The Leica Captivate Experience continues Interviews with our experts

The Leica Captivate Experience continues…Several new solutions were announced on May, 2. We have asked Alastair Green, Field SW business director, Bernhard Richter, GNSS business director and Hans-Martin Zogg, TPS business director, to explain what are the new solutions and what are the benefits for the users.

Alastair, what are the new solutions which were launched with the Captivate v2.00 release?

We have released a number of new software and hardware solutions. This includes

Leica Captivate v2.00 for all CS20, CS35, TS16, TS60 and MS60. This software, most of which is described by Bernhard and Hans-Martin, includes a number of new features such as

– support of the new self-learning Leica GS16 with its 555 channels, RTKplus, SmartLink and SmartLink Fill,

– on the Leica MS60: the new dynamic lock and for all TS16, TS60 and MS60, the new orientate to object setup method

– and a handful of other features and bug fixes.

Leica SmartWorx Viva v6.00 for all CS10, CS15, TS15, TS50, TM50 and MS50. There are mainly bug fixes in the new software for these controllers and instruments. Since SmartWorx Viva also runs on the GS sensors, this version should also be loaded to GS10, GS14, GS15 and GS25.

Full details of all new functionality can be found in the release notes which can be downloaded from my World.

We receive a lot of wishes and ideas from our customers and always try and implement as many as possible. This is an ongoing process and will continue for the next few years – so ensure to keep your CCP (Customer Care Package) up to date, so you can always install the latest versions.

Bernhard, the new self-learning GS16 was already mentioned by Alastair. What does “self-learning” mean?

As most people know, in the last few years the number of signals from increasing satellite constellation (GPS, Glosnass, BeiDou, Galileo) have grown significantly and this will continue in future.

But more signals do not automatically result in better performance. More signals can create more noise.

The intelligent adaptation to changing conditions by selecting the optimal signal combination is the key to deliver the most accurate positions. Therefore a self-learning GNSS sensor adapts to the conditions in which the sensor is being used.

This means wherever a self-learning GNSS sensor is being used, the best available satellite signals and the best available correction data is chosen automatically. This ultimately results in the best possible position and accuracy regardless of the surrounding conditions.

Users do not need to worry about all the satellites constellations – the Leica GS16 does that for them and they can work more efficiently and in more challenging environments than ever before.

Watch the video to find out more

What is SmartLink and how does a user benefit from it?

SmartLink is a subscription service where GNSS correction data is transmitted by augmentation satellites (which are not the same as the GNSS satellites).

It utilises the corrections from geostationary satellites to compute a position with an accuracy of +/-3 cm (2D).

SmartLink is the perfect bridging service for data gaps in any local network such as SmartNet to remain cm positioning with ambiguity resolution. In complete remote areas the same accuracy can be achieved after an initial convergence period typically between 20 to 40 minutes.

So the user has the certainty that his GS16 will continue to provide cm positions even when the RTK data stream is lost or even where no RTK corrections are available at all.

Let’s have a look at the MS60 MultiStation. Hans-Martin, could you please explain the dynamic lock functionality and in which use cases a user can benefit from it?

Until now the Leica MS60 detected and locked onto a moving prism only when the prism passed the field of view of the telescope which is quite narrow with 1.5°.

With the new dynamic lock, the field of view has been enlarged to a vertical laser fan of +/-20°. The MS60 can lock now onto a prism, as soon as the prism crosses this vertical fan. The instrument will detect and lock to the prism.

The new dynamic lock on the MS60 increases the efficiency of the user in many ways, for example when staking out, on construction sites with many obstacles or when a prism is mounted on a moving construction machine.

Let’s watch the video to see these use cases in detail

What is the new “Orientate to object” method about?

“Orientate to object” is a new additional setup method for total stations and MultiStation which allows to orientate the instrument’s coordinate system into an object coordinate system. The difference between common setup methods is that with “orientate to object” the horizon of the two coordinate systems do not need to be parallel. In other words, the vertical axis of the two coordinate systems do not need to be parallel. Or the z-axis of the object is not in the direction of gravity.

This new setup methods opens up new application areas, such as for instance as-built check of pre-fabricated elements. An example could be a concrete beam fabrication factory. For this use case, the instrument is setup in the factory and is measuring the concrete beams. Each beam has its “own coordinate system”. The beams are not moving and simply need to be measured to check tolerances prior to delivery.