High-end Rotating Lasers

A rotating laser emits one or more laser beams through its rotating aperture(s), thus generating a 360-degree level reference plane. This rotating beam can be detected using a laser receiver or detector, usually mounted on a rod. Given the height of the aperture of the rotating laser, the height of a point can be determined everywhere within the range of the instrument.

Robert Studebaker in the mid-1960s developed the first rotating lasers by combining a commercially available laser with a motorised spinning prism to establish reference elevations on construction and agricultural sites. He also developed and commercialised detection equipment for receiving the laser signals, so that an elevation could be measured by a single operator. Today the use of rotating lasers by surveyors is widespread in all kinds of construction work; such instruments will be found on building sites, at excavations or road works.

Receivers, or detectors, are used to locate the rotating beam in bright light and/or over large working areas. The receiver is usually attached to a rod and may be slid up and down along this to determine height; an arrow or sound indicates whether the detector should be moved up or down. In some cases the receiver is mounted on an excavator or grader and is connected to the machine’s control-panel, automatically providing it with height information.

Like all instruments, rotating lasers are produced in great variety, from cheap, non-waterproof instruments ranging only a few meters, to rugged, fully automatic instruments ranging several hundreds of meters and offering centimetre accuracy. This Product Survey focuses on the so-called ‘high-end systems’ and our questionnaire sent to manufacturers requested information on instruments with a minimum working range of 200m (R=100m) and minimum accuracy of 5mm per 100m.

Finally, this product survey is meant to serve as a helpful guide. We welcome all suggestions for additional questions or items to focus on. Any such ideas will help us to improve future product surveys.

Participating Companies

In the survey the following companies participated:

• Agatec: A720
  
• AGL Corporation: EAGL 100, EAGL 1000, EAGL 3 Step Slope
  
• FPM Holding: FG-L3, FG-VL3
  
• geo-FENNEL: FL 100FA, FL 250VA-N, FL 400HA-G
  
• Leica Geosystems:Rugby 100/Rugby 100LR, Rugby 200, Rugby 300SG, Rugby 400DG
  
• Pentax: PLP-601(R)-PLP-602(R)
  
• Shanghai JXMEC: SP50
  
• Sokkia: LP30A, LP31A, LP310
  
• Spectra Percision: LL400, LL300, HV401, HV301, GL742, GL772
  
• THEIS: TPL-H, TPL-2N
  
• Topcon: RL-H3A, RL-H3CL, RT-SSa/RT-SSb, RT-SSW, RLH2Sa/RLH2Sb, RL-VH3G/RL-VH3A/RL-VH38