Error sources and models of the laser tracker without a beam steering mirror

Abstract

The laser tracker is a widely used instrument in many industrial and metrological applications with high demand measurement accuracy. Imperfections in construction and misalignment of individual parts deliver systematic errors in the measurement results. All error sources need to be identified and reduced to the minimum to achieve the best possible accuracy. The paper summarizes error sources of the laser tracker without beam steering mirror with emphasis on error modeling. Descriptions of error models are provided for the static and kinematic type of measurement.