reporter 64
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Leica Geosystems Reporter Issue 64TRANSCRIPT
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems
64
2 | Reporter
Dear Readers,
In June, for the first time ever, Leica Geosystems and
all its Hexagon partner companies will be holding
an international conference: “Hexagon 2011” will be
held in Orlando, Florida, from 6. – 9. June. Customers
and visitors will gain insights into projects, products,
and solutions of Leica Geosystems and many other
well-known brands such as Erdas, Intergraph, Z/I
Imaging, and Hexagon Metrology. We expect more
than 2,000 users to come see industry trends, learn
about using our solutions, join training sessions, test
new products, and grow their network under the
motto “Building a smarter world”.
This edition of Reporter highlights just how our
customers already put this motto into practice and
shape our world: the expansion of the Panama Canal,
one of the greatest civil engineering projects ever
undertaken, and scientific research on the Swiss
Macun glacier are just two such examples. Our cus-
tomers show us how they assist emergency man-
agement efforts in the articles about the red mud
disaster in Hungary, the flooding in Australia, and the
power station accident in Russia. On the other side
are those more enjoyable applications that help pre-
serve our cultural and historical heritage for coming
generations, such as work at the Piusa caves, shown
on the cover, and on “Mighty Mo”, the decommis-
sioned battleship USS Missouri.
As you can see, together with our customers – who
continue to share their interesting projects with us
and send in their contributions – we’ve once again
put together a Reporter packed with fascinating
applications and creative solutions. I hope you enjoy
reading it and I look forward to seeing you in Orlando
in June.
Juergen Dold
CEO Leica Geosystems
Editorial
Imprint
Reporter: Leica Geosystems customer magazine
Published by: Leica Geosystems AG, CH-9435 Heerbrugg
Editorial office: Leica Geosystems AG,
9435 Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Phone +41 71 727 34 08,
Contents responsible: Alessandra Doëll
(Director Communications)
Editor: Agnes Zeiner, Konrad Saal
Publication details: The Reporter is published in English,
German, French, Spanish and Russian, twice a year.
Reprints and translations, including excerpts, are subject to
the editor’s prior permission in writing.
© Leica Geosystems AG, Heerbrugg (Switzerland),
May 2011. Printed in Switzerland
CO
NTEN
TS Mighty Mo's Last Journey
Virtual Caves
Corn Field Mazewith GPS Accuracy
Winning Partnership with Leica SmartNet
A Tropical GNSS Network
Building the Canalof the 21st Century
Leica TS30 Measures Lifting Cranes
Scanning of Swiss Rock Glacier
Rapid Help for Flood Victims
Floating Masterpieces
Accident Investigationat Russian Power Station
The Red Flood
Precision for Space Tourists
Leica Geosystems SupportsMongolian Mining Research
03
06
08
10
13
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
31
>>
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 3
by Mark Evangelista
When the USS Missouri was decommissioned
on March 31st, 1992, the 887-foot-long Iowa-
class battleship looked tired. Her worn and
pitted teak deck had supported thousands of
naval officers and their crews. The 1998 trans-
fer of “Mighty Mo” to the nonprofit USS Mis-
souri Memorial Association of Honolulu, Hawaii,
spawned a new career for the historic battle-
ship as a World War II museum next to the USS
Arizona on Pearl Harbor’s Battleship Row. But
the directors had an even bigger vision in mind
– one that involved repairing and preserving the
battleship for generations to come.
That vision was realized in October 2009, when the
Missouri was moved to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard’s
largest dry-dock facility for a three-month preserva-
tion project. “Having the Battleship Missouri in dry
dock provided a unique opportunity to completely
scan the ship while it was out of the water,” said
Michael A. Carr, president and CEO of the USS Mis-
souri Memorial Association. “It was an opportunity
we will not see again for decades and certainly one
we did not want to miss.”
A month before the preservation project began, Carr
and other association directors met Richard Lasater,
president of Smart GeoMetrics, a division of Hous-
ton-based Smart MultiMedia, at the Historic Naval
Mighty Mo's Last Journey
4 | Reporter
Ships Association conference in Alabama. The laser-
scanning firm had captured portions of the interior
of another historic battleship, the USS Texas BB-35,
earlier in the year, and Lasater was eager to demon-
strate the results.
After seeing the photographic panoramas and
video flythroughs, the association directors were
impressed. The technology offered the potential to
improve the overall visitor experience at the muse-
um. If they didn’t act then, they probably wouldn’t
have the chance in the future.
“There is no way to complete an accurate scan of
an entire ship while it is in the water,” Lasater said.
“Not only is it impossible to image areas below the
waterline, even on a calm day, the tiniest movements
of the water and ship degrade scan accuracy.”
The budget for the preservation project was already
set, but the association directors decided they had
to make the documentation project work. Through
an extraordinary amount of teamwork, the project
was funded at a level that was acceptable to all par-
ticipants, and Smart GeoMetrics began honing its
strategy.
Fast-Tracked Documentation
The documentation effort would be the last part of
the preservation project before the Missouri was
returned to her home on Battleship Row. Smart Geo-
Metrics and its team would have a four-day window
to scan the vessel after scaffolding and protective
covers were removed. The massive endeavor would
require three scanning crews, each equipped with a
Leica HDS laser scanner, to complete the project. A
fourth additional crew was assigned to create and
maintain the survey control network. “The Missouri
is a very, very big ship, and we only had four days
to complete an estimated 14 days worth of work
among an army of shipyard workers,” Lasater said.
“The ship’s location in Hawaii also made logistics a
bit challenging.”
However, Smart GeoMetrics was up for the task. The
firm quickly assembled a team of HDS professionals
A Lasting Legacy
The battleship scans generated billions of data
points that the team began processing into point
clouds, CAD drawings, and 3D models immediate-
ly afterwards. The team also decided to take the
deliverables one step further by adding holograms;
a capability provided by Austin, Texas based Zebra
Imaging. It was the first time holograms would com-
prise part of an archival record.
The results of the entire documentation project will
be used by the USS Missouri Memorial Association as
a historical record and for ongoing maintenance and
educational purposes.
Find out more about Mighty Mo on the USS Missouri
Association’s website at www.ussmissouri.com.
About the author:
Mark Evangelista is a freelance writer based in Hous-
ton, Texas.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 5
from Meridian Associates in Houston and As-Built
Modeling Services Inc. in nearby Pearland, Texas,
with Houston based Mustang Engineering Inc. pro-
viding special assistance.
The team arrived on site and established a control
network of more than 400 points. Crews then cap-
tured scans at 160 locations on and around the
ship’s exterior and took thousands of photographs
– 5,400 in all.
“The documentation teams were really moving fast
on this project, and not all of the ship was accessible
at the same time,” said Jonathan White, a senior proj-
ect manager for Meridian, who headed up one of the
scan crews. “We were working in and around dock-
yard preparations to return the ship to sea.”
The day before the USS Missouri was scheduled to
leave dry dock the scanning and photography work
was finished. The team then turned their attention
to the value side of the project – turning data into
deliverables.
