JPH04166783A - Surveying equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To pick up certainly a measuring target by making a run judging measure run tracking based on the tracking data obtained by scan within the last search range till the scan within the same search range is repeated at the prescribed times. CONSTITUTION:A microcomputer 36 is provided with the run judging measure to let the tracking run till scan is repeated at the prescribed times where measured target detecting data have been obtained within a search range though a corner cube 2 is within the search range. The microcomputer 36 judges 'No' when the measured target detecting data have not been obtained. The microcomputer 36 lets the tracking run based on the tracking data obtained by the scan within the search range of the last time till the number of times repeated within the search range is over the prescribed number T. The measuring target could certainly be picked up by this even if tracking data were not obtained due to influence of environment conditions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a surveying instrument that scans an object to be measured in the vertical and horizontal directions and automatically tracks the object to be measured with the main body of the surveying instrument.

(Prior Art) Light wave distance measuring devices have been known as surveying instruments, and these light wave distance measuring devices are sometimes installed and used, for example, on the deck of a ship. The light wave ranging device has a ranging optical system, and emits light waves from the light wave ranging device toward a corner cube installed at a measurement point far away, and receives reflected light waves from the corner cube. , to measure the distance to the measurement point.

By the way, when this type of surveying instrument is installed on the deck of a ship or the like to measure distances, the corner cube as the object to be measured may be lost due to the ship being caught or the like. Therefore, recently, surveying instruments that can automatically track corner cubes are being developed.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) This conventional surveying instrument searches and scans a corner cube by rotating the surveying instrument itself, which has a built-in ranging optical system, in the horizontal and vertical directions, and performs a survey on the corner cube. Since it is configured to automatically track the aircraft and search mechanically, there is a problem in that the search scan takes time.

Therefore, a surveying instrument that detects the horizontal and vertical positions of the object to be measured and automatically tracks it by scanning a scanning range defined by the horizontal and vertical directions using a scanning optical system. Conceivable.

By the way, if the object to be measured is lost, tracking data may not be obtained by scanning within this scanning range. In such a case, it is conceivable to capture the object to be measured by forcibly rotating the main body of the surveying instrument or by expanding the scanning range.

However, if the distance to the measurement point is very long, even if the measurement target is captured, the scanning light beam reflected from the measurement target may not return to the scanning optical system due to environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. There is. In such a case, if you decide to repeat tracking as if the measurement target is not captured,
Eventually, the tracking of the measurement target will be lost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a surveying instrument that can reliably capture an object to be measured even when tracking data cannot be obtained due to the influence of environmental conditions. It's about doing.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, a surveying instrument according to the present invention includes a scanning optical system that scans an object to be measured within a scanning range defined by vertical and horizontal directions; control means for calculating tracking data based on the scanning results of the scanning optical system and automatically tracking the surveying instrument body to the object to be measured; Completion is defined as one search range, and it is determined whether measurement target object detection data for obtaining the tracking data has been obtained for each search range, and the measurement target detection data is determined within the search range. The present invention is characterized by comprising execution determining means for executing tracking based on tracking data obtained by scanning within the previous search range until scanning of the same search range is repeated a predetermined number of times when the same search range is not obtained. .

(Function) According to the present invention, when the object to be measured is searched and scanned by the scanning optical system, the scanning result is inputted to the control means. The control means calculates the direction of the object to be measured based on the scanning results to obtain tracking data, and controls the main body of the surveying instrument to rotate horizontally and vertically so that the optical axis of the instrument is directed toward the object to be measured. do. As a result, the surveying instrument automatically tracks the object to be measured.

Even though the measurement target is within the search range, if tracking data cannot be obtained by scanning within the search range for some reason, the execution determination means determines whether scanning within the same search range is possible. Tracking is executed based on the tracking data obtained by scanning within the previous search range until it is repeated a predetermined number of times.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which a surveying instrument according to the present invention is applied to a light wave distance measuring device will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a surveying table, and 2 is a corner cube as a measurement object installed at a survey point.

The surveying platform 1 is installed, for example, on the deck of a ship.

A light wave distance measuring device 3 is installed on this surveying table 1. This light wave distance measuring device 3 has a fixed base 4 and a horizontal rotating section 5. The horizontal rotation part 5 is rotated in the direction of arrow A with respect to the fixed base 4, as shown in FIG. 2, and has a support part 6. The support portion 6 is provided with a vertical rotation shaft 7, and the vertical rotation shaft 7 is provided with a distance measuring device main body 8 as a survey instrument main body. The distance measuring device main body 8 is rotated in the horizontal direction by the rotation of the horizontal rotation part 5, and also rotated in the vertical direction as shown by arrow B in FIG. 1 by the rotation of the vertical rotation shaft 7.

