A Procedure for accuracy Investigation of Terrestrial Laser Scanners

Abstract

Surveying instruments have to meet certain specifications in order to provide the necessary accuracy standards for a certain application. The main purpose of testing a used terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) is does an instrument still meets factory accuracy standards or not. This paper outlines the procedures for the investigation of the TLS accuracy in laboratory conditions without high expensive equipment e.g. a calibration track line and a laser interferometer. The test field contains control targets and observation pillars. 3D position of the pillars and the targets are derived from an adjustment of highly precise measurements and they are considered as a true standard compared with the scanned data. A proper statistical model of the data analysis is proposed. In addition to the theoretic model, a particular sample of the highly precise TLS measurements is analyzed.