Experimental assessment on the performance of laser total station measurement system for FAST

Abstract

The metrology system to measure position and orientation of the cabin for FAST model consists of three Leica laser total stations. An innovative way was involved to test the performance of the metrology system. Large numbers of experiment data were obtained, including 116 groups of dynamic data and 62 groups of static data. There are many problems to be solved from experiment. 240ms delay time was found and characteristic frequency was detected. The dynamic capability of this metrology system was tested. The metrology system will work in the quasi static in FAST and FAST down scale model.The static position RMS error is less than 0.4mm and orientation RMS error less than 0.08°. Results of the total station examination indicate that this system can meet the requirement of the model. In spite of some dissatisfactory aspects, e.g. sampling rate, the total station will play an important role in the FAST.