System 1200 Newsletter No.

27
TPS1200 Setup Methods
T HE TPS1200 SETUP APPLICATION
In order to setup a TPS1200 instrument it is necessary to use the Setup application program.
This may seem obvious, but the Setup application offers more options and benefits than may
be apparent at first sight - there are different
methods and functionalities available for different
situations.
This is the first of a series of three newsletters
that deal with the Setup application. This newsletter looks at the overall concept and focuses on
the different setup methods used.
The next newsletter will go into more detail about
the resection methods and the different methods
of adjustment used to calculate the instruments
position and orientation.
A third newsletter will cover some related special
topics, such as mixing TPS and GPS measurements and how Setup can best be used to overcome potential problems.

If you access the Setup application program from

the Begin panel of another application then the
active job is selected in that Begin panel.
Either way, the SETUP Station Setup panel will
be accessed and here it is possible to choose
the Fixpoint job, the Method as to how to setup
the instrument and also to select the source of
the Station Coordinates.
It is also possible to configure some specific
functionality of the setup application press
shift F2(CONF) to access the SETUP Configuration panel.

T HE SETUP CONFIGURATION PANEL

Most configuration settings are relevant for specific setup methods. Only the settings in the
General page view of the SETUP Configuration
panel are described below. The settings in the
other page views are referred to throughout this
newsletter or in the following newsletters.

GETTING STARTED
The Setup application program can be accessed
in different ways.
Either start it from the Programs menu (either
press the PROG button or choose 2. PROG
from the main menu) or directly access it from
the Begin panel of any application (e.g. Survey
or Stakeout) just press F3(SETUP).
If you access the Setup application program from
the Programs menu then the SETUP Station
Setup Begin panel is accessed. Here you can
select the active job (see Newsletter 6) and this
is also the job to where the result of the setup
will be stored).

Two Faces: This option allows two face measurements to be made to target points. This applies to all setup methods except the Set Azimuth and Known BS methods which only allow
measurements in one face.
Use Scale: Allows a scale to be to automatically
derive from the differences between measured
distances and distances calculated from the
coordinates of the target points and the setup
point. This scale factor can then be used to
automatically correct all following distance
measurements from the same station point.
Set Angle Right: Sets an Angle Right value of
0 to the backsight point when using the Known
BS Point method. The Angle Right (AR) display
mask element can be configured to be used in
display masks and consequently displays the
angle difference between the backsight point and
the current direction. This angle is only used for

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System 1200 Newsletter No. 27

TPS1200 Setup Methods
display and has no effect on the orientation or
the actual azimuth.
Auto Position is an option for all motorised instruments. Choosing On means that the instrument will automatically turn to the next target
point after each measurement made in Rese ction methods.

JOB AND FIXPOINT J OB?

As already mentioned, the active Job will already have been selected in the applications
begin panel.
The Fixpoint Job can be any job, but is normally
a different job from the active job and, as the
name suggests, may only contain coordinates of
fixpoints (this job could also be thought of as a
control-job). During the setup process, target
points are selected from the fixpoint job, but no
measurements are stored to it. Whenever a target point out of the fixpoint job is used in the
Setup application this point is copied to the active job. In this way all relevant data is stored in a
single job while the fixpoint job is only used as a
source for point coordinates.
However, if you do not want to use this functionality you can always choose the fixpoint job to be
the same as the active job. In this way all data is
always taken from and stored to the same job.

T HE DIFFERENT M ETHODS
This section describes the options that are available at the Method prompt. Depending on what
is chosen determines what panels are subsequently shown during the setup procedure.

SET AZIMUTH
This method can be used when the coordinates
of the station point are known and the azimuth to
a remote target point is known. Alternatively, an
arbitrary azimuth can be entered (e.g. 0) to a
specific target.

A distance measurement to the known backsight

point can be made, but is not necessary. However the advantage of measuring a distance is
that the measured distance can be compared to
the theoretical with the difference being shown.
Similarly, the measured and theoretical height
differences are compared.
These differences can be checked against user
definable tolerances and a warning is displayed
if these are exceeded (e.g. if by accident you
measured to the wrong point or had selected the
wrong prism type). The tolerances are defined in
the SETUP Configuration panel Checks page
view.

