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Measurement Simulation: Planning a About NRK
Measurement Task to Save Time Who We Are
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Often times, measurement tasks must be Company News
performed with minimal preparation. If Videos
you have the opportunity to prepare a job
eNewsletter
in advance; however, you may be able to
minimize measurement time and simplify Brochures & Fact Sheets
the measurement process. SpatialAnalyzer (SA) provides a Events
number of powerful tools that allow you to run instruments Careers
in simulation mode and plan the placement of instrument
stations at a job site in order to optimize the entire process.
Read on to learn about SAs planning and simulation options. Applications

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Measurement Simulation: Planning a Measurement Task to Save Time Download a Free Viewer
Often times, measurement tasks must be performed with minimal preparation.
If you have the opportunity to prepare a job in advance; however, you may be
able to minimize measurement time and simplify the measurement process.
SpatialAnalyzer (SA) provides a number of powerful tools that allow you to run
instruments in simulation mode and plan the placement of instrument stations
at a job site in order to optimize the entire process. Read on to learn about SAs
planning and simulation options.

Running an Instrument in Simulation
Most instrument interfaces can be run in simulation mode. This mode allows
an operator to change tooling, adjust measurement prole settings, point at
targets, simulate measurements, and more. It allows you to operate the basic
menu functions just as you would when using a real instrument. Being able to
perform measurement simulation can also be helpful for learning the basic
operation of an instrument interface.

In order to simulate running a laser tracker, follow these steps:

Add the Instrument model to connect to (Instrument>Add) and select the

appropriate tracker from the available instruments.
Run Interface Mode without connecting (Instrument>Run Interface Mode)
and choose Laser Trackers (or API Device Interface for API tracker). You can
also use the down arrow next to the running man icon as shown below.

 Select the tracker model you just added to your job le from the list of
instruments in the Connect to SpatialAnalyzer dialog, then press OK. This
will bring up a Faro Connection dialog box.

Be sure to Uncheck the Connect to Tracker check box and press OK. This will
connect the simulator to your instrument model in your job le.

The Run Without Hardware option in the Connect to SpatialAnalyzer dialog
provides a dierent function than regular simulation. It allows a user to run the
real instrument interface using the saved instrument settings persistence le.
This does not allow you to simulate measurements, but it does provide the
ability to dene custom measurement proles and dene special tooling all
prior to connecting (these are also available to you with the actual instrument
once you reconnect). These tooling and measurement proles can also be
saved in a *.msp le that can be moved from computer to computer or saved
as a backup for future use.

Simulating Other Instruments (PCMM Arms & Total Stations/Theodolites)
You can also run an arm in simulation mode following the same steps as those
used for the tracker. Select Run Interface Module>PCMM Arms. Select the arm
model to connect to and uncheck the Connect to Arm check box. To simulate
using Total stations and Theodolites, you must rst start the Theodolite
 Manager. The connection process for these instruments is as simple as not
entering connection method or COM port.

Fabricating Measurements
As an alternative to running your instrument in simulation, you can directly
fabricate measurements from an instrument model or multiple instruments to
a set of points all at once. This can be done with the command Analysis >
Measurement Simulation > Fabricate measurements (or using the button in the
SA Toolkit).

This will turn a constructed point into a measured point by adding a
fabricated observation to that point and saving that within the points
Measurement Details just as regular measurements are saved. It also oers
the ability to limit measurements based upon a distance threshold and induce
random error using the instruments uncertainty parameters. This is a useful
tool for making simulation more realistic.

Instrument Uncertainty Estimation
No measurement is ever perfect because no instrument is perfectly accurate,
particularly in a rough environment or at a great distance. The extent of the
error only matters with regards to the tolerances you need to meet, so the
ability to estimate measurement accuracy when planning a job can be helpful.
In order to do this, SA provides a basic set of uncertainty controls for each
instrument type that allow you to visualize the inuence of error on a particular
measurement at a particular location. To model this, SA saves uncertainty
parameters as part of the instrument model properties in the tree.

When you fabricate a measurement in SA, the uncertainty values are
automatically used to induce a small amount of error based upon the
instruments uncertainty parameters. So, measuring the same point twice will
not return exactly the same values, which is what you would expect during the
actual measurement process.

Furthermore, you can build an uncertainty cloud to visualize the extent of the
expected error from that instrument with a given condence. This is a quick
way of replicating measuring a point, for example, 1,000 times. Doing so will
produce a cloud of points, the shape of which will be the result of those
uncertainty variables.

Take for example a comparison between a laser tracker and a total station. A
tracker can measure distance quite accurately, while a total station tends to be
more accurate with angles. The image below shows the signicant dierence in
the shapes of the uncertainty clouds.

This uncertainty cloud computation process is the basis for more advanced
network alignment operations. Unied Spatial Metrology Network (USMN) uses
simulated measurements to determine the potential uncertainty of an entire
network and plan the best placement of instruments within that network in
order to reduce uncertainty. USMN is available in SA Ultimate only.

Detecting Obscured Points
Yet another useful function of simulation is the ability to tie together models of
the facility with the instruments and measurements to determine line of sight
restrictions and ascertain where measurements can and cannot be taken.

To help with this, SA provides the ability to detect measurements that are
obscured within the job le. Use the function Construct>Points>Copy Point
Group Excluding Obscured Points to build a list of shots that can be taken
despite the restrictions and detect shots that cannot be taken based upon line
of sight interference.

Greater detail on this topic can be found in a presentation made at a previous
SA User Conference.The presentation can be accessed here:
http://www.kinematics.com/ftp/SA/Install/2015%20SA%20User%20Conf%20Presentations/Technical%20Presentations/

 More detail about USMN can be found here:
http://www.kinematics.com/about/newsletterarticleinstrumentalignmentcontinued.php

Questions? Contact NRK Support at support@kinematics.com.

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