JPH10197247A - Automatic tracking apparatus for position measuring plotter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an automatic tracking apparatus for position measuring plotters capable of performing a wide range of tracking maintaining high- precision tracking operation, and having a high work efficiency. SOLUTION: A light emitting unit unit which outputs a tracking light is provided in the reflecting mirror section of a target section. While, in the measuring head section of a measuring appliance, an electronic distance meter 17 for standard tracking having split photo-detectors 18 is provided. Separately from this, a photoelectric receiving unit 20 for wide-range tracking which detects a tracking light in a range wider than a range for detecting the tracking light by standard tracking, is arranged. And this photoelectric receiving unit 20 is composed of an objective optical system 34 having a shorter focal distance f2 than the focal distance f1 of the standard tracking objective optical system 17A, and split photo detectors 35 whose horizontal-direction photoelectric receiving surfaces have been lengthened in the horizontal direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used in a position measurement plotting device for preparing a site sketch or the like in recognition of a traffic accident, and has a configuration of an automatic tracking device for automatically directing a measurement head unit to a measurement point indicating unit. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a traffic accident processing business, a site plan is created at the time of watching a live broadcast, and in order to quickly and accurately create the site plan, a position measurement drawing device has recently been used. It has become. This position measurement plotter can be used to measure the location between accident sites and create a sketch at the same time, which was previously done using a tape measure. Used to 2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional position measurement plotting apparatus, there is one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-60560.

FIG. 8 shows a configuration of a conventional position measurement plotting apparatus. As shown in FIG. 8, a measurement device mounted on an accident handling vehicle or the like has a measurement device supported by an on-vehicle mount 1. A head unit 2 is provided. The measurement head unit 2 is configured to rotate in a rising direction and a turning direction, and a TV camera 3 and an optical distance meter 4 having an objective optical system 4A are arranged in the head unit 2.

The lightwave distance meter 4 emits laser light (measurement light) and receives light incident through the same objective optical system 4A with a lightwave distance meter unit that measures the distance based on the reflected light. (Lightwave distance meter and light receiving element are structurally combined). This light receiving element 5
Is a light receiving element divided into four, which can detect light for tracking and receive an optical signal for communication.

On the measuring machine side, there are further provided a TV monitor, a drawing calculation computer for performing a process for creating a sketch based on the measurement data of the lightwave distance meter 4 and an operation unit for performing an operation relating to measurement. Can be

On the other hand, a target unit (measurement point indicating unit) 7 which is set at a measuring point such as a road is provided on the side of the measuring machine mounted on the vehicle. It has a corner cube reflecting mirror 9 provided at a height position and a plurality of light emitting units (eg, LEDs) 10 arranged on the outer periphery of the reflecting mirror 9.

According to the above configuration, first, the target section 7 is arranged at the measurement point, and the reflecting mirror 9 is directed toward the measurement head section 2. At this time, a plurality of light emitting sections 10 are used for tracking. Light is output. On the other hand, in the light receiving element 5 of the measuring head unit 2, the tracking light is received by the divided element unit,
The rotation is controlled so that the measuring head 2 faces the front of the reflecting mirror 9. Then, after the state of setting on the target section 7 is confirmed, the measurement is started by pressing a measurement start switch or the like.

That is, measurement light is emitted from the lightwave distance meter 4, and the distance to the target unit 7 is measured by receiving the reflected light from the reflecting mirror 9. Then, the distance data, together with the elevation angle and the turning angle information of the measuring head unit 2, are input to a drawing calculation computer, where they are processed to obtain three-dimensional coordinate data. Next, drawing processing is performed based on the three-dimensional coordinate data, and the drawing data is output to a plotter, so that a site sketch can be obtained.

[0009]

However, in the automatic tracking device of the position measuring and plotting device, the tracking light is guided to the light receiving element 5 using the objective optical system 4A of the lightwave distance meter 4 as described above. Therefore, there is an advantage that the tracking can be executed with high accuracy, but there is a problem that the tracking range is narrow.

