Patent ID: 6693706
Filing Date: 2004-02-17
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
A laser reference system, comprising:a laser transmitter including an optical system arranged to generate a laser beam, said optical system projecting said laser beam radially along a rotational arc defined about a central rotational axis, thereby substantially defining a reference plane of laser light; and a positioning arrangement, coupled to said optical system, for adjusting an angular orientation of said optical system with respect to a first transmitter axis and with respect to a second transmitter axis; a detector arranged to detect reception of said laser beam, said detector including a generally vertically arranged row of detector elements, said detector further including a transmitter for transmitting information regarding the location of said laser beam, as detected by said detector elements; and a processor adapted to receive said transmitted information from said detector regarding the location of the laser beam, and arranged to: determine the distance in an alignment direction between said transmitter and said detector, determine the distance from said detector to said first transmitter axis in a direction generally perpendicular to said alignment direction, and calculate a rake angle between said first transmitter axis and the alignment direction.