Angular error calibration of laser tracker system

This paper presents the achievement of a China NSFC project. A technique to calibrate laser tracker using CMM has been developed. A laser tracker with working range of 35m can be calibrated accurately and quickly using a CMM with working range of 1m. Studies have shown that angular errors are the key contributor to measuring errors of laser tracker. A device to measure angular errors of laser tracker on CMM has been invented. Using this technique to calibrate the laser tracker on the CMM, the maximum measuring error of the laser tracker in measuring distance of 1.56m has been decreased sharply from 91μm to 28μm.