Abstract
With the rapid increase of terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) applications, especially for the high-accuracy modelling of large-volume objects, a design system is needed to provide solutions for both scanner and target placement that can meet the project requirements in terms of completeness, precision, economy, and reliability. In this paper, a hierarchical strategy driven by an improved optimization method is developed to solve the TLS viewpoint planning problem. In addition, the placement of the targets is determined by optimizing the target arrangement criterion, and the number of target locations is minimized by accepting the close to optimal target arrangements. Finally, the quality of the design, including the sensitivity of the object coverage to viewpoint placement and the precision of the point cloud are provided. Two building complexes located on University of Calgary campus are used as the experimental datasets in this research. The designs for scanner placement are compared with the “brute force” strategy in terms of the optimality of the solutions and runtime. The results showed that the proposed strategy provided scanning networks with a compatible quality but with more than 80% time savings in design. The number of targets necessary for registration from our system is surprisingly small, considering the volume and complexity of the networks. Through the quality assessments, the sensitivity of the object coverage to the scanner placement indicates how careful the field crew should be when placing the scanner for data capture, and the point cloud precision indicates if the network design can meet the project requirements.
Highlights
Over the past couple of decades, terrestrial laser scanner has been widely accepted in various fields of application such as civil engineering surveying [1,2], deformation monitoring [3], recording and modelling of large industrial environments [4], architectural reconstruction [5], heritage documentation and preservation [6], as well as in environmental monitoring and disaster prevention [7,8]
Plant designers, CAD professionals, architects, contractors, forensic investigators, archaeologists, and owner/operators can all reap the cost and added-value benefits that terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) provides [9]
The popularity of TLS is due to several facts. It can remotely measure inaccessible objects without the need for the placement of cooperative targets. It provides the rapid and high-density data acquirement since it obtains a dense set of measurements in a large angular field of view, in contrast to the single-point measurement offered by traditional surveying methods like total station or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
Summary
Over the past couple of decades, terrestrial laser scanner has been widely accepted in various fields of application such as civil engineering surveying [1,2], deformation monitoring [3], recording and modelling of large industrial environments [4], architectural reconstruction [5], heritage documentation and preservation [6], as well as in environmental monitoring and disaster prevention [7,8]. The popularity of TLS is due to several facts It can remotely measure inaccessible objects without the need for the placement of cooperative targets. It provides the rapid and high-density data acquirement since it obtains a dense set of measurements in a large angular field of view, in contrast to the single-point measurement offered by traditional surveying methods like total station or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Complete 100% surface coverage is usually required for TLS projects [10]. Having the scanning network pre-designed with the optimal/near-optimal placement along with the minimum number of scans and registration targets is a critical aspect, especially for projects with large scale or requiring high precision
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