Interactive 3D Rocket Triangulation

Move the sliders, then drag the graph to rotate it. Scroll to zoom.

Sliders

Live calculations

Camera A distance
Camera B distance
Rocket drift
True height
One-camera height
One-camera error
Elevation A
Elevation B

Maths

dA = √((xR − xA)² + (yR − yA)²)
dB = √((xR − xB)² + (yR − yB)²)

αA = atan((hR − hc) / dA)
αB = atan((hR − hc) / dB)

drift = √((xR − xL)² + (yR − yL)²)
True two-camera height:
Htrue = hR

One-camera assumes rocket remains above launch pad:
dA0 = √((xL − xA)² + (yL − yA)²)
H1cam = hc + dA0 × tan(αA)

Error = H1cam − Htrue

The two-camera model uses the intersection of the two sight lines to determine the rocket’s actual horizontal position. The one-camera model incorrectly keeps using the launch-pad distance.

Legend

Camera A Camera B Drifted rocket No-drift rocket Launch pad Ground drift path