6 | Reporter
Virtual Cavesby Lauri Põldre
The Piusa caves are a system of unique sand-
stone caves located in south-eastern Estonia
only a few miles from the Russian border. The
caves are the result of manual mining of glass-
sand during 1922 – 1966 and represent a sys-
tem of underground galleries with sandstone
columns and vaulted ceilings up to 10 m (30 ft)
high. Since 2006 the caves have been closed to
the public for safety reasons and only a small,
secure part can be accessed today. 3D Technolo-
gies R&D scanned the caves and created the vir-
tual caves provided at the visitor center using
new interactive technology.
The Piusa caves have become an important tourist
attraction, so the local government decided to find
a new way to preserve the caves. Furthermore, the
caves are occupied by five species of hibernating
bats. Since they became legally protected in Estonia,
they have been counted there regularly. 3D Tech-
nologies R&D, a company based in Tallinn, Estonia,
provides applications for presenting objects using
interactive 3D technology. The company has created
a solution to introduce a virtual cave system as a
three-dimensional model on a touch screen kiosk.
Before the caves were finally closed, the company
was contracted to enter them for a one-off survey.
Scanning a 20 km (12.4 mi) Tunnel
in three Days
A laser scanner had to be used to create the most
accurate three-dimensional model of the caves. Since
the caves consist of pillars they had to be scanned
one by one to reach every little corner. Compared
to conventional surveying methods the scanning of
the caves offered some unique challenges. What
made the scanning process difficult was the com-
plete darkness and low temperatures in the caves
– it remains around 5 °C (40 °F) all year round. How-
ever, scanning with a Leica HDS3000 only took three
days to complete.
After on-site scanning the point clouds were geore-
ferenced, processed, and converted to a mesh. The
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 7
point cloud was then used to create a 3D model of the
Piusa caves. In addition to the scanning, high resolu-
tion photos were taken of the caves. The point cloud
was cleaned, simplified, and triangulated before the
data was imported into the modeling software. This
tool transformed the photos so they could be draped
onto the 3D model and textures could be added.
The original and detailed 3D model was processed
with Normal Map, which brings out inscriptions and
roughness of the walls.
Interactive Real-Time 3D Model for Visitors
The caves are presented as an interactive, real-time
3D model where visitors can move around in a vir-
tual environment using a 32” touch screen. The walls
of the caves, the sandstone colors, and even the
minutest details, such as inscriptions on the sand
walls made by past visitors, can be seen on the com-
puter model. Visitors can read additional information
about the caves and can take a virtual tour inside the
caves. Some of the sculptures, which have become
cult objects, are marked as points of interest with
icons and visitors can read folk legends about them.
The upper left side of the screen shows a map of
the caves with the current location highlighted in the
virtual tour. The tour helps the public understand the
structure and nature of the underground chambers
despite the fact that they are closed. It also illus-
trates the methods of glass-sand mining during the
last century.
Preserving Heritage
3D laser scanning made it possible to preserve this
heritage site for tourism and future generations.
The visitor center has received considerable atten-
tion for this innovative approach, which offers
tourists a virtual walk through the caves with-
out disturbing the bats. The solution also helped
promote the visitor center because of its innova-
tive approach to presenting this historical site.
A short video and screen capture are available at:
http://vimeo.com/16268850.
About the author:
Lauri Põldre is Sales Manager at 3D Technologies R&D.
Interactive Applications
3D Technologies R&D was established in 2006 by
a group of skilled systems designers with the goal
of developing a platform for rendering 3D objects
in the web environment, and thereafter building a
marketable set of end-user applications based on
this platform.
The most important project has been the design and
development of 3DMLW (3D Markup Language for
Web), an Open Source platform that allows rendering
of 3D objects in real-time in a web browser or imple-
menting 3D objects in custom applications.
Based on 3DMLW, the company’s key products are
interactive applications for real-time 3D visual-
ization made for the web or touch-screen kiosks.
These applications were born from actual customers‘
demands.
Customers are museums, municipalities, companies,
and kiosk manufacturers who all benefit from their
interactive 3D solutions.
More information on the project is available at
http://www.3dtech-rd.com.
8 | Reporter
by Markus Prechtl
The Baumburg Summer of Culture opened in
August 2010 with a special attraction: the larg-
est cornfield maze in Bavaria. The local monas-
tery brewery wished to offer its guests a rich
and varied program in and around the labyrinth,
including games, concerts, night walks, corn
candlelight dinners, and helicopter tours. But
how do you create a pattern in a 113,000 m²
(28 acs) field of tall cornstalks? The event orga-
nizer, Muk Heigl, turned to the engineers at ing
Traunreut GmbH; using positioning technology
from Leica Geosystems, they mastered this far-
from-everyday task.
First, the figures and the overall pattern were
designed by a graphic artist. Using these sketches
the surveying engineers then calculated the basic
data for setting out the paths and clearings. All the
designs were scaled up and adjusted to match the
size of the cornfield and each of the paths in the
future labyrinth was digitized. The result was a true-
to-scale plan with the outlines of the proposed corn-
field maze shown as 2D polylines. The motif shows
the Baumburg coat-of-arms along with a beer glass,
beer bottle, a plate of dumplings, a Merowinger pony,
and the logo “Chiemgau – Bayerns Lächeln”. These
elements would later reveal themselves to passen-
gers on the helicopter tours.
Mower with Machine Control
As the consulting engineers don’t use machine con-
trol in their day-to-day work, they called upon Ger-
man company Scanlaser Vertriebsgesellschaft, Leica
Geosystems’ sales partner for machine control, for
help. The design would be mown into the cornfield
using a GPS system from Leica Geosystems and the
GeoROG machine control system from SBG (also part
of the Hexagon Group). To do this, the polylines had
to be converted into axes and the output prepared
in the appropriate data format using the SBG GEO
Construction software package.
After loading the mowing data there was still anoth-
er problem to be solved: the machine control com-
Corn Field Maze with GPS Accuracy
onto the small tractor and there was still room for
the system's power supply – two 12-volt car batter-
ies connected in series. They were fixed on top of
the cutter bar to bring the center of gravity down
and increase stability.
Track for Track to the Finished Maze
With the hardware ready and the software loaded
with all the data required for mowing the labyrinth,
it was time to begin. First the mower cut the shapes
of the various paths within the labyrinth. The person
steering the two-wheeled walking mower found it
was easy to mow his way precisely through the corn-
field with the help of the machine control. He orien-
tated himself on the axes shown in GeoROG and the
designs were mown relatively quickly into the corn-
field. Only the tractor's deep tire-tracks presented a
problem, as the two-wheeled walking mower always
tipped sharply to the side as soon as it crossed one.
This caused the 2.8 m (9.2 ft) high GPS antenna to be
displaced by up to a half meter, which the reliable
machine control software would of course report
to the user. To avoid distorting the contours of the
motif, the tractor operator had to anticipate this and
drive accordingly. After all the contours had been
mowed, the remaining open areas were carved out
with the mower.
