Total station data processing using the Terrestrial Engine PP

The Terrestrial Engine PP is one of the Trimble 4D Control Server core processing modules. It is used to import total station measurements from files, to process the raw measurements, to set up the network of measured points, and to store the raw measurements available in the central database.

Adding the module

The Terrestrial Engine PP module is available from the Tree view root Trimble 4D Control Server. Trimble 4D Control Server accepts multiple Terrestrial Engine PP modules for the whole system.

When the module is being added, the Terrestrial Engine PP Properties dialog appears. It lets you define and select module configurations. Each configuration holds information on the data sources and disabled points.

Note - Since the internal point identification is based on configuration names, make sure that the system does not contain a mission name identical to a Terrestrial Engine PP module configuration name.

You may remove a configuration from here, if you do not need it anymore. You may change the settings of the selected Terrestrial Engine PP configuration at any time.

Importing, processing and point setup

The Terrestrial Engine PP module uses JobXML files as data sources. JobXML files are Trimble proprietary survey files with the extension .jxl. Each JobXML file can contain several total station site setups based on backsight stations and an arbitrary number of round measurements to the monitored target points. The Terrestrial Engine PP module imports all point and measurement data from the detected files in order of their file date. From the known coordinates and the measurements of the targets, the Terrestrial Engine PP computes positions for the unknown points.

Note - JobXML files written by the Trimble Survey Controller software need firmware version 12.20 or later.

Output of results

The results of the folder scanning and the results of the last round measurement are displayed in numerical form at the Terrestrial Engine PP views.

The Terrestrial Engine PP makes the results of its estimation process available to depending Integrity Monitor modules.

Note - You need the adjustment functionality of the Integrity Monitor module for processing positions of the unfixed points and for creating point entries into the global point list. The Integrity Monitor module is also used to display the offsets between the reference coordinates of a point and its positions in following rounds in numerical and graphical form. The resulting positions and maps refer to the adjusted coordinates.

Alarming

With alarming activated, the Terrestrial Engine PP module triggers alarms, if the following happens (in alphabetical order of the alarm condition):

• Incomplete measurement
• Point not computed
• Target is missing (for example, if there is an obstacle between the total station and its target, or if a point has been targeted only in one face)

In combination with the Integrity Monitor module, additional alarms can be triggered if displacements exceed specified thresholds.

Logging into the database

The Terrestrial Engine PP module writes file import history, reference coordinates and raw measurements for all points into the central database. The database contains the following tables referring to the Terrestrial Engine PP system: