{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]],"date-time":"2026-03-14T18:39:03Z","timestamp":1773513543308,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,7]],"date-time":"2024-05-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1715040000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Laser trackers (LTs) are dimensional measurement instruments commonly employed in the manufacture and assembly of large structures. Terrestrial laser scanners (TLSs) are a related class of dimensional measurement instruments more commonly employed in surveying, reverse engineering, and forensics. Commercially available LTs typically have measurement ranges of up to 80 m. The measurement ranges of TLSs vary from about 50 m to several hundred meters, with some extending as far as several kilometers. It is difficult, if not impossible, to construct long reference lengths to evaluate the ranging performances of these instruments over that distance. In this context, we explore the use of stitching errors (i.e., stacking errors in adjoining or overlapping short lengths) and stitching lengths (i.e., constructing long reference lengths from multiple positions of a reference instrument by registration) to evaluate these instruments. Through experimental data and a discussion on uncertainty, we show that stitching is indeed a viable option to evaluate the ranging performances of LTs and TLSs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s24102960","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,7]],"date-time":"2024-05-07T09:03:38Z","timestamp":1715072618000},"page":"2960","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Laser Tracker and Terrestrial Laser Scanner Range Error Evaluation by Stitching"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Bala","family":"Muralikrishnan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3248-2134","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Braden","family":"Czapla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA"}]},{"given":"Vincent","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA"}]},{"given":"Craig","family":"Shakarji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Sawyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA"}]},{"given":"Matthias","family":"Saure","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Leica Geosystems AG, CH-5035 Unterentfelden, Switzerland"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1016\/j.precisioneng.2015.12.001","article-title":"Laser trackers for large scale dimensional metrology\u2014A review","volume":"44","author":"Muralikrishnan","year":"2016","journal-title":"Precis. Eng."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Staiger, R. (2011, January 26\u201329). 10 years of terrestrial laser scanning\u2014Technology, systems and applications. Proceedings of the GEO-Siberia, Novosibirsk, Russia."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Shan, J., and Toth, C.K. (2009). Topographic Laser Ranging and Scanning: Principles and Processing, CRC Press."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"072001","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6501\/abdae3","article-title":"Performance evaluation of terrestrial laser scanners\u2014A review","volume":"32","author":"Muralikrishnan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"(2001). Guidelines for Decision Rules: Considering Measurement Uncertainty in Determining Conformance to Specifications (Standard No. ASME B89.7.3.1-2001)."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"27","article-title":"Large-scale metrology instrument performance evaluations at NIST","volume":"1","author":"Estler","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. CMSC Autumn"},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Linville, D.L., Park, Y., Lin, N., and Lin, Y. (2024, March 25). Automated Laser Rail for ADM Calibration, Quality Digest, Published 23 May 2019. Available online: https:\/\/www.qualitydigest.com\/inside\/cmsc-article\/automated-laser-rail-adm-calibration-052319.html."},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"(2021). Performance Evaluation of Laser-Based Spherical Coordinate Measurement Systems (Standard No. ASME B89.4.19-2021)."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"(2021). Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS)\u2014Acceptance and Reverification Tests for Coordinate Measuring Systems (CMS): Part 10. Laser Trackers for Measuring Point-To-Point Distances (Standard No. ISO 10360-10:2021)."},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"4","article-title":"Common-path method for laser tracker ranging calibration","volume":"9","author":"Blackburn","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. CMSC"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"082006","DOI":"10.1088\/1742-6596\/1065\/8\/082006","article-title":"Laser tracker calibration procedure at Central Office of Measures","volume":"1065","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Phys. Conf. Ser."