The ing Traunreut GmbH engineers used a different
approach to clear the islands. As they were isolat-
ed areas that could not be reached with the two-
wheeled walking tractor, the islands were set out
using conventional GPS surveying. The polylines for
the labyrinth were loaded as DXF data into a Leica
GPS1200. The outlines of the individual islands were
determined on site and the isolated areas mowed
by hand.
During the two mowing days about one quarter of
the whole cornfield was cleared to form the paths
and open areas of labyrinth. This project shows just
how specialized machine control applications can be.
Even for an “exotic” application such as setting out a
cornfield maze, the GPS-controlled system proved to
be an innovative solution and by far the quickest way
of getting it done.
About the author:
Markus Prechtl is a surveying engineer at ing Traun-
reut GmbH.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 9
ponents had to be mounted on a small two-wheeled
walking tiller-mower with a single cutter bar. Special
brackets were constructed for this. The machine con-
trol required very little space: the Leica PowerBox,
Leica PowerAntenna, and GeoROG fastened easily
10 | Reporter
by Daniel C. Brown
In recent years the cellular telephone network in
southern Ontario, Canada, has improved greatly.
Data can be streamed at a half-second or better
through a cellular connection, giving surveyors
the opportunity to take advantage of cell phone
technology to further utilize the capabilities
of GPS receivers. Similar to reference station
networks developing in the United States, Leica
Geosystems has set up Leica SmartNet South-
ern Ontario, a network that now covers nearly
the entire southern portion of the province.
Since 2006, this RTK GPS network has grown from
five base stations to 51, with an additional 10 to
12 more stations planned for deployment this year.
Leica Geosystems manages and maintains the net-
work and provides corrections to users, but it was
setup as a joint venture between users and Leica
Geosystems. For somewhat more than half the sta-
tions, the cost of the receiver, the cabling, the anten-
na, the high-speed Internet line, and the antenna
masts have been covered by Leica Geosystems. Pri-
vate companies within the industry have funded the
hardware and the high-speed Internet connections
for the other half of the stations. Leica SmartNet
Winning Partnership
with Leica SmartNet
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 11
An Open-World Format
In fact, Leica Geosystems has designed the system so
that most receivers on the market that are designed
for RTK applications will work with SmartNet. Leica
Geosystems has adopted an open-world type mes-
sage called RTCM3. “We put our RTCM3 out there for
anyone to take,” says Kalsi. “That being said, we can
broadcast our data in a few different ways. We have
a Leica proprietary format along with a few other
ones that we use. However, Leica Geosystems itself
has chosen RTCM3 as its standard message type for
network connectivity.”
A second reason to use RTCM3 is that it is a very
complete message type. Leica SmartNet’s use of
RTCM3 does not cut off or truncate any data that is
streamed through the network connection, thus pro-
viding full and complete corrections to the rover unit
in the field. “With the network technology we have
in place, many of our users are pushing the limits well
beyond 20 or even 30 km (12 or even 19 mi) while
still maintaining excellent results within or below RTK
tolerances,” says Kalsi.
will provide real-time positioning to more than 100
users by the end of this year, says Amar Kalsi, Leica
SmartNet administrator for Southern Ontario. Users
employ the network for cadastral surveying, con-
struction layout, topographical work, and more.
With a cellular modem users can connect to a spe-
cific IP address on the Internet, which correlates to
the Leica SmartNet server in Toronto. “Once they hit
that IP address, we authenticate them with a user
name and password,” says Kalsi. “Based on this and
the coarse position of the rover unit in the field, we
can supply the most appropriate RTK correction for
that specific user now able to work at a range of up
to 15, 20, 40, or even 50 km (9, 12, 25, or even 31 mi)
because of the cellular network.”
Today, most of the base station receivers are Leica
GRX1200 Pro GNSS, so Leica Geosystems can manage
and run the data remotely through its Leica Spider-
Net software. A GRX1200 Pro is designed as a net-
work device with Ethernet connectivity. “We essen-
tially connect directly to it like a router,” says Kalsi. >>
Leica SmartNet Southern Ontario covers nearly
all the southern portion of the province.
12 | Reporter
in some cases it is the only time they have access
to roads. “It is now understood by many customers
that Leica SmartNet is needed to get the job done,”
says Kalsi.
Excellent Repeatability
When asked what sets Leica SmartNet apart from
others, Kalsi said it is the network’s ability to repeat
points in the field. “You can go out today, work a
specific area, set your coordinates, and have full con-
fidence knowing that those coordinates will be the
same tomorrow, a week, or a year from now – well
within typical GPS tolerances. Our ability to repeat
measurements within Leica SmartNet is unsur-
passed.”
Leica Geosystems has upgraded nearly all the sta-
tions in SmartNet Southern Ontario to full GNSS
capability, which includes GPS and GLONASS satel-
lites as well as other constellations that will become
available in the future.
About the author:
Daniel C. Brown is the owner of TechniComm, a com-
munications business based in Des Plaines, Illinois/
USA.
SmartNet is available 24/7 and is seeing a high rate
of usage, including on weekends. Especially high-
way construction users use the system then, since
Surveying for Wind Turbines
Total Tech Surveying Inc. mainly does construction
layouts with some legal surveying and pre-engineer-
ing surveys added in. The firm hosts a reference sta-
tion within SmartNet, and recently used SmartNet
to lay out the sites for 24 wind turbines located in
southwest Ontario. “As soon as you get out of your
vehicle, you are off and surveying within about five
minutes,” says Bloss J. Sutherland, OLS, treasurer of
Total Tech Survey Inc., Essex, Ontario.
“With the old system, you had to set up a base sta-
tion and radio transmitter and then use your Leica
GPS unit as a rover. Just to set up the base station,
then set up your rover and start the survey, would
add anywhere from half an hour to an hour to the
job.” Sutherland said the wind turbine survey took
just four weeks, and would have taken eight weeks
if the firm had needed to set up a temporary base
station for every turbine.
The work included a topographic map survey of a
main 5 km (3 mi) road, staking access roads for each
turbine, and establishing the centerline of each of
the 24 turbines.
easy to send an online post-processing computation
request to www.reseau-lela.com.
To make life easier for users, additional services are
available on the website: training videos, ready-to-
use configuration sets for Leica Geosystems GNSS
receivers, RINEX converters for Leica Geosystems
GNSS raw data, etc. The coordinates of the stations
in the network and the geoid model of La Réunion
are computed on a regular basis by the National Geo-
graphic Institute (IGN), thereby guaranteeing the reli-
ability of the results.
Example Application
For the past year, Réseau LéL@ has been used by the
French national geological service (BRGM) to moni-
tor landslides in the Cirque de Salazie (an unstable
zone in the center of the island) where annual move-
ment can reach up to 2 m (6.5 ft). Seven GNSS sen-
sors provide daily observations, automatically post-
processed by Leica Spider. BRGM can download the
results to perform their own analyses using Leica
SpiderQC. Note: Look forward to a detailed article
about this spectacular case in a future issue of
Reporter.
More information at www.precision-topo.com.
About the author:
Xavier Robert is a support engineer at Précision Topo,
Leica Geosystems’ partner in Réunion.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 13
by Xavier Robert
Creating high-precision GNSS coverage of
Réunion, a French territory in the Indian Ocean,
was an interesting challenge which led to a net-
work with short inter-station distances. The
tropical location of the island is unfavorable in
terms of ionospheric activity and a wide range of
meteorological conditions can cause tropospher-
ic variations that are challenging to manage.
In April 2006, Réseau LéL@ came to life with 6 sta-
tions and a single real-time GPS product (automatic
nearest-site method). Today, there are 8 stations,
multiple real-time GNSS products (Network RTK
MAX and nearest-single-site methods) and all Leica
SpiderWeb services are available at www.reseau-
lela.com. Administrated by Précision Topo, the local
Leica Geosystems distributor, Réseau LéL@ is used
by chartered surveyors; topographical design offic-
es; civil engineering and bathymetry firms; and local
authorities.
A Versatile Network
With an average distance of 18 km (11 mi) between
stations, LéL@ is a convenient and reliable network:
data redundancy leads to very accurate real-time
GNSS results. Real-time positioning is possible in
areas covered by mobile phone operators without
having to worry about tropospheric or ionospheric
conditions. The rest of the island is the playground
of the SpiderWeb coordinate generation service: it is
A Tropical GNSS Network
14 | Reporter
Building the Canal of the 21st Century
by Maribel Pros
The Panama Canal revolutionized sea trans-
port from the outset: it linked the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans for the first time, permitting sig-
nificant time-savings, as ships no longer had to
go around South America and face the rough
waters of Cape Horn. With a set of new locks it
is currently being expanded to meet the needs
of modern ship traffic. Leica Geosystems is
supplying surveying instruments to the project
awardee at one of the greatest civil engineering
works ever undertaken.
The current Panama Canal design dates from 1904
and allows the passage of ships 267 m (875 ft) long
with a beam of 28 m (92 ft). The appearance of ships
known as Post Panamax, which surpass all these
measurements, rendered it small. This is why its
expansion, by construction of a new set of locks,
became necessary some time ago.
Double the Passage Capacity
Giving the canal a third set of locks is one of the
greatest civil engineering works ever undertaken.
With it, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) – a local
organization that administers the water route since
it was handed over by the United States in the year
2000 – aims to double its passage capacity, currently
calculated at 5 % of world trade.
The new locks, one set in the Atlantic and another
in the Pacific, will have three levels, 427 m (1,400 ft)
long by 55 m (180 ft) wide and 18.3 m (60 ft) deep,
with reutilization basins that will almost halve the
water used, since the whole system is supplied by
rain from the canal basin. The work will also require
building three dams. The contracting companies have
been commissioned to design the system for a ser-
vice life of at least another one hundred years.
Expansion work began on August 25, 2009, following
signing of the award agreement and having obtained
the best technical and economic rating by the Pana-
ma Canal Authority.
Big Challenges Require Best Resources
and Instruments
The Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium,
the awardee of the great canal expansion project,
is led by the prestigious Spanish building company
Sacyr Vallehermoso, the Italian Impregilo concern,
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 15
Completion in Time for the Centennial
After an estimated 1,883 days of very intense work
at the highest level of technical and human demand,
the project should be completed by the end of 2014,
coinciding with the Centennial of the official opening
of the Canal. The project, valued at more than 3,200
million US Dollars (2,360 million Euro), will generate
direct employment for almost 6,000 people and indi-
rect employment for about 15,000.
About the author:
Maribel Pros is responsible for Marketing and Com-
munication at Leica Geosystems in Spain.
Jan de Nul from Belgium, and Constructora Urbana
from Panama. Knowing that successfully rising to
great technological challenges requires allies of the
highest technical, technological, and professional
capacity, GUPC chose Leica Geosystems products
and solutions to supply the surveying instrumenta-
tion necessary to carry out the project within dead-
line and budget. These were: Leica Viva GS15 and
Leica Viva GS10 GPS receivers, Leica TCRM1203+
R400 and Leica TC1203+ Total Stations, as well as
Leica NA2 levels. Moreover, Leica RoadRunner Civil
Engineering software guarantees proper data flow
and management.
GUPC fully realizes that big challenges can only be
tackled by working with the best resources and
instruments. Works of great difficulty, such as the
one in progress in Panama, require highly qualified
teams and technicians that can address any chal-
lenge, anywhere in the world.
“The local personnel
have adapted quickly to
the Leica Geosystems
equipment, particularly
because it is so
extraordinarily easy
to handle.”Jorge Barangé, Head of Topography
of Sacyr Vallehermoso
Surveying Instruments
Total Stations: Leica TCRM 1203+ R400
Leica TC1203+
GPS Receivers: Leica Viva GS15
Leica Viva GS10
Levels: Leica NA2
Software: Leica RoadRunner
Project Dates
Expansion started on August 25, 2009
Scheduled completion by end of 2014
GUPC Consortium
(Grupo Unidos por el Canal)
is made up of:
Sacyr Vallehermoso (Spain)
Impregilo (Italy)
Jan de Nul (Belgium)
Constructora Urbana (Panama)
Palfinger Lifting Crane in use on a ship.
16 | Reporter
Leica TS30 Measures Lifting Cranes
by Jozef Predan
Portable extension boom cranes made of high
strength steel are used for raising cargo on to
and off of ships and trucks, e.g. loading equip-
ment or food onto large cruise ships. Customers
demand ever-increasing lifting capacity, while
at the same time wanting the cranes to remain
lightweight, versatile, mobile, and as small as
possible when folded. Together with his stu-
dents, Professor Jozef Predan from the Faculty
of Mechanical Engineering at the University of
Maribor, Slovenia, carried out a series of tests
for the crane manufacturer Palfinger Systems
using a Leica TS30 total station.
To ensure a lifting crane meets industry standards
and to guarantee a smooth and safe operation,
crane producers such as Palfinger Systems check
each crane before delivery to the customer. Tests
include checking the supporting frame structure, the
hydraulic drives, as well as the control system. One
of these tests covers a load capacity test at nomi-
nal and increased load. Most important is that the
crane can take the load without being destroyed or
permanently deformed. The second most important
thing is the static and dynamic response of the crane
in terms of load versus deflection of the crane can-
tilever. Modern cranes are slim, as they are made
of very high strength steel, and consequently allow
large deflections. Therefore it is very important to
know the deflected shape of a crane and its dynamic
response.
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering was ap-
proached by engineers from the Palfinger Systems
assembly plant in Maribor. Together, we wanted to
find new possibilities to accurately measure cranes.
We decided to use a Leica TS30 high precision total
station to carry out the measurements. There were
two reasons for this decision: Firstly, the total sta-
tion is able to carry out very accurate measurements
The movements of the crane's arm were
measured with a Leica TS30.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 17
Measurements such as those we carried out for
Palfinger Systems provide us with a lot of addition-
al information on mechanical systems and we can
use them for the optimization of structures, system
cybernetics, for proof of statics calculations, and
other analyses. So we hope we will be able to carry
out future projects in connection with Palfinger Sys-
tems and other manufacturers. We will certainly use
the Leica TS30 in the future; such as we currently are
for a hydro powerplant at Ðerdap in Serbia.