ORI & HEIGHT T RANSFER

This method is basically the same as Known
Backsight method (setting up over a known
points and aiming at a target point in order to
orientate the instrument).
But unlike the Known BS Point that is restricted
to a single target point, the Ori & Height Transfer method allows measurements to made of up
to 10 target points. The target points may be full
3D points (easting, northing, and height) or 2D
(easting, northing) or even height-only points.
Measurements can be used to calculate the orientation of the instrument or to just derive the
height of the station point, or both.
Note, although measurements to multiple points
are possible, it may still be useful to use this
method with only one backsight point. Although
this then serves the same purpose as the
Known Backsight method it maybe useful as it
then allows to make use of some configuration
settings that are only available in the Ori &
Height Transfer method - such as two face
measurements or the calculation of a scale factor.

During the setup process, the instrument needs

to be pointed at the target point, the azimuth
entered and the known azimuth to be entered.

This method maybe especially useful when

working with SmartStation and you wish to improve the height coordinate of your station. First
determine the coordinates of your station using
the GPS SmartAntenna and then improve the
height by measuring to a target point with known
height coordinate nearby.

KNOWN BS POINT

RESECTION

This is very similar to the Set Azimuth method.

The difference is that instead of typing in a
known azimuth, a target point with known coordinates must be selected from the Fixpoint job.
The Azimuth between the station point and target point is automatically calculated.

In this method the instrument can be setup virtually wherever is needed provided that at least
two target points with known coordinates can be
measured.

BU Surveying
Surveying & Engineering Division

System 1200 Newsletter No. 27

TPS1200 Setup Methods
Station coordinates as well as orientation are
derived from measurements to up to ten target
points using a least squares adjustment algorithm that calculates the best fit between measurements and target point coordinates.
Before storing the setup result, it is possible to
analyse the residuals of the measurements to
the target points and to remove (or use as position or height only target points) in order to improve the resection.

RESECTION H ELMERT
This method looks and feels exactly the same
as the regular Resection method panels are
identical. The difference is in the way the results
are calculated. Regular Resection uses a least
squares adjustment algorithm to find a best fit
between the measurements and the coordinates of the target points.
Resection Helmert is very similar but uses a
Helmert coordinate transformation that finds the
best fit between the coordinates of the target
points and the coordinates of the measured
points.

For these methods it is necessary to enter a

Station ID this is then the ID which is given to
the computed station point.
All other methods require that the coordinates of
the station point are defined before the target
point measurements.

The resection methods will be covered in more

detail in the next newsletters.

LOCAL R ESECTION
Local Resection is a quick method for establishing a local coordinate system.
Unlike all other previous methods, no points with
known coordinates are needed (either for the
setup point or target points). A local coordinate
system is defined by measuring to the first point
which is assigned the coordinates 0,0. A second
point then needs to be measured this point
then defines the direction of either the northing
or easting axis (as defined in the Setup configuration panel).
The coordinates of the station point are calculated in relation to this local coordinate system.

WHERE DO STATION COORDINATES COME

FROM?
Broadly the setup methods can be divided in two
groups:
The resection methods (Resection, Helmert
Resection and Local Resection) use measurements to target points with known coordinates
in order to derive the coordinates of the station
point.

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Surveying & Engineering Division

The station coordinates can come from one of

the following different sources

FROM J OB
Choose a point from the active job (active job
and not the Fixpoint job) which was selected in
the application or setup panel and in which all
measurements are stored.

FROM F IXPOINT JOB

Choose a point from the Fixpoint job as defined
in the station setup panel. Remember that you
can choose the fixpoint job to be the same as the
active job. In this case this behaves in the same
way as From Job.

RETAIN CURRENT
The point ID and coordinates of the last setup
are always stored in the instruments system

System 1200 Newsletter No. 27

TPS1200 Setup Methods
RAM. In this way the instrument always remembers the last used station coordinates, even if the
memory card is removed or replaced. Choosing
Retain current for the station coordinates simply recalls the last station coordinates that were
set on the instrument.

FROM GPS
This option is only available for SmartStation.
The station coordinates can then simply and
quickly be measured by means of the attached
GPS SmartAntenna.

SUMMARY
Setting up a TPS1200 is simple.
The different ways of determining or choosing
the station coordinates and orientation are combined in a single application program that can be
accessed conveniently from the begin panel of
any application program.
Simply choose the method that best serves the
situation at hand.

BU Surveying
Surveying & Engineering Division