This guide uses a Topcon MS total station
We will use the terms reference and control prism interchangeably thought-out this guide
1. Setup your Total Station
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- Ensure AMTS unit is level, click the "_|_" icon on the right side menu to bring up the digital bubble screen
- Set the total station orientation and coordinates. (this will be used to streamline the GeoExplorer setup and does not directly affect coordinates in GeoExplorer.
- Write down or take screenshot of the Total station and backsight prism coordinates used in the next section. We will need these later
- Click menu > 1.Coord. Start from the first step, occupy setup. Enter here the northing easting and height that you wish to use for the total station coordinates in GeoExplorer. Best practice use a different value for northing and easting to easily distinguish them. (or if you have manual survey readings use the actual coordinates) click OK
- Key in Azimuth. Aim your total station at the prism you wish to use as your north. Click SRCH(search). After it locates the prism click 0 Set. Then click OK.
- Coord. Measurement. While still pointing at the same prism click MEAS(measure). The TS will shoot the prism and return the coordinates.
- Setup the AMTS communication settings:
2. Configure Project under Admin>Projects
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- General: Set time zone
- Coordinates: set up for Survey feet
3. Set up Total Station in GeoExplorer.
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- Systems/Total Stations and click on the (+)Add
- Use Fixed position to start. We will later change this to Helmerts.
- After setting up the TS, click the cog icon next to the TS (on the right side of the GeoExplorer window), confirm Communication settings are ok. i.e.
- Connection type is Live
- Correct device is selected
- Connection Type is TCP Client
- Host is the static IP address
- port is 12345 (matching modem)
- settings, use default settings on Sierra Wireless except for those below.
Baud rate Match the setting on your Topcon Destination IP Match the Host IP of your GeoExplorer Server Destination Port Host Port number of your GeoExplorer Server +1 Local Port Match Total Station port in GeoExplorer
4. Shoot Prisms
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- Hover over the Total Station (on right of screen), click … icon, select Live Control
- Turn on the Red pointer Laser or Guide Light if desired (choose from appropriate dropdown menu)
- Reflector Prescan
- if you choose a top left and bottom right range, the TS will scan this area and record all reflectors present.
- Depending on if you are shooting prisms or IR tape choose the appropriate setting. You can shoot both by running two pre scans one with each option selected.
- Will occasionally record duplicates so some readings will need to be removed
- Once scan is complete, select which readings in the list you want to save or remove & rename
- Once saved, they will be recorded in the Observations list
- Add Manually by pointing and shooting
- Add Observations --> Add --> Add by pointing
- Add manually by entering known coordinates
- Add Observations --> Add --> Add by typing in angles or coordinates
- After shooting prisms, check that all settings are correct
- Systems --> Observation, this brings up a list of all prisms that have been read
- Measurement: confirm all items are correct
- Scheduling: confirm all items are correct. Check Measure Both Faces. You can make bulk changes by selecting multiple checkboxes
5. Create an initial calibration
- General - leave these as default
- Calibration:
- Config - make sure min control points is 1
- Fixed position - enter the coordinates of the AMTS used when manually shooting the first ref prism in step 5
- Control observations - select the prism used during manual setup, click the pencil to manually enter in its coordinates.
- Weather station - leave this blank for now. We can add one in later once this initial setup is done.
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- General - now you can change this from fixed position to Helmerts if you assume your AMTS will be moving
- Calibration:
- Config - Set your MIN control points to 1
- Fixed position/Helmerts - don’t change these yet
- Control observations - add the remaining control prisms used during manual setup, click the pencil to enter in its coordinates, click on the calendar to select the measured coordinates from the beginning of step 5.
- Weather station - leave this blank for now. We can add one in later once this initial setup is done.
- Now that all the prisms have been added in live control we need to take a reading. Click the check box at the top to check all prisms and click queue to measure them all now.
- After shooting a prism to be used as a backsight, you need to change the point settings
- Systems -->Total Stations--> Calibrations, this brings up a list of all the calibrations that have been made. For a new project it should be empty.
- Click the Preview(Compute Calibrations>Add from current Date/Time) button. We will add single
- Click save. If it says Valid. Click on replace and apply.
- Check the box for all your prisms again and "Queue" a measurement for all.
- Now we should have valid coordinates for all prisms measured. (calibrations can be reprocessed at any time to repair invalid data, assuming enough good measurements exist)
- Now click on the one calibration listed that we just created
- If your calibration is still valid we can continue to step 6.
- Measurement: confirm all items are correct
- Scheduling: set Measurement Priority to High for References
6. Confirm and Save the Automatic Calibration Method
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- Click on the cog icon next to the total station
- General - choose Fixed or Helmerts. For the initial setup we will choose Fixed, then switch to Helmerts.
- Fixed - choose this method if the AMTS position is fixed in an area outside the Zone of influence. The calibration is used to calculate the orientation of the instrument. This is unlikely and total stations should usually be assumed to be moving.
You will need to enter the Total Station position measured during step one.(East, North, Elev).
- Fixed - choose this method if the AMTS position is fixed in an area outside the Zone of influence. The calibration is used to calculate the orientation of the instrument. This is unlikely and total stations should usually be assumed to be moving.
- Helmerts - choose this method if there is potential for the AMTS position to move, i.e. if it is located inside the Zone of influence. The calibration uses the control observations (reference prisms) to calculate the position of the instrument.
- Advanced - use this only if you have setup co-located GNSS sensors from Navstar with the reference prisms
- Calibration Settings:
- Configuration:
- Instrument Height - don’t use this unless you entered an instrument elevation
- Data Window - This is how often the calibration will be computed. This can be longer than the measurement interval and automatically uses multiple readings as averages in each calibration if they are available. This is a good practice. I'd recommend settings this to 3-4 times the measurement interval.
- Min Control Points is the min number of ref prisms to consider the cycle valid. (one to two less than total control points or 3 for Helmerts and 1 for fixed position)
- "Horizontal Corrections" set to ON
- "Vertical Corrections" set to OFF, since the tilt sensors in the instrument correct for this
- "Scale Corrections" set to OFF, since you need many reference prisms for this to be effective. This adjusts the slope distance measurements.
- Fixed position/Helmerts - Make sure your coordinates for the AMTS for step 1 are entered here. Edit your residuals if needed. If you don’t know if you need to do this leave them as default
- Configuration:
- Control observations - add the remaining control prisms used during manual setup, click the pencil to enter in its coordinates, click on the calendar to select the measured coordinates from the beginning of step 5.
- Weather station - Now you can add a weather station if desired. See the separate guide on GeoExplorer weather station corrections for AMTS.
7. Set you measurement schedules, baseline readings and exports
- Check the settings on each observation to customize its measurement schedule.