About the author:
Jozef Predan is a professor at the Faculty of Engineer-
ing at University of Maribor, Slovenia.
As a result of our series of tests, we could not only
provide Palfinger systems with valuable measure-
ment data, but also learned that the Leica TS30 is an
accurate enough total station for mechanical engi-
neering, and has some advantages beside its user
friendly interface. It is appropriate for the static mea-
surements of the deflection of a large number of
marked points because it measures automatically in
both faces after the first target definition. The mea-
surements were carried out quickly and accurately,
and it was not necessary to minimize the number of
measurement points, as the automatic measurement
was so fast we got a lot of useful data in a rela-
tively short time. Its ability to follow and measure the
position of the target on the crane cantilever during
movement was very useful for the dynamic tests.
The collected data of the target’s path carried infor-
mation on the crane’s cantilever maximal amplitude
and it also provided us with acceleration data, which
can be directly scaled to additional dynamic loads.
to a lot of points in a relatively short time. The sec-
ond argument for the Leica TS30 was that it could
take measurements to moving points to also get the
dynamics of the crane mounted on the ships, where
ship movement plays an important part. So, by fol-
lowing the target, we wanted to measure dynamic
responses of the crane or the structure. In the latter
case, the total station was fixed on the pier, but the
target was moving on the crane’s cantilever or on a
point of interest on the ship or the crane. From the
measurement data it was possible to calculate the
movement and corresponding velocity and accelera-
tion vectors.
We performed two different kinds of measurements
– static and dynamic. For the static measurements
we attached sixteen targets to the crane’s cantilever
and an additional three as reference points on the
workshops walls. To define the unloaded (reference)
shape of the cantilever, each target was measured
20 times in both faces. After defining the first set
of all measurement points, the 19 repetitions were
done automatically by the Leica TS30. All together
these 20 measurement-sets only took approximately
18 minutes, a very short time compared to the usu-
al manual measuring. Using the target recognition
functionality of the Leica TS30, the set of points was
also defined in very short time.
After this, the crane was loaded with 2,000 kg (4,400
lbs) weight and was lowered. The first procedure for
measuring the reference configuration was repeated
again for the deformed crane. The displacement vec-
tor for each point was calculated from the coordinate
differences of the target positions. These vectors
showed the displacement and rotation of the canti-
lever and for each boom of the crane.
The second series of measurements was designed
to determine the dynamic response of the crane by
tracking a moving target mounted on its outer end
being rapidly raised and lowered. This was made pos-
sible by the ability of the Leica TS30 to track ten
measurements per second. The system behavior was
computed from the collected target position data
over time. The two important mechanical system
parameters were determined by fitting the measure-
ment data with under-damped oscillation function,
angular frequency, and damping ratio. Additionally,
the dynamic load of the crane was executed as a
time function of acceleration.
The Leica HDS4400 for this project was provided courtesy of Leica Geosystems.
18 | Reporter
Scanning of Swiss Rock Glacierby Reinhard Gottwald, Ruedi Haller,
and Christian Schmid
Unlike ordinary glaciers, rock glaciers are not
extensive bodies of ice but mixtures of rock
debris and ice that flow down valleys at speeds
of 0.1 to 1 m (0.3 – 3.3 ft) per year. They are typi-
cal in alpine or high mountain permafrost regions
and direct conclusions about climate change can
be drawn from their movement. Investigating the
movement dynamics of rock glaciers presents a
great challenge to all the various earth science
disciplines involved. Students at the University
of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
(FHNW) have taken on this challenge with the
help of a Leica HDS4400 long-range scanner.
The Macun rock glacier in the Swiss national park has
been regularly surveyed and analyzed since 1965.
This involves the periodic capture of a number of
discrete points using traditional surveying methods.
The annual movement of the Macun was shown to be
7 to 25 cm (3 – 10 in). On the basis of this data con-
clusive statements about the dynamics of the whole
glacier body or about localized movements can only
be made to a limited extent.
The availability of terrestrial lasers with long rang-
es (long-range terrestrial laser scanners) inspired
researchers to use this technology to capture the
movement of rock glaciers. As part of a bachelor
thesis on the Macun rock glacier at FHNW, a feasi-
bility study and an initial survey of the glacier were
Left – Point Cloud; Right – Generated Surface Model (Maptech I-Site Studio 3.3)
undertaken using a Leica HDS4400 long-range scan-
ner provided by Leica Geosystems.
An extended network was placed over the initial net-
work of points the University of Karlsruhe, Germany
had used for its total station surveys to capture gla-
cier movement. The station points were optimized
for surveying with terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and
defined in the new Swiss terrestrial reference frames
LV95/LHN95 using the Leica SmartPole GNSS system.
After solving a few logistical problems – how to
transport 150 kg (330 lbs) of equipment over the
almost impassable survey terrain and the lack of a
power supply to name but two – the survey com-
menced: using the Leica HDS4400, all the required
glacier data was acquired in four days at the begin-
ning of August 2010.
In this initial survey twelve million points on the sur-
face of the rock glacier were captured from a total
of seven stations, then registered in a base data set,
and finally transformed into a 3D surface model.
Previous investigations had shown that, depending
on various parameters, point accuracies could be
assumed to be in the order of a few centimeters.
Subsequent deformation modeling proved that gla-
cier displacements of 14 cm (5.5 in) can be confident-
ly detected with a probability of 95 %.
A first follow-up survey – probably with a successor
system to the HDS4400 – is planned for 2012. Only
then can it really be said if the new method and all
the effort involved have paid off for geologists, geo-
morphologists, geographers, and surveyors. Some-
thing we are all very excited about!
About the authors:
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Gottwald is head of the Institute
for Surveying and Geoinformation at the University
of Applied Sciences in Northwestern Switzerland, Col-
lege for Architecture, Construction, and Geomatics in
Muttenz.
Dr. Ruedi Haller and Dipl. Ing. Christian Schmid are
manager and staff, respectively, for the spatial infor-
mation division at the Swiss National Park Authority
(SNP) in Zernez.
Source: Lerch, Th., Wüthrich, M. (2010): Bachelor the-
sis «Bewegungsmessungen am Blockgletscher Macun
mit terrestrischem Laserscanning».
The Macun Rock Glacier
The “Macun” is one of three rock glaciers within
the area administered by the Swiss National Parks
Authority (SNP). Located in Unterengadin, northwest
of Zernez, at an altitude of 2,700 m (8,850 ft) it is not
accessible by road and can only be reached by hiking
for several hours from Zernez or Lavin.
The imagery of flooded areas in
Queensland was captured with a
Leica ADS40 in 25 cm (< 10 in) resolution.
20 | Reporter
Rapid Help forFlood Victims
by Steve Gaynor and Steven Wright
Beginning in December 2010, a series of
floods affected Australia, primarily the state
of Queensland, and forced thousands of peo-
ple to evacuate their homes. Three quarters
of Queensland were declared disaster zones,
leaving 35 people dead and nine missing.
