New Ergonomic Hand-Held Scanner is Lighter, Smaller 

Miamisburg, OH – July 17, 2007 – Leica Geosystems, a Hexagon company, announced today the debut of its second generation Leica T-Scan at the Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference (CMSC) 2007, July 17 - 20, 2007, at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. Completely redesigned for improved ergonomics, the TS50 model introduces a new sleek housing with an optimized handle grip. The overall size of the hand scanner is 30% smaller and 20% lighter than the original version. Using the Leica T-Scan, an operator can quickly digitize shiny and diffuse surfaces in normal light conditions with minimal setup time. The Leica TS50 works in tandem with the Leica Laser Tracker to accurately scan large and small objects within a measurement volume of 30m (98ft).

The new scanner also presents optimized marker positions for improved 6DOF (6 Degrees of Freedom) readings over the full range of scanner positions, which is especially beneficial when scanning parts with difficult geometries. The Leica T-Scan now offers "Instant Temperature Compensation" for measurements in almost any environment. A new, intuitive LED array located on the top of the scanner delivers instant feedback about the optimal scanning distance-to-object.  The device works seamlessly with T-Scan Collect 6.0 software, which provides real-time data transfer into point cloud inspection and reverse engineering packages such as Polyworks V10, by Innovmetric Software, Inc.

"When we introduced the original Leica T-Scan for large-volume data acquisition in 2005, it was truly unique in the portable metrology marketplace," states Pirmin Bitzi, Leica T-Scan and Software Application Product Manager. "And it still is today. The Leica T-Scan is impervious to changing environmental light. You don't need photogrammetric targets to measure an object. There is minimal setup time because you don't need to powder object surfaces prior to scanning.”

"Because the Leica T-Scan's laser beam consists of individual dots, intensity is adjusted on-the-fly. Surfaces with different reflective properties ¾ from shiny to black ¾ can be scanned in just one step. Generating point-cloud data means nothing if your software is bogged down with processing millions of data points. We have focused as much attention on the development of new software as we did to the hardware. Point-cloud data is immediately usable for real-time on-screen analysis to analyze discrepancies by overlaying the actual scanned data over CAD data, or for reverse-engineering applications using software packages such as Polyworks V10", concludes Bitzi.

About the Metrology Division of Leica Geosystems

The Metrology Division of Leica Geosystems is a global supplier of comprehensive hardware and software packages to the industrial metrology market. These products integrate with popular CAD programs, various build-and-inspect tools, and reverse engineering software. Using state-of-the-art laser technology, industrial measurement products make quality control, part mating, assembly and construction of large and small parts easier and more accurate than ever. Leica Geosystems’ laser-based technology is widely used in varied industries worldwide.

About Hexagon Metrology

Hexagon Metrology serves the high precision measurement and inspection needs of worldwide manufacturers with its extensive line of metrology hardware, software, accessories, and customer services. The company's name-brand portfolio of quality assurance products include Brown & Sharpe, Leica Geosystems, ROMER, Sheffield, PC-DMIS, DEA, Leitz, and TESA. Hexagon Metrology has an unrivaled installed base of more than 1.5 million handheld, stationary and portable measurement devices, and over 30,000 seats of PC-DMIS metrology software. The company is a subsidiary of Hexagon Measurement Technologies, a business unit of Hexagon AB (Nacka Strand, Sweden), a publicly-traded company (Stockholmsborsen: HEXA B). The Hexagon group consists of  nearly 8,200 employees located in 30 countries. Call 800-426-1066 or visit www.hexagonmetrology.us for more information about Hexagon Metrology Inc. and its trusted brands.

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