Three dimensional manufacturing positioning system

A method for determining the coordinates of an object of interest in a structure comprising:

• positioning a target sensor having a plurality of transmitters positioned to define an orthogonal coordinate system of the target sensor aligned with known station, water line and butt line (STA, WL and BL) coordinates on the structure as defined in computer aided design (CAD) data for the structure;
• communicating wirelessly between a handheld device and a computer providing the CAD data;
• directing a beam of a distance measuring element from the handheld device onto a location in the structure to transmit a signal to a location and to receive a return signal from the location to measure a distance;
• communicating between the handheld device and the plurality of transmitters with a portable sensor having a receiver adapted to communicate with the plurality of transmitters to determine a vector position of the handheld device in the coordinate system with respect to the target sensor;
• calculating with a microcontroller connected to the portable sensor and adapted calculate a distance based on the transmitted signal and received return signal, a distance from the handheld device to the location as determined by the distance measuring element;
• and,
• calculating with the microcontroller connected to the portable sensor and adapted to calculate a vector based on the coordinate system for a relative distance and orientation between the handheld device and the target sensor wherein a rotated orthogonal reference of the handheld device, and an origin of the orthogonal coordinate system of the target sensor based on an offset of the plurality of transmitters from the origin, said vector calculations comprising a vector =+ wherein , is defined geometrically as (ra,τ2)2=(x−ax)2+(y−ay)2+(z−az)2;
• (rb,τ2)2=(x−bx)2+(y−by)2+(z−bz)2;
• (rc,τ2)2=(x−cx)2+(y−cy)2+(z−cz)2, and [ax ay az] [bx by bz] and [cx cy cz] are vectors for the locations of the transmitters offset from the origin, and τ2 is the position of the offset orthogonal coordinate system, and to calculate a second vector for position of the location based on the vector position of the handheld device with respect to the target sensor and distance of the location from the handheld device wherein [x′, y′, z′]=[d, 0, 0] and d is the distance measured by the distance measuring element, and conversion of the coordinates of the object of interest is defined as Ls=[x, y, z]=[d cos(ζ1)cos(ζ2), d cos(ζ1)sin(ζ2), d cos(ζ3)sin(ζ1)] wherein ζ1 is an angle between x and x′, ζ2 is an angle between y and y′ and ζ3 is an angle between z and z′, said second vector comprising Pf=+Ls to define an actual physical location of the object of interest on the structure with respect to the CAD data.

A method for determining the coordinates of an object of interest in a structure comprising:

• positioning a target sensor having a plurality of transmitters positioned to define an orthogonal coordinate system of the target sensor aligned with known station, water line and butt line (STA, WL and BL) coordinates on the structure;
• directing a beam of a distance measuring element from a handheld device including an orientation sensor to transmit a signal to a location and to receive a return signal from the location in the structure for determining a distance;
• communicating between a portable sensor in the handheld device with a receiver adapted for communication between the handheld device and the plurality of transmitter/receivers to determine with a microcontroller connected to the portable sensor and orientation sensor a vector position of the handheld device with respect to the target sensor based on the coordinate system;
• using the microcontroller adapted to calculate vectors for a relative distance and orientation between the handheld device and the target sensor, determining a first relative position of the handheld device relative to the target sensor based on the vector position of the handheld device with respect to the target sensor comprising a vector =+ wherein , is defined geometrically as (ra,τ2)2=(x−ax)+(y−ay)2+(Z−az)2;
• (rb,τ2)2=(x−bx)2+(y−by)2+(z−bz)2;
• (rc,τ2)2=(x−cx)2+(y−cy)2+(z−cz)2, and [ax ay az] [bx by bz] and [cx cy cz] are vectors for locations of the transmitters offset from an origin of the orthogonal coordinate system, and τ2 is the position of an offset orthogonal coordinate system of the handheld device;
• using the microcontroller, determining a second vector for relative position of the location relative to the handheld device based on a determined orientation of the handheld device using the orientation sensor by calculating a rotated orthogonal reference [x′, y′, z′] relative to the orthogonal coordinate system defined by the plurality of transmitters in the target sensor said second vector comprising as Ls=[x, y, z]=[d cos(ζ1)cos(ζ2), d cos(ζ1)sin(ζ2), d cos(ζ3)sin(ζ1)] wherein [x′, y′, z′]=[d, 0, 0] and d is a distance from the handheld device to the location measured by the distance measuring element and ζ1 is an angle between x and x′, ζ2 is an angle between y and y′ and ζ3 is an angle between z and z′;
• and,
• adding the first and second relative positions in the microcontroller to define an actual physical location of the object of interest on the structure as Pf=+Ls.