The damage to Australia’s GDP is said to be
AUD$30 billion (USD$ 31.6 billion). The Imag-
ery Collection and Exploitation (ICE) Team of
the Australian Army’s 1st Topographical Survey
Squadron used a Leica ADS40 Airborne Digi-
tal Sensor to capture imagery data of severely
flood affected communities to assist recon-
struction activities.
Throughout January and February 2011, the ICE Team
has had a watchful eye over Queensland’s flood
affected areas. The goal was to capture very accurate
flood levels for more than 100 of Queensland’s hard-
est hit communities to prepare for future events and
use the information as a tool during flood disasters.
The end result was an aerial image of the affected
areas in Queensland with an overlay showing the
flood level. Citizens have free access to these maps
on an interactive website, which is a definite first.
After being recalled at short notice in January, the ICE
Team was dispatched in support of the “Queensland
Flood Assist Operation” of the Australian Army to
provide situational awareness to reconstruction
activities in severely flood-affected communities.
The ICE Team worked in conjunction with RAAF 38
Squadron elements that operate a modified aircraft
– they captured imagery in and around Brisbane,
West to Roma, North to Gladstone, and South to
Hebel.
Although weather throughout the operation was
not conducive to effective aerial imagery capture,
the ICE Team continued to fly daily, capturing oppor-
tune targets and processing imagery around the
clock to ensure outputs were delivered on time to
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 21
Queensland State Government’s Department of
Environment and Resource Management and the
Queensland Reconstruction Authority. Both orga-
nizations will continue to exploit the imagery cap-
tured and generated by the ICE Team in assessing
and prioritizing the reconstruction efforts through-
out Queensland. In a letter of thanks Major T.J. Fran-
cis of the Australian Defence greatly appreciated
the support of Leica Geosystems: “The additional
support provided enabled imagery to be captured
and processed more efficiently for distribution to
Queensland Emergency Services.”
About the authors:
Steve Gaynor is Leica Geosystems Airborne Sensor
Segment Manager for the Australasia & South East
Asia Region.
Steven Wright is Captain of the 1st Topographical Sur-
vey Squadron of the Australian Defence.
its many customers. Imagery was captured using a
Leica ADS40 Airborne Digital Sensor. This sensor cap-
tures digital imagery and is able to generate surface
models of targeted areas of the earth’s surface. This
capability is a quantum leap ahead of previous imag-
ery capture techniques used by the Army.
The ICE Team was complimented by two Leica Sensor
Support Technicians: Jacques Markram, who flew to
Australia from the Leica Geosystems headquarters
in Heerbrugg/Switzerland, and Mal Hentschel, who
helps support all sensor systems worldwide, but is
based in the Australasia/South East Asian region.
Most units deployed as part of the “Flood Assist
Operation” ended their support in late January; but
the ICE Team continued its capture efforts until 18
February 2011, and continued the exploitation of this
imagery in the following months.
The team’s professionalism and effective use
of its assets became of particular interest to the
22 | Reporter
Floating Masterpiecesby Andreas Petrosino
Meyer Werft GmbH from Papenburg in North-
ern Germany is more than just a shipbuilder –
2,600 employees create floating masterpieces
beyond your wildest dreams in the shipyard’s
fabrication halls. Modern cruise liners demand
the highest commitment to quality. For this rea-
son the surveying team at Meyer Werft only use
instruments from Leica Geosystems.
Boston or Bosporus, Montevideo or Mallorca, Gua-
deloupe or Gothenburg – cruise ships are underway
across all the world’s seas and harbors. However,
many a sea mile travelled owes a lot to a small town
in Northern Germany. Papenburg in Emsland usu-
ally finds itself at the focus of interest only when a
new ship runs down the slipway at Meyer Werft and
moves with impressive precision along the river Ems
into the North Sea.
Harsh Working Conditions
These enormous ship fabrication halls are the tem-
porary homes of ferries and gas tankers as well as
cruise liners. New ships are put together from over
60 individual sections called blocks, which can weigh
up to 800 tons each. The quality of the connection
interfaces plays an important role in the construc-
Harsh conditions in the engine room – an everyday job for an HDS scanner from Leica Geosystems.
The contents of the instrument locker at Meyer
Werft include a Leica TDRA6000 laser station and
two Leica HDS6200 high-definition surveying (HDS)
laser scanners. All instruments are permanently in
use. Ralph Zimmermann: “The HDS scanners and
laser station together form a strong combination.
Before we begin to scan and capture point clouds,
we determine the exact position of the targets using
the Leica TDRA6000 and create a mesh. Most of the
targets remain as fixed reference points, some are
only temporary. We can then move the scanner from
area to area and get it going immediately, because
we always know where we are in the surveyed space.
The process is pretty much like land surveying.”
Quality as a Competitive Advantage
Zimmermann also wishes to ensure that the high
standard of Meyer ships will continue to be achieved
in the future and actively promotes the training of
young surveying engineers. Meyer Werft sees con-
sistent quality as a key competitive advantage. For
this reason Ralph Zimmermann has been upgrading
surveying equipment and practices at the shipyard
piece by piece – and always with Leica Geosystems
and Hexagon Metrology firmly on board.
About the Author:
Andreas Petrosino is Marketing Coordinator at
Hexagon Metrology Marketing & Communications
based in Unterentfelden, Switzerland.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 23
tion of the ship and in the assembly of the blocks
themselves. Consistent measurements are crucial –
correcting mistakes is virtually impossible.
Ralph Zimmermann is a qualified surveying engineer
with over 20 years’ experience in this field. He heads
the surveying section at Meyer Werft. “Our surveying
instruments are used every day under harsh condi-
tions in both indoor and outdoor environments. In
addition to the quality of the instruments, we also
recognize the value of good service and a long-term
relationship. It is important that our partners are still
there for us tomorrow,” says Zimmermann. “In Leica
Geosystems and Hexagon Metrology, we have found
partners who have never once disappointed us.”
Surveyors Always Involved in the Action
The surveying team at Meyer Werft is on hand to pro-
vide its services at every stage during the production
of a new ship. Alignment of the plasma torch cutting
machines is just one of the first tasks. Accuracy is
also the name of game when laying keels and fabri-
cating the blocks. On top of this come a host of other
special jobs, such as determining the overall length
of a ship. Ralph Zimmermann: “More and more parts
are being prefabricated and then attached to the
ship in one piece. For us this means we have to carry
out fairly accurate 3D surveys – such as taking the
measurements of a sun shade composed of multiple
concave shapes or a 260-m-long waterslide (850 ft)
with curves and loops.”
Point cloud of the scanned turbine.
24 | Reporter
Accident Investigation at Russian Power Station
by Pavel Karpov
After one of its turbines was pushed out by
water pressure, 75 people died at the Russian
Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power sta-
tion in the summer of 2009. Leica Geosystems'
equipment was chosen to scan the disaster area
during the first phase of reconstruction.
The accident happened after one of the hydropower
units was pushed out and lifted into the air by the
pressure of a stream of water. After the water pres-
sure decreased, the power unit – now more or less
a pile of waste metal with a total weight of 2,000
tons – came to rest upon a crane base. After detailed
inspection it became clear that it would be necessary
to drag it out of the debris for further inspection and
to determine the cause of the terrible accident as
well as the cost of reconstruction, which was esti-
mated to be around 40 billion Rubles (almost 1 billion
Euro).