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Miao, D., Li, J., He, M., Deng, X., and Li, L. (2014, January 8\u201311). Design and development of 80 meters laser interferometric measurement standard device. Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Precision Engineering Measurement and Instrumentation, Changsha, China.","DOI":"10.1117\/12.2181381"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"094017","DOI":"10.1088\/0957-0233\/23\/9\/094017","article-title":"Interferometric 30 m bench for calibrations of 1D scales and optical distance measuring instruments","volume":"23","author":"Unkuri","year":"2012","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"084008","DOI":"10.1088\/0957-0233\/26\/8\/084008","article-title":"Traceable 28 m-long metrological bench for accurate and fast calibration of distance measurement devices","volume":"26","author":"Astrua","year":"2015","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"(2024, January 29). Available online: https:\/\/unit.aist.go.jp\/riem\/lgt-std\/en\/standard\/edm_e.html."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"(2024, January 29). Available online: https:\/\/www.ptb.de\/cms\/en\/ptb\/fachabteilungen\/abt5\/fb-54\/ag-542\/messeinrichtungen542.html."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"(2024, March 25). NPL. Available online: https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1179\/sre.1974.22.172.270."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"017003","DOI":"10.1088\/0957-0233\/19\/1\/017003","article-title":"A 50 m laser interferometer for automatic calibration of surveying tapes using wireless communication","volume":"19","author":"Kim","year":"2008","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.14311\/AP.2016.56.0088","article-title":"Laboratory testing of the Leica AT401 laser tracker","volume":"56","year":"2016","journal-title":"Acta Polytechnica"},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Gassner, G., and Ruland, R. (2010, January 13\u201317). Instrument Tests with the New Leica AT401, SLAC-PUB-14300. Proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Accelerator Alignment (IWAA 2010), DESY, Hamburg, Germany."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Martin, D. (2010, January 11\u201316). Instrument calibration at the ESRF. Proceedings of the FIG Congress 2010, Facing the Challenges\u2014Building the Capacity, Sydney, Australia."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pires, J. (2013, January 7\u201310). Etalonnage des lasers de poursuite. Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Metrology, Paris, France.","DOI":"10.1051\/metrology\/201306017"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"R\u00fceger, J.M. (1996). Electronic Distance Measurement\u2014An Introduction, Springer. [4th ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-80233-1"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Gordon, S., Lichti, D., Stewart, M., and Tsakiri, M. (2000, January 22). Metric performance of a high-resolution laser scanner. Proceedings of the SPIE, San Jose, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Kersten, T., Sternberg, H., Mechelke, K., and Pardo, C.A. (2004). International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Copernicus Publications. Part 5\/W16."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Boehler, W., Vicent, M.B., and Marbs, A. (October, January 30). Investigating laser scanner accuracy. Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium CIPA, New Perspectives to Save Cultural Heritage, Antalya, Turkey."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Ingensand, H., Ryf, A., and Schulz, T. (2003, January 22\u201325). Performances and experiences in terrestrial laserscanning. Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Optical 3D Measurement Techniques, Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Johansson, M. (2002, January 1\u20132). Explorations into the behavior of three different high-resolution ground-based laser scanners in the built environment. Proceedings of the CIPA WG6 International Workshop on Scanning for Cultural Heritage Recording, Corfu, Greece."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Mechelke, K., Kersten, T.P., and Lindstaedt, M. (2007, January 9\u201312). Comparative investigations into the accuracy behavior of the new generation of terrestrial laser scanning systems. Proceedings of the Optical 3-D Measurement Techniques VIII: Applications in GIS, Mapping, Manifactoring, Quality Control, Robotics, Navigation, Mobile Mapping, Medical Imaging, VR Generation and Animation, Zurich, Switzerland."},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"43","article-title":"Novel method to determine laser scanner accuracy for applications in civil engineering","volume":"42","author":"Solla","year":"2012","journal-title":"Opt. Appl."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"905","DOI":"10.1007\/s12205-010-0986-7","article-title":"Investigations into the influence of object characteristics on the quality of terrestrial laser scanner data","volume":"14","author":"Lee","year":"2010","journal-title":"KSCE J. Civ. Eng."