Transmitters

Receivers

Space Station Software

The set up of the transmitters can be very quick and imprecise. The transmitters can be set up at unknown points with the face plate generally aimed at the site. This can be thought of as setting up a spotlight which is generally aimed at the site to be illuminated. However, the energy source is infra-red which will allow only receivers to "see' the "light". The site would require several known points to be established within the area of the site to be used to back-calculate the position of the transmitters.

The receiver is comprised of a computer and screen, two optical lenses mounted on a pole, a battery which is mounted on the pole, and a data entry retrieval system. The two optical lenses form a line. The position of the lenses and the known geometry of the pole allow the point position definition to be projected to the end of the pole. Therefore, the position of any point that the user touches with the device is accurately and "instantly" captured. Note that the position of the pole does not change if the pole is slanted, rotated, upside down or sideways. The system can be directly linked to CAD and the receiver becomes a three dimensional cursor within the CAD environment.

The system will work indoors, outdoors, under obstacles, in urban environments, under water, on land, in the dark and in space. Also it is not affected by changes in temperature or humidity nor by human sighting error. This greatly reduces human error prevalent in current measurement techniques. In other words the implementation of this system can result in higher productivity, better quality, less rework and improved safety.

It is expected that the system will work in many markets alongside current measurement equipment as an added tool in the overall measurement toolkit. These other market segments include: measurement for object placement and as-built creation, control of equipment, robotics or remotely operated vehicle control and, modeling of surfaces.