Study on Adaptability of Intermediate Ranging Mode High-precision Elevation Surveying of Total Station Instrument

With the emergence of precision total station instrument, it becomes possible to apply total station instrument for high-precision elevation surveying (height measurement). Different from traditional trigonometric leveling method, "total station instrument intermediate ranging mode elevation surveying method" only measures distance without consideration on measuring angle or height of instrument, all of which can greatly improve observation precision. At present, there are two problems in the existing relevant theoretical and practical researches as follows: first, in the discussion on the measurement accuracy achieved by this method, most literatures only present part of analytical data and rarely include more concrete and comprehensive data. Second, there are many discussions about the feasibility analysis on realization of high grade (precision) measurement, but few about how to carry out specific surveying and what should be paid attention to in practice. In view of the above-mentioned problems, this paper conducts analysis and research on the influence of various factors like the precision, side length and vertical angle of instrument on height difference precision in "total station instrument intermediate ranging mode elevation surveying" method and obtains the applicable conditions for using total station instruments with different precisions to accomplish elevation surveying at different grades. This brings tremendous popularization and application value to high-efficient precision elevation surveying in the circumstance of big height difference and long distance.