Expiring the Boundaries:
RIEGL VZ-4000 Terrestrial Laser Scanner

With the new RIEGL VZ-4000, a laser scanner is now available that fully satisfies these requirements while using an eye safe laser. The scanner is capable of up to 222,000 measurements per second at a maximum range of 4,000 meters.

This past month, the VZ-4000 toured the world to show the proof.

Monday, April 2, Thomas Gaisecker, Senior Manager International Sales and RIEGL mining expert, arrived in Santiago, Chile to start a demo tour organized by RIEGL distribution partner Geocom S.A., www.geocom.cl.
The next day, demo scans at Minera Los Pelambres, http://www.pelambres.cl, were scheduled. Thomas Gaisecker describes the situation, “Most of Chile’s mines are situated at a sea level between 3000 and 4000m – extremely exhausting for human beings so it is obligatory to have a special health certificate for working in these heights. For the VZ-4000, the demanding field work was a walk in the park. Without any problem, it performed the large range scans, even exceeding the maximum range of 4,000 meters.”

Gaisecker continued, ”To further increase efficiency,  RIEGL developed RiMONITOR and RiMINING, software packages especially adapted to the demanding field work in open pit mines. We used RiMINING for post processing of the acquired data. Within 30 minutes, we had results. Breakline extraction and object removal, e.g., blocking out of vegetation and trucks, was done automatically, the results are of prime quality.”

Thursday, the VZ-4000 was operated in Minera Los Bronces,  http://www.anglochile.cl/es/operaciones/pres_bronces.htm, by Anglo American, one of the largest mining companies in Chile, employing more than 10,000 people and is a major producer of copper. As this mine is situated at more than 4,000m above sea level, Thomas wasn’t allowed to work there. This was the time to build on the user friendliness of the VZ-4000. A short introduction was sufficient and David Santos, chief of the development department at GEOCOM, managed data acquisition of the mine site and the following processing via RiMINING. “The HMI of the scanner is really easy to use. I received some instructions from Thomas and did the scanning. Really no problem. And even more the processing workflow. You have just to proceed some consistent and easy-to-follow steps and get an excellent output. Breaklines were extracted automatically and have been used in point cloud triangulation to thin out the mesh.”

These results were the perfect basis for the next step of the VZ-4000 tour: Presenting the scanner at South America’s major mining event EXPOMIN that occurred in Santiago, Chile from April 9 through 13. At the GEOCOM booth, the brand new data was presented to an enthusiastic audience. The comments from customers and other interested parties involved that of the unique range measurement capability in conjunction with the new software packages provides significant increase in productivity, which is what mine surveyors are looking for.

From South America  Thomas Gaisecker and the VZ-4000 went on to Russia. Organized by our distribution partner ARTGEO, www.art-geo.ru, the RIEGL VZ-4000 was presented at Interexpo GEO Siberia that took place in Novosibirsk from April 17 through 19. In his presentation “RIEGL VZ-4000 Ultra Long Range Terrestrial Laser Scanner for efficient surveying and monitoring missions in mountainous regions”, Thomas gave an insight into the state-of-the-art technique of the VZ-4000 and showed his latest results.
Directly after the show, ARTGEO organized a special trip for interested parties to have a live demonstration with the VZ-4000 in the coal mines of Barzasskoe. Thomas Gaisecker: “By bus, we drove through the Siberian wideness, weather was really awful. But why complain – it was the best conditions to have a “real-life” demo.” And of course, the VZ-4000 could convince the participants: “Marvelous – an excellent performance of range and accuracy. With this system, RIEGL provides a package that is perfectly tailored for mining”, said a Russian mine expert.

The images beside will provide some impressions from the exciting tour.

 

  • RIEGL VZ-4000 range performance up to 4000m
  • TLS-Demo processing