Six years after a Japanese construction company deployed a light-emitting-diode surveying system to collect continuous, three-dimensional positioning readings, researchers say the technology is now cheaper, easy-to-operate and an automated version of total station systems. It also performs in the dark or light 24 hours a day.
The work is the brainchild of Shinichiro Haruyama, professor at the Graduate School of System Design and Management at Keio University, Yokohama, Japan. Equipped with two Nikon D300 SLR cameras, 20 LED lights and a computer, Haruyama's team initially delivered an automated 3D profile feed of a 100- meter-long bridge in Nakaishiki in nearly real time as it was being constructed.