Triangulation in three dimensions

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Development

Suppose three sticks of known length are anchored in the ground at known coordinates. This development calculates the coordinates of the apex where the other ends of the three sticks will meet. These coordinates are given by the vector D. D' is the vector to the coordinates of the apex where the three sticks would meet below the plane of A, B, C as well. This problem also calculates the axis of symmetry of three intersecting spheres. See the article Trilateration for the spherical case. Even if the three spheres don't intersect, this problem still calculates their axis of symmetry. This axis is the line drawn between D and D'. To proceed, three spheres of known centers A, B, C and known radii AD, BD, CD intersect at two points D and D'. Similarly, three sticks of known lengths AD, BD, CD are planted in the ground at known coordinates A, B, C. The other ends meet at a calculated apex. Calculating D and D', the projection[1] of AD onto AB and AC, and the projection of BD onto BC results in,
 

 
 
 


File:FacesABD ACD BCD.gif

 
 
 

By the law of cosines.



The three unit normals to AB, AC and BC in the plane of ABC are:

 


 


 


Then the three vectors intersect at a common point:

 


File:Intersect normals ABC 2.gif
Solving for mAB, mAC and mBC

 


Spreadsheet formula

A spreadsheet command for calculating this is,

PRODUCT(PRODUCT(MINVERSE(PRODUCT(TRANSPOSE H, H)), TRANSPOSE H), g)

An example of a spreadsheet that does complete calculations of this entire problem is given at the External links section at the end of this article.

The the matrix H and the matrix g in this least squares solution[2] are,

 


Alternatively, solve the system of equations for mAB, mAC and mBC:

 

The unit normal to the plane of ABC is,

 


Solution


 



 



where

 
 
 


Decoding vector formulas

 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 


 


 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


 
 
 


The equation of the line of the axis of symmetery of 3 spheres is,

 


 


 


 


Example

File:Example 00 triang.gif

See also

References

  1. ^ Borisenko, A. I. and Tarapov, I. E., (1968) "Vector and Tensor Analysis", General Publishing Company, p. 6. ISBN 0-486-63833-2
  2. ^ Leon, Steven J. (1980) "Linear Algebra", Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., p. 152. ISBN 0-02-369870-5