timeline. They worked 10-hour shifts; with travel that meant
the scanners were running 9 hours a day and SG crews
used battery swaps and lunchtime recharges to handle the
long workdays. Most scans were registered conventionally,
including setting targets and doing cloud registrations in
Trimble RealWorks. "We registered the surveys by baseline,
setting black-and-white check targets with our SX10," said
Simpson. But for some structures, such as conveyors, the
automated cloud registration capability of the X7 helped
speed up production.
VERSATILITY AND DURABILITY
Although the Pilbara region is arid, it is subject to acute
torrential downpours of rain, particularly in the season
of this survey. "It was hot in March, very hot, but a huge
rainstorm rolled in. We evacuated the crew, but some
instruments were left out in the storm," said Simpson.
"The X7 survived fine."
A photo (top) and scan data of a pebble crusher illustrate the
detail provided by 3D scanning.
The Trimble X7 on site in Western Australia. The instrument's self-
calibration and in-field registration significantly improved the SG
crews' productivity.
