Time-efficient surveys and precise measurements of larger underwater facilities, from bridge and pier substructures to smaller, submerged piping and valve assemblies are now possible with a new underwater laser scanner, the M300UW developed and manufactured by Newton Labs of Seattle, Washington.
The scanner, designed to operate at a longer stand-off distance, produces a point cloud so detailed that when utilized with industry standard three-dimensional software, a fully measurable CAD model of a scanned area can be generated.
The M300UW can scan a target area up to nine by seven feet (2.80 M x 2.08 M) from a distance of up to 10 feet (3.0 M), enabling increased efficiency and shortening of completion times on large area underwater imaging projects. The resulting accuracy of the output, after the point cloud is processed with third-party 3-D software, is up to 0.005 inch (+/-0.127mm). The versatile scanner, designed to operate either in air or water, can work as close at 1.5 feet (0.46 m) from a target surface and is designed to be used to a depth of 320 feet (100M). It can be deployed in a variety of methods, including pole mounting, an articulated arm, an ROV or other robots. The M300UW is the latest additions to the Newton line of advanced technology measurement devices which include the M200UW underwater laser scanner and the specialty, NM200UW nuclear underwater laser scanner and soon to include the M100IP and NM100IP Internal Pipe Scanners.
“ This is a very exciting new product for the underwater measurement industry .” stated John W. Bramblet , President and CEO of Newton. “ The need has existed for some time to be able to produce precise underwater measurements and dimensions at a longer range than the current products. The M300UW extends the usage range of the measurements over the M200UW by a factor of more than three times. In addition, its ability to provide precise dimensioning of features, cracks, welds and other areas allows trending that was never before possible. ” he added.
In addition to the output of point cloud data, there is a human-readable video interface on the console which displays the scanned area in real time, enabling on-site analysis and easy choice of the area to be scanned.
About Newton Labs
Seattle based Newton Labs is a privately held manufacturer of machine vision, robotics and optical automation. A spin-out of MIT, the company has for more than 18 years developed and marketed high-performance, computer-driven automation for industrial processes. Newton’s products are designed to allow the quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness of computer technology to replace the human element in virtually every industry. Newton Labs has deployed more than 20,000 machine vision, robotic and automation systems worldwide.
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Source: newtonlabs ,March 11, 2011;