},{"key":"ref_32","first-page":"1067","article-title":"On the calibration of the distance measuring component of a terrestrial laser scanner","volume":"37","author":"Salo","year":"2008","journal-title":"ISPRS"},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Staiger, R., and Ettel, M. (2003, January 9\u201311). Untersuchungen des Laserscanners IMAGER 5003 von Zoller & Fr\u00f6hlich. Proceedings of the 23rd Wissenschaftlich-Technische Jahrestagung der DGPF, Bochum, Germany."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fuss, B., Cocq, C.L., Ruland, R., and Staiger, R. (2004, January 4\u20137). Investigation on laser scanners. Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Accelerator Alignment (IWAA), Geneva, Switzerland.","DOI":"10.2172\/839971"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105010","DOI":"10.1088\/0957-0233\/25\/10\/105010","article-title":"Evaluation of a laser scanner for large volume coordinate metrology: A comparison of results before and after factory calibration","volume":"25","author":"Ferrucci","year":"2014","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"(2015). Standard Test Method for Evaluating the Relative-Range Measurement Performance of 3D Imaging Systems in the Medium Range (Standard No. ASTM E2938-15)."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"(2017). Standard Test Method for Evaluating the Point-to-Point Distance Measurement Performance of Spherical Coordinate 3D Imaging Systems in the Medium Range (Standard No. ASTM E3125-17)."},{"key":"ref_38","first-page":"30","article-title":"Linear laser performance: How distance, environment, and setup affect a laser tracker\u2019s linear accuracy","volume":"9","author":"Turolski","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. CMSC Autumn"},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"Khalil, R. (2005, January 16\u201321). New Compact method for laboratory testing EDM instruments. Proceedings of the FIG Working Week 2005 and 8th International Conference on the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure, Cairo, Egypt."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"Cox, M.G., Flack, N.R., Forbes, D.R., and Peggs, A.B. (1997). Measurement of Artefacts Using Repositioning Methods, NPL Publication. NPL Technical Report CLM2."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"055006","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6501\/ab5416","article-title":"Overlap method for the performance evaluation of coordinate measurement systems and the calibration of one dimensional artifacts","volume":"31","author":"Trapet","year":"2020","journal-title":"Meas. Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"(2008). Acceptance Test and Reverification Test for Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) Part 2: CMMs Used for Measuring Linear Dimensions (Technical Report) (Standard No. ASME B89.4.10360.2-2008)."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125016","DOI":"10.6028\/jres.125.016","article-title":"Improvised long test lengths via stitching scale bar method: Interim testing of laser trackers","volume":"125","author":"Lee","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125017","DOI":"10.6028\/jres.125.017","article-title":"Improvised long test lengths via stitching scale bar method: Performance evaluation of terrestrial laser scanners per ASTM E3125-17","volume":"125","author":"Shi","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol."},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"de Souza, M.M., Muralikrishnan, B., Lee, V., and Sawyer, D. (2023). Laser Tracker Relative Range Error Evaluation by the Back-To-Back, Common Path Single Pass, and Common Path Double Pass Methods, National Institute of Standards and Technology. NISTIR 8468."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gruza, M., G\u0105ska, A., S\u0142adek, J.A., Stojadinovic, S.M., Majstorovic, V.D., G\u0105ska, P., and Harmatys, W. (2021). Method for Accuracy Assessment of the Length Measurement Unit of Laser Tracking Systems. Appl. Sci., 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/app11199335"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Haitjema, H. (2019). Calibration of displacement laser interferometer systems for industrial metrology. Sensors, 19.","DOI":"10.3390\/s19194100"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1016\/j.measurement.2017.07.027","article-title":"Relative range error evaluation of terrestrial laser scanners using a plate, a sphere, and a novel dual-sphere-plate target","volume":"111","author":"Muralikrishnan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Measurement"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/10\/2960\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T14:40:52Z","timestamp":1760107252000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/24\/10\/2960"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,7]]},"references-count":48,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,5]]}},"alternative-id":["s24102960"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s24102960","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,5,7]]}}}