Is that a laser in your Pocket...?

Micro Laser Developed for Mobile Phone-based Measurements

by MATT BALL on APRIL 19, 2012

UK-based Measurement Devices Ltd. (MDL) has developed a tiny eye-safe micro laser for the mobile phone market that could revolutionize field data collection. The Micro Laser Module can make hundreds of measurement a second for objects within a 120-meter radius. Now that the hardware has been developed it is being marketed to original equipment manufacturers for the development of software and interfaces for different applications.

MDL was started in 1983 by a former Yorkshire mines surveyor, and the company has been hard at work to miniaturize and reduce the power requirements of laser measurement technology since that time.

“Twenty years ago it needed a box the size of a biscuit tin to accommodate the laser technology which could measure objects within 100 metres every few seconds,” says MDL founder and chairman, Steve Ball. “Incorporating a micro laser such as ours in mobile phones would mean that people working in many industries, such as civil engineering, construction and surveying, would no longer need some types of hand-held laser technology.”

While the development of this technology is in its early stages, it certainly has great potential for a wide range of mapping applications. The laser, coupled with a good quality camera, would provide a whole new means of precise measurement and reality capture for a whole host of applications.