The distance measuring device main body 8 includes a distance measuring optical system 9 and a scanning optical system 10.
and is provided. This distance measuring optical system 9 has a light projecting section 11 and a light receiving section 12, as schematically shown in FIG. The light projector 11 has a light source 13 . The light receiving section 12 has a light receiving element 14 . The light source 13 emits an infrared laser beam. The infrared laser beam is reflected by the dichroic ink mirror 16 of the beam splitter 15 toward the objective lens 17, and is emitted as a parallel beam from the distance measuring device main body 8 via the cover glass 18.

The infrared laser beam is reflected by the corner cube 2,
The light returns to the objective lens 17 via the cover glass 18, is reflected by the dichroic mirror 19 of the beam splitter 15, and is focused on the light receiving element 14.

The light receiving output of the light receiving element 14 is input to a known measuring circuit (not shown), and the distance to the corner cube 2 is measured.

The distance measuring optical system 9 has an imaging lens 20 and a reticle plate 21, and visible light passes through an objective lens 17 and a dichroic mirror 16, 19, reaches the imaging lens 20, and is converged on the reticle plate 21. , the measurement person can visually recognize the measurement point including the corner cube 2 through the eyepiece 22.

As shown in FIG. 4, the scanning optical system 10 includes a laser diode 23, a collimator lens 24, and a horizontal deflection element 25.
, vertical deflection element 26, reflection prism 27.28.2
9, an objective lens 30, a cover glass 31, a reflecting prism 32, a noise light removal filter 33, and a light receiving element 34. Laser diode 23, collimator lens 24
, the horizontal deflection element 25, the vertical deflection element 26, and the reflecting prisms 27, 28, and 29 generally constitute a light projecting section. The objective lens 30, the reflection prism 32, the noise light removal filter 33, and the light receiving element 34 roughly constitute a light receiving section. The horizontal deflection element 25 and the vertical deflection element 26 are composed of, for example, an acousto-optic element.

The laser diode 23 emits an infrared laser beam having a wavelength different from the wavelength of the distance measuring light wave from the distance measuring optical system 9. The infrared laser beam is made into a parallel beam by a collimator lens 24 and guided to a horizontal deflection element 25. This horizontal deflection element 25 has a function of deflecting the infrared laser beam in the horizontal direction H, as shown in FIG. The vertical deflection element 26 has a function of deflecting the infrared laser beam in the vertical direction (2).

Control of the horizontal deflection element 25 and the vertical deflection element 26 will be described later.

The infrared laser beam is deflected in the horizontal and vertical directions by the horizontal deflection element 25 and the vertical deflection element 26, guided to the reflection prism 27, reflected by the reflection prism 27, and passed through the reflection prisms 28 and 29. and is guided to the objective lens 30. Through hole 35 for objective lens 3°
is formed coaxially with the optical axis of the objective lens 30. The infrared laser beam reflected by the reflecting prism 29 is emitted to the outside of the distance measuring device main body 8 through the through hole 35, and the corner cube 2 is searched and scanned by this infrared laser beam. When the corner cube 2 is within the search range, the infrared laser beam is reflected by the corner cube 2 and returns to the objective lens 30. The infrared laser beam is converged by the objective lens 30, reflected by the reflection prism 32, passes through the noise light removal filter 33, and is imaged on the light receiving element 34. The noise light removal filter 33 has a function of transmitting light having the same wavelength as the wavelength of the infrared laser beam.

According to the scanning optical system 10, since the light projecting section and the light receiving section are coaxial, there is an advantage that the infrared laser beam reflected by the corner cube 2 can be reliably received. In addition, since a noise light removal filter 33 is provided, light with wavelengths other than the wavelength of the infrared laser beam can be cut.
Search scanning can be performed reliably.

FIG. 6 shows a block circuit diagram of the control means. In this FIG.
) scan controller, 38 is a reference pulse generator, 3
9 is an H direction D/A converter, 40 is a ■ direction D/A converter, 41.42 is a sweep oscillator, 43 is an adder, 44.44' is a driver, 45.45' is a motor, 46.46' is an encoder.