The only way to lift the unit was to use one of the
cranes – although it was possible that both the crane
and the turbine would collapse during the operation.
A 3D model of the power units was needed to aid
decision-making for this high-risk undertaking. Laser
scanning was chosen since the fragments were too
big to survey using a total station. Three specialists
damaged unit and two other nearby units from 50
stations. Field work – while completed with as much
detail as possible – took only three days.
Due to the high point density achieved with the Leica
HDS6100 scanner, it was possible to create a precise
and very detailed 3D model of the three extremely
complex power units. Additionally, the Navgeocom
team could generate a full set of plots and drawings
that was passed to the customer. Leica Cyclone soft-
ware was used for post-processing. Afterwards, the
scans were referenced into one single point cloud to
create the 3D models.
About the author:
Pavel Karpov is a Senior Engineer at Navgeocom Engi-
neering, Leica Geosystems’ distribution partner in
Russia.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 25
of Leica Geosystems’ partner Navgeocom Engineer-
ing carried out the scanning.
The Navgeocom team’s goal was to supply design
engineers with all documentation needed to disman-
tle the power unit. The scans had to be performed
within a very tight schedule and harsh conditions.
The Leica HDS6100 laser scanner proved to be the
ideal instrument for the job: “It is a scanner that met
all our requirements for successful job performance,”
says Pavel Karpov, senior engineer at Navgeocom
Engineering. “For those who work outdoors the
advantages of this scanner are very notable. You can
manage everything from onboard controls: no need
for external controllers, notepads, etc. The power
unit is also ‘onboard’ – no external power units and
cables are needed: If a surveying device requires
extra equipment, it means you need an extra person
to carry it, but during this project we faced a lot of
situations where two persons simply wouldn’t fit.”
During the scanning phase, one of the Navgeocom
specialists worked with a total station to georefer-
ence the object, while the other two scanned the
©
Jó
se
f B
erk
e
The Red Floodby Jan Sirotek and Tamás Tomor PhD.
On October 4th, 2010 Hungary faced the worst
environmental disaster in its history when the
embankment of a toxic waste reservoir failed
and released a mixture of 600,000 to 700,000 m³
(160 to 185 million gal) of red mud and water.
Lower parts of the settlements of Kolontár,
Devecser, and Somlóvásárhely were flooded.
Ten people died and another 120 people were
injured. The red mud flooded 8 km² (2,000 acs)
of the surrounding area. Airborne service pro-
vider BLOM and Károly Róbert College, a Hun-
garian scientific research institute for remote
sensing, processed the data acquired with Leica
ALS LiDAR, thermal, and hyper spectral imaging
technologies to map the scale of the damage
caused by red mud leakage and to compensate
property owners for their losses.
Immediately after the catastrophe on October 4th,
2010 the procedure for obtaining necessary permits
was started and on October 6th the research agenda
was agreed upon. The main aim of the mission was to
document the current status and to identify possible
additional dam breaks with risks of new red mud
outflow. After necessary flight planning and mobi-
lization, the aerial survey was performed within a
very short time frame from October 9th – 11th. For-
tunately, the weather conditions in those days were
A 3D model of the scene provides valuable
information for damage analysis.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 27
An Effective Solution for Data Analysis
The combination of different remote sensing meth-
ods turned out to be a very effective solution for
evaluating the range and impact of this huge envi-
ronmental disaster. Based on the data acquired it
was possible to simulate a detailed course of the red
mud flow and exactly evaluate the extent and con-
centration of the pollution. The technology enabled
identification of possible fractures in similar reser-
voirs’ dams and therefore it would be ideal for use in
emergency management, modeling of potential sce-
narios, and systematic monitoring of similar deposits
to prevent other catastrophes.
About the authors:
Jan Sirotek is Director International Sales at BLOM
with responsibility for activities in Central & Eastern
Europe, including Hungary.
Tamás Tomor PhD. is Institute Director of Károly
Róbert College, a Hungarian scientific research insti-
tute for remote sensing.
of the polluted area, determine the degree of con-
centration of pollutants, mainly heavy metals, and
to determine the thickness of settled red mud in the
outlying area. The concentration of most heavy met-
als can be mapped by hyperspectral survey, as there
is a strong correlation between aluminum oxide, iron
oxide, and the heavy metals. The map of polluted
areas based on hyperspectral survey was matched
with the cadastral map to evaluate damage to prop-
erty owners. This data will later be used to determine
compensation for the property owners.
excellent and three survey flights using different
technologies were performed to receive detailed and
valuable data about the mud-flooded area:
Thermography (4.2 km² / 1,000 acs)
LiDAR (10 km² / 2,500 acs)
Hyperspectral (100 km² / 25,000 acs)
In total, 12.5 hours of survey flights were performed
and 792 GB of data were captured.
Thermography and Near-Infrared Survey
The survey flight was performed with a geometric
resolution better than 20 cm (8 in). The data was
acquired with visible, near infrared, and thermal
bands to achieve detailed information about the
extent of the damaged area. The survey was per-
formed in the area closest to the broken dam with
the intention of detecting gaps and fractures in the
dam, and leaking and wet patches near the dam. The
analysis of this approach showed that there were
no additional fractures or leaks between the two
affected reservoirs and that there was no substan-
tial outflow from the northern dam, but significant
leaking was identified on the terrace under the west-
ern dam.
LiDAR Survey
BLOM, a leading international company for acquisi-
tion and processing of airborne data, used a Leica
ALS60 LiDAR system to acquire a precise and detailed
digital terrain model, which allowed an exact esti-
mate of the quantity of red mud spilt over the terri-
tory. Additionally, the dam storage capacity could be
calculated and the data was also used to design a
levee to be constructed to prevent further damage.
The data delivered an excellent basis for the flood
modeling to determine the quantity of polluted soil
and mud removed during the restoration work.
Data was captured at a flying altitude above ground
of about 800 m (2,600 ft) with a density of 4 points/
m² in the final digital surface model and with highest
possible accuracy of 10 cm (8 in) in height. The digital
model was then converted into a suitable format for
the flood modeling software, where a simulation of
the catastrophe was performed.
Hyperspectral Survey
In addition to the LiDAR, a hyperspectral sensor and
thermal camera were used to specify the exact range
Spaceport America designed by URS/Foster + Partners
Conceptual image courtesy of Vyonyx Ltd
28 | Reporter
by Daniel C. Brown
Welcome to space tourism, Southwestern style!
Contractor David Montoya Construction fin-
ished construction of the Spaceport America
runway in a remote area 60 km (37 mi) south-
west of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico,
in September last year. Billionaire Sir Richard
Branson’s space enterprise, Virgin Galactic, cut
a deal to be a tenant at Spaceport, and Branson
hopes to send tourists into near orbit as early as
this year. More than 300 people have reportedly
signed up for tickets, which start at $ 200,000
each. The state of New Mexico and two local
counties have financed the $ 198-million proj-
ect. And thanks to stringless concrete paving
system Leica PaveSmart 3D and some space-
age machine control equipment, construction
on Spaceport’s $ 27-million runway was able to
wrap up nearly two months early.
