AINS enhanced survey instrument

An AINS enhanced precision land survey instrument systems comprising:

• a survey pole having
• a survey pole top end and
• a survey pole bottom end,
• a position-transducer fixed to the survey pole at
• a predetermined location, the predetermined location being adjacent the survey pole top end,
• the position transducer having a robotic total station retro-reflector (RTSR) for receiving and returning
• a laser beam from a robotic total station (RTS) receiver at a known earth based position, the RTS receiver measuring the ground referenced position of the RTSR by measuring the distance, bearing and elevation of the RTSR at the survey pole top end with respect to the known ground position of the RTS receiver from data obtained from the returned laser beam provided by the RTS receiver,
• the RTS calculating North, East and Down vectors from the ground referenced locally level position of the RTS to the ground referenced and locally level position of the RTSR and adding the calculated vectors to the earth referenced position of the known position of the RTS to obtain the earth referenced position of the RTSR based on the known earth referenced position of the RTS,
• a GCZVI switch coupled to the survey pole bottom end to provide
• a zero velocity signal when the survey pole bottom end is in contact with the ground,
• the survey pole having a predetermined distance from the position transducer to the survey pole bottom end,
• an AINS rigidly coupled to the survey pole, the AINS supplying roll, pitch and heading signals of the pole with respect to a ground referenced locally level coordinate system that characterizes the tilt and heading of the survey pole, a computer and program responsive to the roll, pitch and heading signals of the pole, the zero velocity signal and predetermined distance from the position transducer to the survey pole bottom end for calculating and adding North, East and Down vectors in the earth referenced locally level coordinate system from the position of the RTSR to the position of the survey pole bottom end to obtain the earth referenced position of the survey pole bottom end when the survey pole bottom end is in contact with the ground.

An AINS enhanced precision land survey instrument system process comprising the steps of:

• 1. rigidly coupling a position transducer to a survey pole,
• 2. rigidly coupling a package containing an AINS with a the GCZVI switch to a survey pole, the survey pole having
• a bottom end protected by a spike for contact with a survey point on the ground,
• 3. obtaining the earth referenced position of the position-transducer
• 4. obtaining roll, pitch and heading angles of the survey pole from the AINS measured with respect to an earth referenced coordinate system,
• 5. calculating a vector set that characterizes a lever arm vector extending from the position-transducer to the spike using the roll, pitch and heading angles obtained from the AINS,
• 6. adding the vector set to the position transducer position to obtain the position of the spike on the ground, and
• 7. outputting the position of the spike on the ground as a surveyed position.

An aided inertial navigation system (AINS) enhanced precision land survey instrument, comprising:

• a survey pole having a top end and a bottom end,
• a position-transducer fixed to the survey pole at known location relative to the bottom end, the position transducer providing a sequence of earth referenced position signals that characterize the earth referenced position of the position-transducer,
• a switch coupled to the survey pole to provide a switch signal when the survey pole bottom end is at a point to be surveyed,
• an AINS coupled to the survey pole, the AINS supplying tilt and heading signals of the survey pole that characterize the tilt and heading of the survey pole with respect to a ground referenced locally level coordinate system,
• a computation unit, responsive to the tilt and heading signals, the switch signal and known location of the position-transducer relative to the survey pole bottom end, for calculating coordinate translation information in an earth referenced locally level co-ordinate system leading from the position of the position transducer to the position of the survey pole bottom end to obtain the earth referenced position of the survey point.

An AINS enhanced precision land survey instrument systems comprising:

• a survey pole having a top end and a bottom end;
• a position-transducer fixed to the survey pole at known location relative to the bottom end, the position transducer having a robotic total station retro-reflector (RTSR) for receiving and returning a laser beam from a robotic total station (RTS) receiver at a known earth based position, the RTS receiver measuring the ground referenced position of the RTSR by measuring the distance, bearing and elevation of the RTSR at the survey pole top end with respect to the known ground position of the RTS receiver from data obtained from the returned laser beam provided by the RTS receiver, the RTS calculating coordinate transformation information from the ground referenced locally level position of the RTS to the ground referenced and locally level position of the RTSR, and calculating the earth referenced position of the RTSR based on the known earth referenced position of the RTS and the coordinate transformation information;
• a switch coupled to the survey pole to provide a switch signal when the survey pole bottom end is at a point to be surveyed;
• an AINS coupled to the survey pole, the AINS supplying tilt and heading signals of the pole with respect to a ground referenced locally level coordinate system that characterizes the tilt and heading of the survey pole, a computation unit responsive to the tilt and heading signals of the pole, the switch signal and the known location of the position-transducer relative to the survey pole bottom end for calculating, from the coordinate transformation information and the position of the RTSR, the earth referenced position of the survey point.

An aided inertial navigation system (AINS) enhanced precision land survey instrument system process using a survey pole with a top end and a bottom end, a position-transducer located on the pole at a certain position spaced from the bottom end, and an aided inertial navigation system (AINS), comprising the steps of:

• a. locating the bottom end on a survey point;
• b. obtaining the earth referenced position of the position-transducer;
• c. obtaining tilt and heading angles of the survey pole from the AINS measured with respect to an earth referenced coordinate system;
• d. calculating a vector set that characterizes the location of the position-transducer relative to the bottom end using the tilt and heading angles obtained from the AINS;
• e. adding the vector set to the position transducer position to obtain the position of the bottom end;
• and
• f. outputting the position of the bottom end on the ground as a surveyed position of the survey point.