Dimensional measurements in the shipbuilding industry: on-site comparison of a state-of-the-art laser tracker, total station and laser scanner

Abstract

Thanks to recent technological innovations, some large-volume-metrology measuring instruments—that would have been considered out of context one/two decades ago—are now effective for the shipbuilding industry, where dimensional errors of a few millimetres are generally tolerated. This paper considers three state-of-the-art instruments: a laser tracker, a total station, and a laser scanner, all with the latest generation of technology. While the first instrument type has long been widespread for applications in industrial metrology, the last two have traditionally been used in other fields, such as as-built surveying, civil engineering, architecture and topography. Instruments are compared using experimental tests concerning the dimensional verification of cruise-ship modules in the relatively under-explored context of the construction of the hull, which represents the ship’s framework. The comparison is structured based on several qualitative and quantitative criteria, including but not limited to (i) simplicity of use for operator(s), (ii) time of acquisition/analysis of measurement data, (iii) metrological performance, and (iv) cost. The main contribution of this article is the on-site testing of instruments of interest, in the typical (unfavourable) working conditions of shipyards.