That is, the objective optical system 4A uses a lens system having a relatively long focal length f in relation to the distance measurement, and the detection area for tracking is narrow. Therefore,
If an obstacle passes between the measurement head unit 2 and the target unit 7 during automatic tracking, the tracking operation may not be performed. In this case, the measurer manually operates while watching the image on the TV monitor. Give a command and move the measuring head unit 2,
It had to be in the detectable area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable a wide range of tracking while maintaining a high-precision tracking operation, and to provide an automatic tracking apparatus for a position measurement and drawing apparatus with high working efficiency. Is to provide.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a tracking light emitting unit which is disposed in a measuring point indicating unit having a reflecting mirror for distance measurement and outputs tracking light, A standard tracking light receiving unit for receiving the tracking light, the distance measuring unit measuring the distance from the state of the tracking light received by the standard tracking optical system. In the automatic tracking device of the position measurement plotting device that tracks so as to face the reflecting mirror, a range where the standard tracking light receiving unit detects tracking light separately from the standard tracking light receiving unit on the measurement head unit side A wide-range tracking light-receiving unit for detecting tracking light in a wider range is arranged, and the tracking operation is executed by both of the tracking light-receiving units. The invention according to a second aspect is characterized in that a light receiving element is arranged in the wide area tracking light receiving section such that a light receiving area in a horizontal direction is widened.

According to the above configuration, even when the measurement point indicating section is located at a position / range that cannot be tracked by the standard tracking light receiving section, the signal is output from the tracking light emitting section of the measurement point indicating section by the wide range tracking light receiving section. The tracking light is captured, and the measuring head is moved so as to face the direction of the distance measuring reflecting mirror of the measuring point indicating unit. Then, the tracking light is also captured by the standard tracking light receiving unit, and thereafter, the accurate tracking operation is performed based on the detection output of the standard tracking light receiving unit.

Further, in the position measuring and plotting apparatus, since the purpose is to measure the position of the object on the ground surface, the moving range of the measuring point indicating section is expanded in the horizontal direction. Therefore, in the above-mentioned wide-range tracking light-receiving unit, by using a light-receiving element having a wide light-receiving area in the horizontal direction, it is possible to efficiently widen the tracking range particularly in the horizontal direction.

[0015]

1 and 2 show the configuration of an automatic tracking device of a position measurement plotting device according to an example of the embodiment. First, the overall configuration will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, on the side of the measuring machine 12 mounted on an accident handling vehicle or the like,
The measurement head unit 13 is supported by a vehicle mount 14, and the mount 14 maintains the measurement head unit 13 in a horizontal state. The measurement head unit 13 can operate in the elevation direction and the turning direction, and the elevation angle and the turning angle are output from the head unit 13 as drawing data.

In the measuring head section 13, a TV camera 16 for photographing the periphery of the measuring point, which will be described later in detail, is a lightwave distance meter 1 having an objective optical system 17A and a light receiving element 18.
7. A wide-range tracking light receiving unit 20 is provided. The lightwave distance meter 17 emits measurement light via the objective optical system 17A, receives the reflected light, and measures the distance,
Further, as in the conventional case, the tracking light incident via the same objective optical system 17A is captured by the light receiving element 18 to automatically track a later-described reflecting mirror section.

A control unit 21 is provided in the measuring device 12.
And a power supply unit 22 for supplying operating power to each unit is arranged,
The control unit 21 includes a TV monitor 23, an automatic tracking circuit 24, a drawing calculation unit (computer) 25, and an operation unit 26. The drawing calculation unit 25 calculates the position of each measurement point on three-dimensional coordinates based on data such as the distance obtained by the measurement head unit 13 and calculates the distance between the measurement points. Performs arithmetic processing for Operation unit 2
6 is provided with operation switches for measurement and plotting,
Data such as a pedestrian crossing, a center line, a telephone pole, and a type of car for drawing mode and drawing can also be input.

On the other hand, a measuring point indicating section (target section) 28 is provided at a measuring point distant from the measuring instrument 12,
The target portion 28 includes a pointing stick 29, the pointing stick 29
Has a reflecting mirror section 30 arranged in the middle of the above. As in the conventional case, the reflecting mirror unit 30 includes a corner cube reflecting mirror 31 and a plurality of light emitting units 3 arranged at equal intervals on the outer periphery.
The light emitting section 32 emits tracking light for an automatic tracking function of the measuring head section 13. In addition,
The light emitting section 32 can simultaneously output a control signal for operation control.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration relating to the tracking function of FIG. 2 described above.
The objective optical system 17A is composed of a lens (or a lens group) having a focal length f1, and the light receiving element 18 is entirely A
.. D. This light receiving element 18
It is arranged as a standard tracking light receiving unit as in the conventional case.

A wide-range tracking light receiving unit 20 is disposed near the lightwave distance meter 17, and the wide-range tracking light receiving unit 20 has a focal length f2 smaller than the focal length f1 (f2 <f1). Objective (lens) system 34 having
And a light receiving element 35 which is divided into four parts E to H. According to the objective optical system 34, since the focal length is shorter than that of the standard tracking objective optical system 17A, a wide field of view can be captured.