The rotation of the motor 45 is transmitted to the horizontal rotation section 5 or the vertical rotation shaft 7 via a speed reduction mechanism (not shown) consisting of a gear train or the like. The encoder 46, 46' outputs a detection pulse to the microcomputer 36 based on the rotation of the motor 45, 45'.

The laser diode 23 is driven and controlled by a microcomputer 36. The microcomputer 36 outputs a start pulse TS for horizontal (H) and vertical (V) search scanning to the horizontal/vertical (HV) scan controller 37 . The horizontal/vertical (H-V) scan controller 37 counts the clock pulses CL of the reference pulse generator 38 based on the start pulse TS, and outputs the count value HCT to the H-direction D/A converter 39. H direction D/A
Converter 39 periodically generates triangular wave voltage TR as shown in FIG. 7 based on the count value HCT. One period of this triangular wave voltage TR corresponds to one horizontal search scan. This triangular wave voltage TR is input to the sweep oscillator 41. The sweep oscillator 41 has a triangular wave voltage T
The horizontal deflection element 25 is driven by converting the frequency of R. The horizontal deflection element 25 deflects the infrared laser beam to a horizontal angle corresponding to the voltage value of the triangular wave voltage TR.

Horizontal/vertical (H-V) scan controller 3
7 is a scan synchronization signal SC every time one horizontal scan is completed.
is output to the microcomputer 36. H-
The V scan controller 37 counts the scan synchronization signal SC and outputs the count value CT to the V direction D/A converter 40. The (2) direction D/A converter 40 generates a staircase wave voltage W (2) whose voltage increases every horizontal scan based on the count value VCT. The staircase wave voltage W■ is input to the sweep oscillator 42. The sweep oscillator 42 converts the frequency of the staircase wave voltage W2 and drives the vertical deflection element 26. The vertical deflection element 26 deflects the infrared laser beam to a vertical angle corresponding to the staircase voltage W2.

Now, suppose that the search range commanded by the microcomputer 36 is as shown by the symbol in FIG. 8, and the corner cube 2 is a search range defined by the scanning line number 1 to the final scanning line number It shall be within. In the horizontal scan from scan line number 1 to scan line number n-2, the corner cube 2 is not within the scanning range, so the infrared laser beam is directed toward the corner cube 2.
Therefore, the reflected light flux of the infrared laser beam does not return to the light receiving element 34. Scanning line number n-
In scanning from 1 to scanning line number n+1, corner cube 2 exists within the scanning range.

Therefore, the reflected light flux of the infrared laser beam returns to the light receiving element 34. Therefore, the light receiving element 34 scanning line number n-
During scanning from scanning line number 1 to scanning line number n+1, a light receiving pulse RP as shown in FIG. 9 is generated.

The received light pulse RP is input to an adder 43.

The clock pulse CL of the horizontal direction/vertical direction (H-V) scan controller 37 is input to the adder 43, and the count number when the scan synchronization signal SC is generated, including the start pulse Ts, is set to "0" and the received light pulse RP is The counted number of clock pulses CL at the rising edge and the counted number of clock pulses CL at the falling edge of the light-receiving pulse RP are added for each horizontal scan. The microcomputer 36 reads the output value of the adder 43 as measurement object detection data every time the scan synchronization signal SC is input. Then, the output values are arithmetic averaged for each -horizontal scan.

As a result, the horizontal position of the corner cube 2 is determined.

For example, in scanning from scanning line number n-1 to scanning line number n+1, the count value HCT at the rising edge of the light receiving pulse RP is Hn-+, Hn, H, -+, and the clock pulse CL at the falling edge of the light receiving pulse RP. The count value HCT of H'n-+, H'0, H'. . If it is 1,
The horizontal position Hn-+ of the corner cube 2 by scanning the scanning line number n-1 is Hn, -+= (Hn-++
H' n-1) / 2 Similarly, corner cube 2 in the horizontal direction is created by scanning scanning line number n and scanning line number n+1.
The horizontal positions Hn, Hn, + are respectively Hn
= (H,+H',)/2 Hn++= (Hn+++H'nl)/2.

Therefore, the average horizontal position H of corner cube 2
can be found by averaging these.

The vertical position ■ of the corner cube 2 is the light receiving element 34
It is calculated by dividing the sum of the scanning line numbers when the infrared laser beam is received by the number of times the infrared laser beam is received.