Montoya’s superintendent David Guerra said the run-
way, which is 3 km (10,000 ft) long by 60 m (200 ft)
wide, was completed seven weeks ahead of the
scheduled date. Montoya paved the runway with a
Guntert & Zimmerman S850 slipform concrete paver
automatically controlled by a Leica PaveSmart 3D
system guided by two robotic total stations. The pav-
er had to make six passes, each 10 m (33.3 ft) wide,
to cover the complete width of the runway. Depth
of the concrete is 35 cm (14 in). Leica PaveSmart 3D
regulated steering, grade, draft, and crossfall of the
slipform paver in real-time, and integrated seam-
lessly with the paver with no need to install complex
retrofit hydraulics.
No stringline was used on either the concrete paver
or the placer-spreader that preceded it. The auto-
matic paver control system based its guidance on a
digital terrain model – a digitized 3D model of the
runway – entered into a Leica Geosystems computer
onboard the paver. The paver also had two prisms,
mounted above the machine, for tracking by the two
robotic total stations set up on tripods ahead of the
paver. The prisms on the paver were set in relation
to four points on the slipform concrete paver’s pan,
which extruded concrete for the runway.
If he had used stringlines, Guerra would have used
one stringline for the placer-spreader and another
for the paver. “The two stringlines are time-con-
suming to set up,” said Guerra. He bought the Leica
Geosystems machine control equipment, including
six Leica TCP1201+ robotic total stations, because he
wanted a system that was independent of the paver
and simple to use. “The total stations, their tripods,
and the required radios and batteries are easy to
move on and off of the project,” he said.
Automatic Accurate Steering
When setting up the two total stations, a technician
back-sighted each of them to three known control
points, fixing the location of the total stations rela-
tive to the runway’s digital model. The total stations
could then “see” the two prisms on the paver and
communicate the paver’s precise location – by free-
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 29
Montoya actually used four robotic total stations to
control the paver, but only two were active at one
time. Two stations were set 150 m (500 ft) ahead
of the paver, one on each side of the paving lane.
Those two controlled the paver while the next two
waited 300 m (1,000 ft) ahead for the paver to catch
up. When the paver passed the first two stations,
the second two took over, and the first two sta-
tions were then leapfrogged out ahead. That way the
paver never stopped, says Anthony Cerisano, Leica
Geosystems’ on-site service representative.
Guerra said he got accuracies of ±1.5 mm (0.05 in)
on the concrete slab. It took two workers to control
the paver. Montoya used the paver operator to read
Precision for Space Tourists
>>
“I’d say that machine
control saved us at least
50 percent of the time it
takes to use stringline.”David Guerra, Superintendent
at Montoya Construction
wave radio – to the paver itself. The on-board com-
puter processed the differences between the actual
paver location and the digital terrain model. Knowing
those differences, the computer could control the
paver pan location automatically.
Montoya is paving the runway with a Guntert & Zimmerman S850 slipform concrete paver
automatically controlled by a Leica PaveSmart 3D system.
30 | Reporter
ting blue-tops, and the labor to set up stringlines.
Typically a concrete paver is controlled by two string-
lines set at precise locations on each side of the lane
being paved.
Further benefits of machine control include improved
jobsite logistics, easier and faster truck turnaround,
greater jobsite safety (no stringlines to trip over),
and faster machine setup and clean-down at the end
of a shift. The result is a lower cost, higher produc-
tivity construction process with none of the human
error associated with traditional staking activities.
Most space tourists probably won’t know the air-
field was paved with a Leica Geosystems’ stringless
machine control system. But they’ll certainly appre-
ciate the smoothness of the runway. As the say-
ing goes: Build it and they will come, and they’re
expected to come to Spaceport America – organizers
are planning on 1 million visitors each year. Bon voy-
age, we say!
About the author:
Daniel C. Brown is the owner of TechniComm, a com-
munications business based in Des Plaines, Illinois/
USA.
“Leica Geosystems
equipment is really,
really good equipment.
It’s really accurate
and we have received
excellent technical
support from
the company.”
David Guerra, Superintendent
at Montoya Construction
Unlimited Benefits
Automated machine control saves time and money
because it eliminates all of the detailed survey labor
normally needed for a runway: staking of hubs, set-
the paver’s computer to check elevation and steer-
ing; the main quality control worker handled place-
ment of the robotic total stations and supervised the
operation.
Authors Klaus Maas (1st from left) and Jörg Fugmann (4th from left) with Stefan Wolf and Klaus Massmeyer from the
University of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and project coordinator Ms. Erdenechimeg Ulziikhutag in front of a floating dredge.
The Global Magazine of Leica Geosystems | 31
Mongolia is rich in mineral resources. Under its
extensive grasslands and deserts lie large reserves
of coal, metallic ores, and other raw materials, such
as rare earth minerals for high-tech applications. The
areas are relatively undeveloped; therefore many
deposits have only just been discovered. A research
project supported by Leica Geosystems is underway
to ensure that the raw materials are extracted as
sustainably as possible.
Except for the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and settle-
ments in the main transportation corridor, the popu-
lation density in Mongolia is very low and travelling
soon becomes a bit of an adventure. This remote-
ness and the unspoiled nature of the country mean
that the last untouched steppe landscapes on earth
can be found here.
Recent years have seen a mining boom with obvious
consequences for the environment and nature. For
how can these countless and widely scattered min-
ing operations ever be efficiently controlled when
the transportation infrastructure is still being devel-
oped?
This has been the focus of a research project on
sustainable raw material extraction sponsored by the
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
since the beginning of 2011. Carrying out the project
are the Faculty for Environmental Information Sys-
tems at Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied
Science in Höxter, the mining consultants arguplan
GmbH, in the form of their office for mining engi-
neering, environment, and surveying in Karlsruhe,
and the School of Mining at the Mongolian University
of Science and Technology (MUST) in Ulaanbaatar.
With the help of remote sensing data the research
project seeks to differentiate between various types
of land affected by mining activities, such as open-
cast mines, reclaimed areas, and sites abandoned
without restoration, as automatically as possible.
This could make a significant contribution to exploit-
ing the country's underground riches in a sustainable
manner.
The investigations involve extensive off-road data
collection in which a field spectrometer is used to
provide reference measurements. GPS is used to
localize the measurements and the investigated
areas. Until recently MUST was not equipped to carry
out this task, so Leica Geosystems supported them
by making two GPS systems available to the univer-
sity during the winter semester 2010. This will allow
enough time for the students and research assis-
tants to receive all the necessary training before the
first field campaign begins in summer 2011.
Leica Geosystems Supports Mongolian Mining Research
Australia
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Sweden
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Switzerland
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United Kingdom
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UAE
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Dubai
Phone +971 4 299 5513
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Leica Geosystems Inc.
Norcross, GA
Phone +1 770 326 9500
Fax +1 770 447 0710
Illustrations, descriptions, and technical data are not binding. All rights reserved. Printed in Switzerland.
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