Measurement and Instrumentation

Technical

Invention of the Tellurometer

– a giant leap in measurement
by J R Smith, History Group, FIG

If one traces the measurement of distance back through the mists of time for the determination of long distances with a high degree of accuracy,
one comes to Eratosthenes around 230 BC. The librarian in Alexandria, he took an interest in all manner of subjects including knowledge of the
size of the Earth.

By that time the Earth was considered to be
spherical rather than flat but there had been no
reasonable estimate of its size.
Previous attempts had been made but with little
or no scientific basis. So to obtain a value for the
circumference of the Earth Eratosthenes used
the astronomical knowledge of the time together
with a method, the principles of which, remained
the same until the advent of satellite technology
(see Fig. 1). He said that if you have two far
separated positions that lie on the same
line of longitude, and you measure the
distance between them on the ground
and also determine their separation in
terms of the angle subtended by the two
positions at the centre of the Earth, then you
can determine the circumference.
One of the many interpretations of his
results gave a value that equated to
46 250 km.
Initially the baselines in triangulation were
measured by a variety of means — chain,
wooden rods, glass rods, metal rods, rods
set in boxes of ice, pairs of rods of different
material, steel tapes and other forms. Such
rods were generally about 10 feet long. Then
in 1885 the Swedish Professor, Edvard Jäderin,
introduced the idea of using tapes suspended
in catenary, rather like telephone wires. After
various developments on this idea, 1896
saw the introduction in France of a material
called invar that had a very low coefficient of
expansion. By using this material for the wires
that were suspended in catenary these two
items, catenary and invar, reduced many of
the major problems of baseline measure but still
kept to the principle used by Eratosthenes.
After extensive use between the two World Wars
baseline by catenary came to an abrupt end
in the late 1950s when the last such line was
measured in Kenya. At the time the Directorate
of Colonial Surveys (later to become DOS, or
Directorate of Overseas Surveys), was observing
a triangulation scheme down the west side of
Kenya from Isiolo in the north, southwards to
150  km south of Nairobi where it turned south-
east to Mombasa and then north up the coast
to Malindi. The idea was that the loop north
along the coast and then back westwards to
Isiolo should be completed by traverse.
The baselines were measured in catenary as
13 250 m at Malindi and 21 095 m at Isiolo. That
at Isiolo took six weeks to measure out and back
and took numerous personnel. That at Malindi
was a little quicker. Then someone came
along with a box of electronic tricks, called the
Tellurometer, and measured the Isiolo base
in about 20 minutes to a very comparable

The introduction of triangulation by Snellius in

1615 laid the foundation of a more accurate
way to determine the length between the
points as in the principle of Eratosthenes but
the angular separation still relied on good
astronomical observations. Triangulation
depends on the accurate measurement of one
or more baselines and then the measurement
of all the angles of the triangles in the chain.

Later in the late 18th century the definition

of the new unit of a metre was such that the
circumference was 40 000 km. This had been
determined from the results of two chains of
triangulation, one in France and the other in
Peru. In addition, by this time theories suggested
that the Earth was not spherical but spheroidal
and thus did not have a single radius. After
controversy between Newton in England and
the Cassini family of astronomers in France in the
early 18th century, it was agreed that Newton
was correct in deciding on an oblate (flattened
at the poles) rather than prolate (flattened at the
Equator) shape, hence not so easy to determine
as the sphere. This meant that the length of
1˚ of latitude varied in length with the latitude
(see Fig. 2). Fig. 1: Determination of the size of the Earth. Fig. 2: How the length of 1˚ varied with latitude.