Further, in the embodiment, the light receiving element 35
Each of the elements has a horizontally long (long in the horizontal direction) light receiving surface, and the light receiving range in the horizontal direction is further expanded. According to the above configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, when described in the left-right direction, the lightwave distance meter 17 (standard tracking light-receiving unit) including the light-receiving element 18 receives tracking light in the range of α. In the wide-range tracking light receiving unit 20, β (β
> Α) can receive tracking light in a wide range.

The above-described automatic tracking circuit (FIG. 2) 24 is connected to the light receiving elements 18 and 35. The automatic tracking section 24 includes amplifiers 37A and 37B and a filter 3
8A, 38B, detectors 39A, 39B, A / D converter 4
0A, 40B and a microcomputer 41 are provided. That is, the filters 38A and 38B and the detectors 39A and 39B extract the light emission pulse signal output from the light emitting section 32 of the target section 28, and the light receiving element 18 detects the light amounts of the respective elements A to D and the light receiving element 35. Then, the light amounts of the elements E to H are detected.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a light emission pulse signal from the light emitting section 32. For example, a signal having eight pulses in a cycle of T (T: transmission cycle) / 2 is used as a tracking signal. Can be Further, as shown by the chain line in the drawing, a pulse corresponding to 0 to 7 bits inserted between each pulse can be used as a control signal.

The microcomputer 41 calculates a tracking signal for automatic tracking control based on the amounts of light detected by the four-divided light receiving elements 18 and 35, and turns the measuring head unit 13 up and down (upward). A tracking signal and a left / right (turning) left / right direction tracking signal are output to the measurement head unit 13.

The embodiment has the above configuration, and its operation will be described below. FIG. 4 shows a tracking operation of the measurement head unit 13, and FIGS.
2 shows the tracking process control executed by the control unit. First, in the preparation of the floor plan, the pointing rod 2 of the target unit 28 in FIG.
9 is placed at the measurement point, and the reflecting mirror 30 is directed to the measuring head 13. At this time, the light emitting unit 3 of the reflecting mirror unit 30
2, the tracking light (S1) is emitted, and this tracking light is transmitted to the standard tracking light receiving unit (17A, 17A,
18) and the light is received by the wide-area tracking light receiving unit 20, and the tracking processing of FIG. 5 is performed.

In FIG. 5, in step 101, it is detected whether or not the light amounts e, f, g, h detected by the E to H elements of the light receiving element 35 for wide range tracking are larger than the threshold value j. If both light amounts are smaller than the j value [N (NO)], it means that the distance is long or the optical path is blocked, and the non-detection processing of step 102 is performed. On the other hand, if any light amount is j
If [Y (YES)] is larger than the value, step 103
Move to.

In step 103, | (e + f)-
(G + h) |> k1 or | (e + h)-(f + g) |>
It is determined whether or not k2 (k1, k2: constant) is satisfied. That is, it is determined whether the deviation of the tracking light reception is in the vertical direction or in the horizontal direction. If either or both are deviated, the wide-range tracking control (step 104) of FIG. 6 is performed (in the case of N). Moves to step 105).

In FIG. 6, in step 201, (e
It is determined whether or not + f)-(g + h)> k1 is satisfied. When the amount of light received by the upper element (E, F) is large and tracking light is emitted from below (when Y), In step 202, a downward tracking signal is output, and if N, this downward tracking signal is not output (step 203).
In the next step 204, (e + f)-(g + h) <-
It is determined whether or not k1 is satisfied, and the lower element (G,
When the light receiving amount of the portion H) is large and the tracking light is emitted from above (when Y), an upward tracking signal is output in step 205, and when N, the upward tracking signal is output. Is not output (step 206).

Next, at step 207, (e + h)-
It is determined whether or not (f + g)> k2 is satisfied. The amount of light received by the right side element (E, H) in the direction in which the measurement head unit 13 looks at the target unit 28 is large, and tracking light is emitted from the left. If it is (Y), a leftward tracking signal is output in step 208, and if N, this leftward tracking signal is not output (step 209). In the next step 210, it is determined whether or not (e + h)-(f + g)>-k2 is satisfied. The received light amount of the left element (F, G) is large, and tracking light is emitted from the right. If yes (when Y), a tracking signal in the right direction is output in step 211, and if N, this tracking signal in the left direction is not output (step 212).

