Also in the middle of the year, a Leica optical ranging device was
employed to measure the track profile. The resulting profile,
about a best-fitting plane, is shown in Fig.9. See reports by Ian Pain for
full details.
The Leica data are also taken with the track unloaded (' static').
This profile has been the subject of the work by Jamie Scobbie
to simulate the pointing of the antenna by rolling a software antenna over
the profile and generating structural movements, PITCH, ROLL & YAW and thence
pointing errors. The model is based on static data, but can accomodate
variable amounts of dynamic movement at the track joints. His analysis
of this work appears in MTPPN004, Track Surface Model, and will provide
much assistance to the Azimuth Track Improvement Project which is guided by desired
rms and peak-to-peak pointing performances.