26 October 2009 - EngineerIT

accuracy and similarly that at Malindi. The
Isiolo base had suddenly become the last such
line to be measured in catenary and a new
era had dawned for the surveyor. The traverse
from Malindi to Isiolo had been estimated to
take between 2 and 2½ years to complete by
traditional methods but with the Tellurometer
it took just 28 days to cover the 402 miles in
26 traverse legs.
In this context one must not overlook the fact
that the Geodimeter was invented some
10 years before the Tellurometer but had
disadvantages in respect to weight, range
and bad weather capabilities. However
the Geodimeter used light waves whereas
the Tellurometer used radio waves and this
difference accounted for the better all round
ability of the latter instrument.
So what was this new instrument and where
had it come from. The spur to invent such an
instrument came from Col. Baumann, who
was Director of Trig. Surveys in South Africa
from 1945 to 1955. However the technology
was a result of developments during World
War II in Radar, then Shoran and Hiran to get
the technology required for use at survey
accuracies. Baumann had in 1954 stipulated
that he would like “an accuracy of better than
1 in 105 at over thirty miles, a resolution of a few
inches, line of sight and easily man-portable.”
This was no mean requirement considering that
other countries had spent years and millions of
dollars trying to achieve just this. However Wadley
and colleagues at the Telecommunications
Research Laboratory (T.L.R), a part of the newly
established Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR), had a prototype operating
within a matter of months, and in January
1957 was demonstrating it to an international
audience in Cape Town. The first production
models appeared during the same year (see
Figs. 3 and 4).
So just over 50 years ago surveyors were forced
into a sudden change away from triangulation
to trilateration and traverse. The added
complication was that mechanical equipment
was replaced by electronic “black boxes” and
the traditional use of a screwdriver to cure many
of the surveyors’ problems was replaced by a
technology that was not screwdriver friendly.
Many of today’s readers will never have used
catenary taping and nearly as many will not
have used the early models of Tellurometer.
Now little more than 50 years later satellite
technology has to a great extent replaced
the Tellurometer although it is still being
manufactured in Cape Town but the company
is now called Tellumat.
EngineerIT - October 2009 27
Fig. 3: Dr. Wadley using the Fig. 4: Dr. Wadley demonstrating use of the whirling
prototype Tellurometer. hygrometer for the determination of humidity.
appeared over the years until 1985 and the
The theory of the Tellurometer was simple, using
MRA 7 with a range of 50 km and accuracy of
the formula
±15 mm. That instrument is still in production
D = (v.t)/2 and widely operated in deep-mine safety
where: applications where it is used to continuously
monitor the position of the moving cages. In
D = the distance required, addition models were developed for use both
v = the velocity of light in a vacuum from aeroplanes/helicopters and ships.
In May 2009 a meeting was held in Cape
t = the travel time for the signal to go from
Town to commemorate the 50th anniversary
t = A to B and back again
of the Tellurometer and this was repeated in
Unfortunately it was not quite so simple as that Johannesburg on 15 October 2009. Those of
as there were a whole host of new sources of us who were taught on chains and tapes had
error to take into account. For example, the to adapt to the new technology and much of
important figure of v was at the time taken as what we learnt at college became obsolete
299 792 km/s but how accurate was that in overnight. Dr. Wadley has much to be thanked
survey terms? for, albeit posthumously, as he revolutionised
how surveying was carried out.
Then there was the problem of how accurately
could the time interval be determined? In fact it Contact Jim Smith, Survey Review,
was possible to record time in nanoseconds (ns) jim@smith1780.freeserve.co.uk
where 1 ns equates to around 0,3 m.
What of the velocity figure? While testing his
prototype equipment Wadley concluded
that the value of 299 792 for the velocity
needed to be modified by an increase
of 1,87 ppm to 299 792,6 km/s. So both
Bergstrand with the Geodimeter and Wadley
with the Tellurometer were instrumental in
modifying the accepted value for the velocity
(see Fig. 3).
With the first model of Tellurometer, the M/RA1,
readings were taken off as a series of dial pattern
settings and this proved to be very tedious to
achieve. Then followed a page of calculations
to achieve the result. An accuracy of ±2 inches
over 35 miles was quoted and similar for the
MRA 2 that first appeared in 1959 (see Fig. 4).
In 1964 a prototype of the MA100, the
Modlite, appeared and this was altogether
different in that it was designed for short
ranges and used near infra-red light rather
than radio waves. The MA100 itself was
masterminded by Dick Hölscher and Paul
Cabion and came on to the market in 1968.
Further models of both radio and light versions