When the wide-range tracking control is performed as described above, the measuring head unit 13 gradually faces the front of the reflecting mirror unit 30 of the target unit 28. For example, FIG.
In the state shown in (A), the direction of the measurement head unit 13 is shifted to the right, and in step 207, the received light amount of the right element (E, H) is large, and tracking light is emitted from the left. If it is. In this case, step 208
By outputting the leftward tracking signal in the above, the measurement head unit 13 turns leftward from the range of only β, and moves to the range of α as shown in FIG. 4B.

In FIG. 5, in the next step 105,
It is detected whether or not the light amounts a, b, c, and d detected by the elements A to D of the standard tracking light receiving element 18 are larger than the threshold value J, and all the light amounts are smaller than the J value (N )when,
The non-detection process of step 102 is performed. On the other hand, when any of the light amounts is larger than the J value (Y), the process shifts to the standard range tracking control in step 106 as in the related art.

FIG. 7 shows this standard range tracking control operation, and this operation is basically the same as the operation of FIG. 6 described above except for the difference between the constants K1 and K2. That is, (a + b)-(c + d)> K1 is determined (step 3).
01) to output a downward tracking signal (step 30).
2) Then, according to the determination of (a + b)-(c + d) <-K1 (step 304), an upward tracking signal is output (step 305), and the determination of (a + d)-(b + c)> K2 is performed (step 307). Then, a leftward tracking signal is output (step 308), and a rightward tracking signal is output (step 311) according to the determination of (a + d)-(b + c) <-K2 (step 310).

When the standard range tracking control is performed in this manner, the measurement head unit 13 faces the front of the reflecting mirror unit 30 of the target unit 28, as shown in FIG. According to the electro-optical distance meter 17 including the light receiving element 18, the detection range α is limited to a narrow range, so that the measurement head unit 13 can be tracked with high accuracy.

Thereafter, the lightwave distance meter 17 emits measurement light and receives the reflected light (S2) reflected from the corner cube reflecting mirror 31, as shown in FIG. The distance measurement value is output to the drawing calculation unit 25 together with the current elevation angle and turning angle of the measurement head unit 13 moved during the automatic tracking. And
By outputting the drawing data from the drawing calculation unit 25 to the plotter, the site sketch is printed.

In the above embodiment, the wide-range tracking light-receiving unit 20 is provided, and the tracking light is detected in two stages together with the standard tracking light-receiving unit. Tracking light may be detected in a range of steps or more.

[0036]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the tracking light is received by the tracking light receiving unit separately from the conventional standard tracking light receiving unit for receiving the tracking light. A wide-range tracking light-receiving unit for receiving tracking light in a range wider than the light-receiving range is arranged, and the tracking operation is performed by both tracking light-receiving units, so that high-precision tracking operation is maintained. There is an advantage that the tracking range can be widened, and the work of creating a floor plan by the position measurement drawing device can be performed efficiently.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the light receiving element having a wide light receiving area in the horizontal direction is arranged in the light receiving section for wide range tracking, a wide tracking range can be obtained particularly in the horizontal direction. Becomes

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an automatic tracking device of a position measurement plotting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an entire configuration of a position measurement plotting apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram showing a light emission signal used as a tracking signal and a control signal in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a tracking operation of the measurement head unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a tracking process in the microcomputer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a wide-range tracking control operation in the tracking processing of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a standard tracking control operation in the tracking processing of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional position measurement plotting device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,14: on-vehicle mount, 2,13: measuring head, 7,28: target, 12: measuring instrument, 17: lightwave distance meter (including light receiving element for tracking), 17A, 34: objective optical system, 18 , 35: light receiving element, 20: light receiving unit for wide range tracking, 24: automatic tracking circuit, 30: reflecting mirror unit, 32: light emitting unit, 41: microcomputer.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tracking light emitting section that is arranged at a measuring point indicating section having a reflecting mirror for distance measurement and outputs light for tracking, and is arranged at a measuring head section having a rangefinder and receives the tracking light. And a standard tracking light-receiving section for automatic tracking of a position measurement plotting device that tracks the measurement head from the state of tracking light received by the standard tracking optical system so as to direct the measurement head to the distance-measuring reflector. In the apparatus, on the measurement head unit side, separately from the standard tracking light receiving unit, a wide range tracking light receiving unit for detecting tracking light in a wider range than the range in which the standard tracking light receiving unit detects tracking light. An automatic tracking device for a position measurement plotting device, wherein a tracking operation is executed by these two tracking light receiving units. 2. The automatic tracking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a light receiving element is arranged in the wide area tracking light receiving section so that a light receiving area in a horizontal direction is widened. .