POSITION INDICATING AND GUIDANCE CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD THEREOF

摘要

The present invention provides a position indicating and guidance control system (10) and method thereof providing at least depth and line information of a tool (46) carried by a machine (44) using a single laser transmitter (12) and control unit (16) with a detector array (14). Grade is simply set by entering it in the control unit (16), thereby eliminating time consuming tilting and plane alignment required with conventional systems. The present invention provides operators the ability to follow a predetermined path (51) and achieve desired digging depth by watching line and grade indicators (38) of the control unit (16). The indicators (38) are activated by data derived from the interception of signals (17, 18a, 18b) generated by the single laser transmitter (12) and the detector array (14) mounted on the machine. The control unit (16) uses the signals (17, 18a, 18b) to calculate elevation angle and azimuth of the tool (46).