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Developments in Total
Stations
Recent developments in Total Stations have
included a range of new features and
developments that have taken us to where
we are today.

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Developments in Total
Stations
Some of these developments will now be
examined and include:
Development
of
Electronic
Angle
Measurement
Axis compensation
Motorisation and robotics
Developments in onboard software
Storage media and memory management
Developments in onboard software

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Traditional system of angle measurement
required the use of micrometers to read and
interpolate the inscribed glass plate of theodolite.
theodolite.
The reading involved a number of possible errors
including:
Initial pointing error to the target
Reading error of reading and interpolating the
angle between the divisions
Transcription errors

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
To a large extent the last two errors (Reading and
transcription error) have been eliminated.
Electronic Angle Measurement is now generally
completed by one of two techniques:
Incremental
Incremental Measurement, or
Absolute Measurement

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Incremental Measurement Technique
Incremental Measurement Technique
Glass plate coded with black and clear intervals
eg 1024 intervals
Light is passed through plate and detected by
photo diodes (light detectors).
Photo diodes convert light to electronic reading
(count).

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Incremental Measurement Technique

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Incremental Measurement Technique (cont)
As total station rotates the number of intervals
are counted and converted into an angle. One
photo diode is fixed at a zero mark and the other
moves with the total station. Number of intervals
between the fixed and moveable photo diodes are
determined.
Whole number of intervals (n) is counted and the
partial division is determined by measuring the
phase angle

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Absolute Measurement Technique
glass plate divided up into a number of
graduations Eg for T1010 circle has 1152
graduations and each graduation has 128
sectors, each sector is binary encoded eg
0000000 to 111111.
Light Emitting Diode (LED) passes through circle
and detected on photo diode array. Angle is
measured in two parts: determining the sector
and then the part of the sectors.

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Absolute Measurement Technique (cont)
So rather than counting the intervals the angle is
measured directly from the graduations.
The
photo diode moves around in the case of the
horizontal circle and remains fixed for the vertical
circle.

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Axis Compensation
All new total stations have automatic axis
compensation to correct for errors in tilt in the
horizontal and vertical axes.
Conventional systems used a plate bubble for the
horizontal levelling and a pendulum sensor for
the vertical axis compensator.
Electronic tilt sensors are usually liquid type
compensation systems with either:
Magnetic detection or
Photodiode detection

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Axis Compensation (Magnetic Detection)
the movement of the liquid in the sensor is
measured by the magnetic measurement of
electronic coils. A voltage differential determines
the position of the fluid.

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Axis Compensation
(photo diode detection method)
the level is sensed and detected by passing light
from an LED through the level vial. Transmitted
light is detected with the amount of incident light
indicating the varying as a result of the position
of the liquid.

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Axis Compensation
(photo diode detection method)

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Single Axis Compensation
Corrects for
the tilt in the
vertical axis.

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Dual Axis Compensation
Dual Axis compensation corrects for the
inclination of the vertical axis not only in the
direction of pointing but in the direction of the
trunion axis. Tilt in the trunion axis produces
errors in horizontal angles particularly in steep
vertical sights.

An error of 60
60 results in errors of 11
11 at 10
10 and
72
72 at 50
50.

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Dual Axis Compensation

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Motorised Total Stations
Motorised systems are characterised by:
Horizontal and vertical servo motor
Motors operate at high (course) and slow (fine)
speeds
No tangent screws required
Very good for setout of points
Price approx $12$12-$16K

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Self Tracking Total Station
The self tracking systems allow the automatic tracking of a
prism.
The systems is characterised by:
Basic motorised system plus
Laser tracking system parallel to lens system
Track at high speeds
Automatic search routine when lock is lost
Focus not required
Faster and more accurate then human pointing
Can operate at night or low light conditions
Inbuilt communications to indicate that system is
reading
Approx cost $17$17-$25K

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Robotic System
Robotic system is the next step up from
the self tracking system and includes all
the features of a self tracking system
plus:
Robotic software
Telemetry link
Remote control unit with key pad
entry
Requires only one person
Surveyor may require assistance
when placing pegs
Approx cost $30 -$40K

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Reflectorless Total Stations
Developed to allow measurement to
virtually any surface without the need
to utilise a prism.
Charcterised by:
Measure approx 80m w/o prism
Measure buildings and structures
with one person eg tunnel profiling
+/+/- 3mm
limited by surface reflectance and
light conditions

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Developments in Electronic Angle

Measurement
Reflectorless Total Stations
Developed to allow measurement to virtually any
surface without the need to utilise a prism.
Charcterised by:
Measure approx 80m w/o prism
Measure buildings and structures with one
person eg tunnel profiling
+/+/- 3mm
limited by surface reflectance and light
conditions