FieldScience |
Jim Hermann, CSFM
Laser grading: setting your sights on quality
A area using an automated blade control system.
To understand a little more laser grading, you first have to understand a few terms and principles. A basic understand- ing of the types of lasers also helps.
Laser transmitters come in a number of configurations from simple to more complex. The basic principles are all the same. As a laser transmitter ro- tates, it sends out a beam of light over an area that is picked
up by a receiver. In the process of laser grading, the receiver is mounted on the grading equipment, attached to a mast or pole. The receiver picks up the signal from the transmitter and in turn sends the signal to a control box that simultane- ously raises or lowers the grad- ing blade to keep the cutting edge of the blade at a consis- tent elevation relative to the transmitter beam. Ultimately
18 SportsTurf | February 2012
s the demand for quality and playability on sports fields continues to grow, so does the demand for laser grading. Laser grading is establishing surface elevations within a given
the established grade will mirror the laser transmitter beam. The four main types of lasers
are the level laser, single plane laser, dual plane laser and cone laser. The area of the laser beam emitted from the laser transmit- ter is called a plane. The plane is a two dimensional area. Picture a flat sheet of paper. Now pic- ture that sheet of paper as being large enough to hover over the area to be graded. Maybe that's why it's called a plane? A plane has a Y axis and an X axis. The Y axis could be considered one edge of the paper and the X axis could be considered the edge perpendicular to the first.
"This is an article I wish was available when I started using a laser." —Jim Hermann, CSFM
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LASER GRADING
