MRI: Acquisition of a laser scanning robotic total station with differential GPS capability

夏威夷是探索与熔岩流，生态入侵，景观干扰和海平面上升相关的变化的世界级环境，但当地研究人员往往缺乏足够的分辨率和位置精度的数据来量化感兴趣的变化。这项重大研究仪器（MRI）合同将使获得具有差分GPS功能的激光扫描机器人系统成为可能。该系统可以收集具有测量级位置精度的密集三维环境数据集，以测量目前无法检测到的环境过程和变化。该系统将提高现有仪器的准确性和性能，包括小型无人驾驶航空系统，还将允许对地震，山体滑坡和海啸等偶发事件产生的记录变化做出快速反应。该系统将推进夏威夷陆地生态学、地貌学、海洋科学、地质学和人类学的现有知识，对研究、教育、和跨学科的合作。这种激光扫描机器人全站仪系统的收购与差分GPS能力和计算将允许重复收集和处理精确和准确的地理定位精细尺度空间数据。该仪器可以生成密集（10^6+），测量级，三维点云测量和亚厘米精度的景观图像。这种精确度是探测与地貌、植被动态、火山学、考古学和海平面上升有关的细微变化所必需的，远远超出了目前的机构能力。该仪器将提高现有空间数据收集仪器的灵敏度和总体效用，包括使用小型无人驾驶航空系统进行高分辨率绘图。设备和由此产生的数据集将由位于希洛的夏威夷大学保存和维护，并将提供给该机构的研究人员以及更广泛的研究社区。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Hawaii is a world-class setting for exploring changes associated with lava flows, ecological invasions, landscape disturbance, and sea level rise, but local researchers often lack access to data of sufficient resolution and positional accuracy to quantify changes of interest. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award will make the acquisition of a laser scanning robotic system with differential GPS capability possible. This system can collect dense three-dimensional environmental datasets with survey-grade positional accuracy to measure environmental processes and changes that cannot presently be detected. The system will improve the accuracy and performance of existing instrumentation, including small unmanned aerial systems, and will also allow a rapid response to record changes produced by episodic events like earthquakes, landslides, and tsunamis. This system will advance current knowledge in Hawaiian terrestrial ecology, geomorphology, marine science, geology, and anthropology, with direct impacts on research, education, and interdisciplinary collaborations.The acquisition of this laser scanning robotic total station system with differential GPS capability and computational will allow repeat collection and processing of precise and accurately geo-located fine-scale spatial data This instrument can generate dense (10^6+), survey-grade, three-dimensional point cloud measurements and imagery of the landscape with sub-centimeter accuracy. This degree of accuracy is required for detecting fine-scale changes relating to geomorphology, vegetation dynamics, volcanology, archaeology, and sea-level rise, and is well beyond current institutional capacity. This instrument will boost the sensitivity and overall utility of existing instrumentation for spatial data collection, including the use of small unmanned aerial systems for high resolution mapping. The equipment and resulting datasets will be housed and maintained by the University of Hawaii at Hilo and will be made available to researchers at this institution as well as to the broader research community.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.