New technologies for monitoring the precision alignment of large detector systems

Two classes of inexpensive systems are described for performing dynamic, high-resolution measurements of the mechanical alignment between components of a large collider detector. One is a three-opint optical system based on video cameras and simple frame processing, while the other is a multipoint stretched wire with three-dimensional displacement readout. Test results are presented for both types of devices, and an application is outlined for a large muon system.