Laser tracker technology for static Monitoring of Civil infrastructure
L. Barazzetti, A. Giussani, M. Previtali and F. Roncoroni
Laser trackers are precise and reliable instruments used in industrial applications in which real-time three-dimensional (3-D) metric information is needed. The nominal accuracy of such instruments is so relevant that they also are assuming an increasing importance in the field of civil engineering. In this paper, laser tracking technology is investigated for static monitoring, which includes particular applications for which the use of such instruments is still unexplored and monitoring campaigns are usually carried out with other electronic and mechanical sensors able to provide precision between ±1 mm and ±3.00 mm. As the nominal precision of modern laser trackers is better than ±0.05 mm, the use of this technology becomes very attractive and opens new interesting scenarios in static monitoring with the measurement of new different quantities. After reviewing the current state of the art in the field of structure inspection, some real applications are presented in which a laser tracker was employed to measure structure displacements. Pros and cons, from both theoretical and practical points of view, are also illustrated and discussed for some real case studies.
Keywords: Laser tracker, civil engineering, deflection, precision, structure monitoring