I read an article about Leica robots, which appeared to say that the scope has camera in it which generates some form of "facial recognition" so that it can learn the shapes of prisms and search for and track them only.
The way it was explained to me by a Leica dealer (Hans Haselbach, who was very well-versed in Leica technology), the prism patterns were hard-coded in the firmware rather than learned on the fly.
I've never run a Topcon but from what I have gathered from this Forum, is that in the case of Topcon active systems, it is speed and reliability.
With Trimble, I guess it is the underlying fact that, although the instrument compensates for it, it is not "aiming" at the center of the optical prism, it is only getting distance from the optical prism.
In both cases, active prisms require power at the pole, which can be an extra thing to go wrong.
With Trimble, I guess it is the underlying fact that, although the instrument compensates for it, it is not "aiming" at the center of the optical prism, it is only getting distance from the optical prism.
This is true for Leica/GeoMax as well, but instead of aiming at a diode it calculates an offset to the center of the image pattern.?ÿ I believe you can force it to center on the prism image, but as I recall that requires an extra command that has to be issued each time -- I don't think you can have it default to center on the image.?ÿ In any case, I've found the ATR to be plenty accurate for most everything I do.
Yes there is a white paper from Lecia on this. My understanding is essentially it gets close enough the uses the electronic smarts to get the accuracy required. It does this so the instrument is not making micro moments which saves wear and tear.
That may be what Lecia call ATR plus which the newer TS16's and better run. The standard ATR has been not y than adequate for me though.
@lukenz?ÿ
Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) has been on all of Leica's robotic instruments.?ÿ In the instruments running Captivate have smart target recognition capabilities (not sure of Leica's term) that filter out bad targets.?ÿ I think it even filters out know points in power search.?ÿ I don't have any Captivate instruments, just the data collector.?ÿ Go figure, they came out a couple of months after I bought an MS50.
I remember reading about this a few years ago also, but that's not what my Zoom 90 does. The target plate makes no difference. I never use a target with a pole, whether?ÿ with a round or omnidirectional prism. I believe it identifies the nodal point of the prism and rather than moving the scope to line up the crosshairs up it makes an adjustment to the angles from the distance from the nodal point to the crosshairs.?ÿ
What's the downside of active prisms??ÿ Weight, accuracy?
They need batteries to run, I guess...but one battery will last days and days. They're a bit heavy but not enough to cause problems for me. DCs are far heavier by comparison. Once you understand how the different modes (active/passive/etc) operate, you're off and running. I'll take an MT1000 over a passive prism for 99% of the projects we do...
I've found the same with my Leica 1203+. ATR works great and I'm actually using a Sokkia mini 360 prism as the original Leica grz4 leaked glue internally and seems to have issues keeping a lock if pointed at that portion of the prism. 95+% of the time I have zero issues with it. The prediction is amazing when I'm walking past objects that block my line of sight, working in subdivisions under development is the majority of my work.?ÿ
I finally got to try the new Trimble S5 today, as that party chief is on holidays...also got the instrument man from that crew, and I'm not sold. I didn't get to use it in my normal environment, but used it out in the open and a few spots where branches and leaves got in the way. It behaved similar to the Leica. The biggest issue is my lack of experience with Trimble access, the excess weight of the tsc7, and not liking the optical plummet and the backwards knobs for sighting in a reflectorless shot. Trimble access seemed to make something as simple as a resection take us 40 minutes to figure out and we still don't know exactly what made it finally work. The software seems based on having a keyboard with hot keys meaning it wouldn't be good with my tablet I normally use. I would want the tsc5 because the tsc7 on a prism pole with a bipod is too heavy for me working solo and carrying multiple things around.?ÿ
I've been waiting to try out the Trimble for a while now and it basically just made me happier with my current setup, even having to deal with Fieldgenius crashing frequently.?ÿ
@rover83 the mt1000 that came with our new S5 apparently doesn't last that long. They are ordering a couple spares to go with it because of that.?ÿ
I know the rc5 on the Sokkia I don't use anymore felt like it really made the pole top heavy when I had to put it up above 2.3m. Today was my first day using the mt1000, I didn't notice the extra weight but I was well weighed down by the bulky tsc7 and decided I will never have one of those for my solo layout work. I'd take the tsc5 instead.?ÿ
What's the downside of active prisms??ÿ Weight, accuracy?
A bit chunky, they require their own battery, and they cost $3000.?ÿ In return their paired instruments acquire lock quickly, won't acquire lock on any other prism, active or otherwise, and hold that lock like no other.?ÿ
