Electronic Distance Measurement

- Physics and Application to Structural Engineering Research

4 December 2014
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.

EDM Physics Lesson (continued)

The distance between EDM and reflector is expressed
n P
L

Counting the number of complete wavelengths n

would require very accurate measurement of time
Instead, longer wavelength signals are sent as
demonstrated below

measured round-trip distance estimate

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

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/Notes/i
nteractive/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-Arsenide-Diode
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 m-strain measurements is
postulated as follows:
Approx. cracking strain of concrete = 40me
Use a gage length of 100mm
Distance accuracy measurement needs to be on the order of

eL 40 x106 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
EDM

Reflector
EDM

Test Specimen