Patent attributes
A prism pole has a tubular housing having an open top, a flange at the open top, a bottom portion for contacting ground soil, a height-adjustable rod insertable into the tubular housing with an outer diameter less than inner diameter of the tubular housing to provide a slidable friction fit therebetween for positioning the height-adjustable rod with respect to the tubular housing, a lip at the top of the rod, a laser sensor mounted on the tubular housing for emitting a laser toward the lip to measure distance between the laser sensor and the lip, an electronic control unit in electrical communication with the laser sensor for receiving height measurements and providing height reference data corresponding to the height measurements, an electronic display in electrical communication with the electronic control unit for receiving the height reference data and displaying the height reference data, an audio device in electrical communication with the electronic control unit for emitting an alarm in response to receipt of a signal from the electronic control unit indicating movement of the height-adjustable rod with respect to the tubular housing, and an output device in electrical communication with the electronic control unit for sending the height reference data to a data collection device.