Architectural stability analysis of the rotary-laser scanning technique

Abstract The rotary-laser scanning technique is an important method in scale measurements due to its high accuracy and large measurement range. This paper first introduces a newly designed measurement station which is able to provide two-dimensional measurement information including the azimuth and elevation by using the rotary-laser scanning technique, then presents the architectural stability analysis of this technique by detailed theoretical derivations. Based on the designed station, a validation using both experiment and simulation is presented in order to verify the analytic conclusion. The results show that the architectural stability of the rotary-laser scanning technique is only affected by the two scanning angles׳ difference. And the difference which brings the best architectural stability can be calculated by using pre-calibrated parameters of the two laser planes. This research gives us an insight into the rotary-laser scanning technique. Moreover, the measurement accuracy of the rotary-laser scanning technique can be further improved based on the results of the study.