Patent ID: 8659752

Claim:
A method for determining when a laser tracker is warmed up enough to be considered stable, the method comprising: obtaining a plurality of first two-face errors sequentially in time, each one of the plurality of the first two-face errors obtained, under control of a processor, by pointing a beam of light from the tracker to a first target, measuring the first target in a frontsight mode of the tracker to obtain a first frontsight reading, pointing the beam of light from the tracker to the first target in a backsight mode of the tracker to obtain a first backsight reading, determining the first two-face error by calculating a transverse distance between the first frontsight reading and the first backsight reading; determining, by the processor, a first stability metric based at least in part on the plurality of first two-face errors, the first stability metric being a measure of the extent to which thermal equilibrium is approached by the tracker; and; generating an indication whether the laser tracker is stable or not stable.