ELECTROMAGNETIC DISTANCE MEASUREMENT (EDM)
Introduction
The rapid development of EDM equipment in recent years has enabled the surveyor and engineer
to measure distances to a higher precision than taping and optical means. EDMs can be referred
to as the surveyors dream because they satisfy the conditions of speed, accuracy and range.
In the beginning EDMs used to measure only long ranges. Short-range measurements were only
possible after the invention of an Infra-red Garium-Asanide diode. The range is limited to 2Km
because the Ga-As diode is not an efficient radiator.
The advantage of the diode is that the EDM instrument became lighter and cheaper because short
range instruments do not need any moderators.
Principle of EDM measurement
The instrument is set over one end of the line to be measured (termed as the master) and some
form of reflector is set over the other end (called the remote). There should be inter-visibility
between the master and the remote. Then an electromagnetic signal (EM) is transmitted from the
instrument towards the reflector. Some of the signals are reflected back to the instrument.
The EM wave generated by the instrument may be of visible, infra-red or microwave
wavelengths. The first two cases are termed passive EDM instruments in which the EM signal is
reflected from an unmanned reflector, whereas the latter forms the basis of active EDM
instruments in which the return signal is generated by a second manned instrument at the remote
end.
The instrument then derives the distance using one of the following techniques:
1. By measuring the time between the pulses of EM energy, normally referred to as the pulse
echo technique.
2. By comparing the transmitted and received signals and deriving the phase difference
between them. The former technique is normally restricted to Laser-based instruments thus
only the latter technique will be discussed in detail.
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Pulsed echo technique
Distances are obtained by measuring the time taken for a pulse of laser radiation to travel
from the instrument to the reflector
The pulses are derived from an infrared or visible laser diode and they are transmitted
through the telescope towards the reflector where they are reflected back to the
instrument
The distance can then be determined using 2D = vt where v is the velocity of the pulses
and t is the time taken for a single pulse to travel from instrument-target-instrument
Phase difference technique.
Distances are derived by comparing transmitted and received signals and deriving the
phase difference between them
The EDM generates the basic EM signal called the carrier signal which may be visible,
infrared or microwave wavelengths. The first two cases-passive instruments in which the
EM signal is reflected from an unmanned reflector whereas the latter –active EDM
instruments in which the return signal is generated by a second manned instrument at the
terminal point.
A modulation signal is then superimposed on to the carrier signal ( a process termed
carrier modulation which ensures that the phase difference can be measured precisely
since the wavelength of the carrier signal is very short [0.5 µm- 30 mm])
The transmitted signal is then either reflected or retransmitted along an identical path
back to the instrument
The weak reflected signal is then amplified and compared in phase with the original
transmitted beam
The difference in phase between the two signals is derived using either a digital pulse
counting approach or a null point approach
The measurement of the phase difference between the two signals is representative of the
fractional part of the total distance less than the integer value of the modulation
wavelength.
Figure 4.5 graphically represents the measurement of distance AB
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Figure 4.5: EDM distance measurement: double path measurement
The distance AB is given by
D= Mλ +∆λ
Where M is an integer
∆λ is a fraction of a wavelength
(Both M and ∆λ are u nknowns)
After reflection
2D= Nλ +∆λ
Where N is an integer
The above equation is equivalent to N revolutions of the vector OA plus
the excess equal to angle .
Angle is a measure of the phase difference between the outgoing and
reflected signals and can be used to derive a value for
∆λ =
2
D= N
2 2 2
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C C
More precisely D= N [ x ]+k2+k3
2 fna 2 2 fna
Where C is the velocity of the EM signal in a vacuum
Na is the refractive index of the atmosphere
f is modulation frequency (assumed error-free)
k2 is the zero error of the instrument
k3 is the cyclic error of the instrument
The integer N in above equations cannot be derived directly by a single measurement and
is normally obtained by introducing successive changes to λ
Errors influencing EDM measurements
Instrument operator errors
Ensure that the EDM is precisely centred
Carefully pointing to the correct position on the reflector
Setting automatic correction values
Atmospheric errors
Temperature
Pressure
Relative humidity
Instrument errors
Scale errors (k1) occur if the modulation frequency of the EDM instrument does
not correspond exactly with the design frequency value for the instrument. The
error is proportional to the distance measured
Zero error (k2) occurs when the internal measurement (instrument/reflector) does
not coincide with the physical measurement centre (instrument/reflector)
Cyclic errors (k3) caused by internal electronic contamination between the
transmitter and receiver circuitry, the effect being periodic over half modulation
wavelength.
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NOTE
1. The effect of both the scale and cyclic errors can be determined using three distinct
approaches to EDM calibration i.e. laboratory methods, field methods using known
baseline lengths and field methods using unknown baseline lengths
2. The main advantages of laboratory tests over field tests are
They are quick and convenient to apply in practice
It’s possible to precisely control the measurement conditions
3. For practical reasons however, laboratory methods are limited to short-range calibration
measurements
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