For example, in the case of the example shown in FIG. 8, the sum of the scanning line numbers is 3n and the number of times of light reception is 3, so the vertical position 2 of the corner cube 2 can be determined as n. The horizontal position H1 and the vertical position (2) are processed as appropriate, tracking data of the distance measuring device body 8 is calculated as described later, and the microcomputer 36 controls the driver 44 based on this tracking data. That is, the motor 45 is driven, and the distance measuring device main body 8 is operated by the distance measuring optical system 9.
is rotated horizontally and vertically so that its optical axis points toward the corner cube 2, thereby automatically tracking the corner cube 2.

When the microcomputer 36 determines that there is no corner cube 2 within its search range as shown in FIG. Change the search range so that it is expanded. Here, the microcomputer 36 scans roughly in the vertical direction. As a result, the corner cube 2 is captured within the search range. Similarly, the microcomputer 36 obtains drive data, controls the drivers 44, 44', and automatically tracks the corner cube 2. After the microcomputer 36 has completed capturing the corner cube 2, it changes the search range to the search range K before enlargement shown in FIG.

As shown in Fig. 1, the vertical search range is indicated by arrow C.
The horizontal search range is changed between the range shown by arrow E and the range shown by arrow F in FIG.

Thereby, even if the object to be measured is lost, the object to be measured can be quickly captured.

By the way, even though the corner cube 2 is within the search range, tracking data may not be obtained by the search scan for some reason.

In consideration of this case, in the present invention, the microcomputer 36 determines whether or not the measurement target object detection data is obtained, and if the measurement target object detection data is not obtained within the search range, the microcomputer 36 determines whether or not the measurement target object detection data is obtained within the search range. The apparatus includes an execution determination means for executing tracking based on tracking data obtained by scanning within the previous search range until scanning is repeated a predetermined number of times.

That is, the microcomputer 36, as shown in FIG.
3, it is necessary to judge whether or not measurement target object detection data has been obtained.
．． 2) When the measurement target object detection data is obtained,
Set the repetition counter NDCOUNT of the same search range to rQJ8.3), and calculate the deviation between the direction of the object to be measured and the optical axis of the ranging optical system 9 based on the detection data of the object to be measured8. 4) Based on this deviation data, calculate the drive data of the motor 45, 45'.
Output to 4.44' (3.6).

When the measurement object detection data is not obtained within one search range, the microcomputer 36 determines "No" in steps 3 and 2. And S.

7, set the repetition counter NDCOUNT to "
+1”. And the microcomputer 36
determines whether the number of times the search range has been repeated exceeds a predetermined number T (3.8). The microcomputer 36 repeats the search until the number of times the search range is repeated exceeds a predetermined number T.
Tracking is executed based on tracking data obtained by scanning within the previous search range. Therefore, if the scanning time is tl, the microcomputer 36 calculates approximately r
During this period, tracking is performed based on the tracking data obtained by scanning within the previous search range.

When the number of repetitions exceeds the predetermined number T, it is determined that there is no object to be measured within the search range, and the search range is expanded (8.9).

In the embodiment described above, when tracking data is not obtained within the search range, the search range is expanded after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, but the distance measuring device main body 8 may be forcibly rotated.

(Effects) Since the surveying instrument according to the present invention is configured as described above, it has the effect of being able to reliably capture the object to be measured even if tracking data cannot be obtained due to the influence of environmental conditions.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a light wave distance measuring device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a light wave ranging device according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an optical diagram showing the schematic configuration of the scanning optical system shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the deflection state of the scanning optical system shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control means of the light wave distance measuring device according to the present invention; FIG. 7 is a timing chart of the control means shown in FIG. 6; FIG. 8 is a diagram of the light wave distance measuring device according to the present invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the light reception pulse of the light receiving element shown in FIG. 6; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram when there is no object to be measured in the search range; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the expanded search range, and FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the control means according to the present invention. 2... Corner cube (object to be measured) 3... Light wave ranging device 8... Distance measuring device body 9... Distance measuring optical system 10... Scanning optical system 25... Horizontal deflection element 26... Vertical deflection element 36... Microcomputer Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A scanning optical system that scans an object to be measured within a scanning range defined by vertical and horizontal directions; and a scanning optical system that calculates tracking data by calculating based on the scanning results of the scanning optical system; and control means for automatically tracking the surveying instrument main body on an object, and the control means defines the completion of scanning within the scanning range as one search range, and obtains the tracking data for each search range. It is determined whether or not the measurement target object detection data has been obtained, and if the measurement target detection data is not obtained within the search range, the previous scan is performed until the scan of the same search range is repeated a predetermined number of times. A surveying instrument characterized by comprising execution determination means for executing tracking based on tracking data obtained by scanning within a search range.