Lu says the surveyors claim they don’t feel threatened by the alignment-and-surveying tool. “They told us we’re lending a big hand to help alleviate their resource constraints," Lu says. "They need this real-time data online for tunnel-alignment survey.”
New Alignment System for Tunneling Machines To Be Tested
![New Alignment System for Tunneling Machines To Be Tested](https://www.enr.com/ext/resources/archives/technology/construction_technology/2012/extras/0201/2.jpg?t=1446043885&width=1080)
Monitoring the device requires a laptop and a lot of know-how.
Courtesy University of Alberta
![New Alignment System for Tunneling Machines To Be Tested](https://www.enr.com/ext/resources/archives/technology/construction_technology/2012/extras/0201/3.jpg?t=1446043885&width=1080)
Because of an obscured field of vision, different tactics and algorithms were developed for micro-tunneling and drainage tunneling.
Courtesy University of Alberta
![New Alignment System for Tunneling Machines To Be Tested](https://www.enr.com/ext/resources/archives/technology/construction_technology/2012/extras/0201/1.jpg?t=1446043885&width=1080)
Three prism sensors are necessary to fill out the equation that triangulates the location of the entire length of the TBM.
Courtesy University of Alberta