06 Fakultät Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik und Geodäsie

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    Elementary error model applied to terrestrial laser scanning measurements: study case arch dam Kops
    (2020) Kerekes, Gabriel; Schwieger, Volker
    All measurements are affected by systematic and random deviations. A huge challenge is to correctly consider these effects on the results. Terrestrial laser scanners deliver point clouds that usually precede surface modeling. Therefore, stochastic information of the measured points directly influences the modeled surface quality. The elementary error model (EEM) is one method used to determine error sources impact on variances-covariance matrices (VCM). This approach assumes linear models and normal distributed deviations, despite the non-linear nature of the observations. It has been proven that in 90% of the cases, linearity can be assumed. In previous publications on the topic, EEM results were shown on simulated data sets while focusing on panorama laser scanners. Within this paper an application of the EEM is presented on a real object and a functional model is introduced for hybrid laser scanners. The focus is set on instrumental and atmospheric error sources. A different approach is used to classify the atmospheric parameters as stochastic correlating elementary errors, thus expanding the currently available EEM. Former approaches considered atmospheric parameters functional correlating elementary errors. Results highlight existing spatial correlations for varying scanner positions and different atmospheric conditions at the arch dam Kops in Austria.
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    An elementary error model for terrestrial laser scanning
    (2023) Kerekes, Gabriel; Schwieger, Volker (Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c.)
    Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) is a recent method in engineering geodesy area-wise deformation analysis. After a TLS scan, the result for each epoch is a point cloud that describes the object’s geometry. For each point cloud, the stochastic properties are important for a reliable decision concerning the current object geometry. Generally, the stochastic properties are described by a stochastic model. Currently, stochastic models for TLS observations are highly disputed and incomplete. A realistic stochastic model is necessary for typical applications like structural deformation analysis for buildings and civil engineering constructions. This work presents a method to define a stochastic model in form of a synthetic variance-covariance matrix (SVCM) for TLS observations. It relies on the elementary error theory defined by Bessel and Hagen at the beginning of the 19th century and adapted for geodetic observations by Pelzer and Schwieger at the end of the 20th century. According to this theory, different types of errors that affect TLS measurements are classified into three groups: non-correlating, functional correlating, and stochastic correlating errors. For each group, different types of errors are studied based on the error sources that affect TLS observations. These types are classified as instrument-specific errors, environment-related errors, and object surface-related errors. Regarding instrument errors, calibration models for high-end laser scanners are studied. For the propagation medium of TLS observations, the effects of air temperature, air pressure and vertical temperature gradient on TLS distances and vertical angles are studied. An approach based on time series theory is used for extracting the spatial correlations between observation lines. For the object’s surface properties, the effect of surface roughness and reflectivity on the distance measurement is considered. Both parameters affect the variances and covariances in the stochastic model. For each of the error types, examples based on own research or literature are given. After establishing the model, four different study cases are used to exemplify the utility of a fully populated SVCM. The scenarios include real objects measured under laboratory and field conditions and simulated objects. The first example outlines the results from the SVCM based on a simulated wall with an analysis of the variance and covariance contribution. In the second study case, the role of the SVCM in a sphere adjustment is highlighted. A third study case presents a deformation analysis of a wooden tower. Finally, the fourth example shows how to derive an optimal TLS station point based on the SVCM trace. All in all, this thesis brings a contribution by defining a new stochastic model based on the elementary error theory in the form a SVCM for TLS measurements. It may be used for purposes such as analysis of error magnitude on scanned objects, adjustment of surfaces, or finding an optimal TLS station point position with regard to predefined criteria.
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    Estimating control points for B-spline surfaces using fully populated synthetic variance−covariance matrices for TLS point clouds
    (2021) Raschhofer, Jakob; Kerekes, Gabriel; Harmening, Corinna; Neuner, Hans; Schwieger, Volker
    A flexible approach for geometric modelling of point clouds obtained from Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) is by means of B-splines. These functions have gained some popularity in the engineering geodesy as they provide a suitable basis for a spatially continuous and parametric deformation analysis. In the predominant studies on geometric modelling of point clouds by B-splines, uncorrelated and equally weighted measurements are assumed. Trying to overcome this, the elementary errors theory is applied for establishing fully populated covariance matrices of TLS observations that consider correlations in the observed point clouds. In this article, a systematic approach for establishing realistic synthetic variance–covariance matrices (SVCMs) is presented and afterward used to model TLS point clouds by B-splines. Additionally, three criteria are selected to analyze the impact of different SVCMs on the functional and stochastic components of the estimation results. Plausible levels for variances and covariances are obtained using a test specimen of several dm—dimension. It is used to identify the most dominant elementary errors under laboratory conditions. Starting values for the variance level are obtained from a TLS calibration. The impact of SVCMs with different structures and different numeric values are comparatively investigated. Main findings of the paper are that for the analyzed object size and distances, the structure of the covariance matrix does not significantly affect the location of the estimated surface control points, but their precision in terms of the corresponding standard deviations. Regarding the latter, properly setting the main diagonal terms of the SVCM is of superordinate importance compared to setting the off-diagonal ones. The investigation of some individual errors revealed that the influence of their standard deviation on the precision of the estimated parameters is primarily dependent on the scanning distance. When the distance stays the same, one-sided influences on the precision of the estimated control points can be observed with an increase in the standard deviations.