Laser surveying instrument

A laser surveying device, comprising:

• a housing having dimensions suitable for being hand-held during operation;
• a power source positioned within said housing and providing a high voltage output and a low voltage output as required to other components;
• a laser rangefinder system disposed within said housing and constructed to fire a laser pulse of short duration at a selected target, to detect an RX (return) pulse of laser light reflected from said selected target, and to produce count data reflective of an elapsed time-of-flight between firing of said laser pulse and receipt of said return pulse;
• a vertical angle sensor for sensing a vertical angle between said target and said housing and constructed to output an electrically readable vertical angle signal reflective thereof;
• a magnetic compass constructed to output a direction reading in electronically readable form;
• a sighting scope attached to said housing, having apparent width measuring means for measuring the apparent width of a target, and operably associated with said laser rangefinder, said vertical angle sensor and said magnetic compass such that when a user sights on a target with said sighting scope, said laser rangefinder, light detector, and magnetic compass are simultaneously aimed at said target, and said vertical angle sensor outputs a signal reflective of the vertical angle to said target;
• trigger means mounted to said housing for manipulation by a user to trigger operation of said survey device when said survey device is aimed at the target;
• and
• control means including a microcontroller having memory means for storing instructions and data, said microcontroller being communicatively interconnected to said power source, said laser rangefinder, said vertical angle sensor, and to read said horizontal direction signal from said magnetic compass, said control means being configured to:
• calculate the time-of-flight of said laser pulse from said count data;
• calculate a distance to said target from said time-of-flight and the speed of light,
• calculate a vertical height from a pair of vertical angle signals each corresponding to a different target or different points on said selected target,
• operate said magnetic compass to produce a compass reading indicative of the direction from said survey device to said selected target, and
• receive said apparent width reading and to compute from said apparent width reading and said distance, an actual width of said target.