Electronic Distance Measurement

- Physics and Application to Structural Engineering

Research

April 7, 2015
J. M. Lynch
CEE 398 KUC.

Evolution of EDM Instruments

Got its start in 1948 with Swiss device using
visible light (range=40km only at night)
http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au

Microwaves used in 1957 (range=80km)

http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au

Infra-red, IR, devices are common today

http://www.pentaxcanada.ca

EDM Physics Lesson

Electro-magnetic energy travels through the
atmosphere according to the following:
c
f
n
Where:
c = speed of light in vacuum
n = atmospheric index of refraction, 1.003 for STP
f = frequency of the electro-magnetic energy
= wavelength of the energy

http://131.251.21.249/squ1/

EDM Physics Lesson (continued)

The propagation of electro-magnetic radiation may be
used to measure distances as shown below

EDM
P

If the round-trip distance is not an integer

number of wavelengths, the partial wavelength
may be measured by noting the phase shift of
the returning signal.
P

EDM Physics Lesson (continued)

The distance between EDM and reflector is
expressed
n P
L
2

Counting the number of complete wavelengths

n would require very accurate measurement of
time
Instead, longer wavelength signals are sent as
demonstrated
below round-trip distance estimate
measured

10 m
101o
100 m 190o
1000 m 91o

2.806 m
52.81 m
252.8 m

Therefore, 2L = 252.806
m

EDM Physics Lesson (continued)

Modern instruments use Amplitude Modulation
(AM) to generate multiple wavelengths from the
same radiation source.

http://www.tm.agilent.com/data/static/eng/tmo/N
otes/interactive/an-150-1/classes/liveAM.html

This is done for economics reasons and also to

make the units smaller, lighter, and less power
hungry.
The carrier wave used for most modern EDM
instruments is generated by a Gallium-ArsenideDiode Laser at = 900 nm.

Current EDM Instruments

So called total-station instruments package a
digital theodolite (for measuring azimuth and
altitude) with an EDM, data storage device, and
often a modem for transmitting data from the field.
The most common instruments use a pulse of 2 to
4 AM frequencies ranging from 150kHz to 15MHz.
This range of frequencies have corresponding halfwavelengths of 1.0km to 10m, respectively.
Accuracy
Range
Cost
Data Storage
Magnification
Run-time

Low

High

5mm + 10ppm
1 km
$10,000
none
10X
3 hrs.

1mm + 1ppm
5 km
$40,000
7500 pts.
30X
6 hrs.
http://www.nikon.co.jp/survey-e

Application to Structural
Engineering
Use of EDM on the scale of -strain

measurements is postulated as follows:

Approx. cracking strain of concrete = 40
Use a gage length of 100mm
Distance accuracy measurement needs to be on the
order of
6

L 40 x10

100mm 0.004mm

Therefore, = 1mm or 0.1mm would be needed to

obtain the specified distance resolution
This wavelength corresponds to the IR and RADAR
regions of the electro-magnetic spectrum
(NOTE: AM is not likely to be appropriate given
that the carrier wave would have a wavelength on
the order of the desired AM signal)

Application to Structural
Engineering
Assuming that displacement measurements of
the required accuracy can be obtained . . .
An array of reflectors and two radiation sources
are positioned as shown
ED
M

Reflector
ED
M

Test
Specimen