absolute determination of the position of the geodetic target object of the field controller by the surveying device, wherein the surveying device automatically targets the most expediently aligned target object in the case of a field controller having a plurality of target objects; and

determination of the position of a geodetic target point relative to a field controller-internal reference system by the field controller,

wherein the control and evaluation unit of the field controller calculates the absolute target point coordinates.