Temporal-spatial encoding binary fringes toward three-dimensional shape measurement without projector nonlinearity

Many three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement techniques in stereophotogrammetry with temporal coded structured illumination are limited to static scenes because the time for measurement is too long in comparison to the object speed. The measurement of moving objects result in erroneous reconstructions. This is apparent to reduce measurement time to overcome this limitation, which is often done by increasing the projection rate for illumination while shrinking the amount of images taken for reconstruction. The projection rate limits most applications in its speed because digital light processing (DLP) projectors, which are widely used, bring a limited projection rate along. Our approach, in contrast, does not take a DLP. Instead we use laser speckles as projected patterns which are switched using an acousto-optical deflector. The projection rate is 10× higher than what the fastest stripe projection systems to our knowledge achieve. Hence, we present this uncommon but potential approach for highspeed (≈250 3Dfps= [3D measurements per second]), dense, and accurate 3D measurements of spatially separated objects and show the media that emphasizes the ability of accurate measurements while the objects under testing move.

Conventional three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement methods are typically generic to all types of objects. Yet, for many measurement conditions, such a level of generality is inessential when having the preknowledge of the object geometry. This paper introduces a novel adaptive algorithm for absolute 3D shape measurement with the assistance of the object computer-aided-design (CAD) model. The proposed algorithm includes the following major steps: (1)export the 3D point cloud data from the CAD model; (2)transform the CAD model into the camera perspective; (3)obtain a wrapped phase map from three phase-shifted fringe images; and (4)retrieve absolute phase and 3D geometry assisted by the CAD model. We demonstrate that if object CAD models are available, such an algorithm is efficient in recovering absolute 3D geometries of both simple and complex objects with only three phase-shifted fringe images.

Color-coded fringe projection profilometry (FPP) is one of the most important single-frame three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement techniques. Transverse chromatic aberration (TCA) in a color-coded FPP system yields imaging deviations, which will result in 3D shape measurement error. In this work, a TCA compensation method for color-coded FPP is proposed. The proposed method establishes the relationship among phase, pixel deviation, and imaging position for decreasing the 3D shape measurement error introduced by TCA. Compared to existing methods that use the relationship among depth, pixel deviation, and imaging position or polynomial fitting for each pixel, the proposed method offers the merits of precise and simple implementation, since it voids the cumulative error in-depth calculation and removes the time-consuming process of polynomial fitting for each pixel. For validation, a color-coded FPP system is established and calibrated. Two verification experiments, including a translation test and 3D shape measurement of a regular spherical object, are conducted with the calibrated system. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed TCA compensation method is capable of effectively reducing the 3D shape measurement error caused by TCA.

Three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement system with binary defocusing technique can perform high-speed and flexible measurements if binary fringe patterns are defocused by projector properly. However, the actual defocusing degree is difficult to set, and the fringe period is difficult to determine accordingly. In this study, we present a square-binary defocusing parameter selection framework. First, we analyze the fringe formation process mathematically. The defocusing degree is quantified and manipulated by using the focusing distance of projector, which is calibrated by point spread function measurement. To optimize parameter selection, single-point sinusoidal error is modeled as the objective function for the evaluation of the defocusing effect. We verify the correctness by using different parameter combinations and object measurements in our experiments. The appropriate defocusing parameters can be easily obtained according to the analysis of practical system setup, which improves the quality and robustness of the system.

Binary coding methods have been widely used for three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement. However, traditional binary coding methods always require a sequence of binary patterns to encode the fringe order. This paper presents a spatial-temporal binary coding (STBC) method for 3D shape measurement with three binary patterns, including a spatial pattern and two temporal patterns. Specifically, the spatial pattern is used to encode a 4-bit spatial code, and the temporal patterns are used to encode the 2-bit temporal code. By combining the spatial code and the temporal code, 6-bit code words can be obtained that distinguish 26=64 fringe periods of sinusoidal phase-shifting patterns. A robust dual-region labeling decoding scheme is also developed to extract the 6-bit code word for fringe order determination, and then absolute-phase unwrapping can be carried out. Experiments have been conducted, and their results confirm that the STBC method can reliably reconstruct the 3D shapes of measured objects with only three binary patterns.

Three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement of fringe projection profilometry (FPP) with high speed and accuracy is required in many applications. The measurement speed of FPP system is mainly limited by the low frame rate of pattern projection. Although defocusing binary patterns can be used to increase the measurement speed greatly, it will decrease the measurement depth. To this end, a novel triangular pattern generation method is proposed in this paper. By designing and projecting binary strip patterns with focused projector, images of triangular patterns can be then acquired with high frame rate. Fast and accurate 3D shape measurement can be finally obtained by using phase-shifting triangular patterns. Compared with the traditional sinusoidal patterns, the proposed method can improve the projection rate more than 4 times. Moreover, the proposed method will not decrease the measurement depth. Experimental results are given to confirm the validity of the proposed method.

Three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement systems based on diffuse reflection of projected structured light do not deliver reliable data when measuring glossy, transparent, absorbent, or translucent objects. In recent years, we have developed a method based on stereo recording with infrared cameras and projection of areal aperiodic sinusoidal thermal patterns to detect such objects. However, the measurements took longer than 10 s, up to minutes; moreover, the measurement accuracy was improvable. Now, we have succeeded in both drastically reducing measurement time and significantly increasing measurement quality. This finally provides a technique for reliably measuring transparent objects, e.g., in series production. We demonstrate measurement examples achieved within 1 s and with 3D standard deviations less than 10 µm.

Light-in-Flight recording by holography makes it possible to perlorm accurate three-dimensional shape measurements by single-line contouring. Because ultrashort light pulses are used, both stationary and moving objects may be recorded, e.g., fast-rotating turbine blades, mobile scale models, active human beings, etc. The evaluation is accomplished by an image processing system that reads the contouring line that varies along the hologram and transforms it into spatial coordinates, thereby measuring the three-dimensional shape. There are a number of possible application areas of the method, ranging from practical engineering to medicine.

Three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement based on fringe pattern projection techniques has been commonly used in various fields. One of the remaining challenges in fringe pattern projection is that camera sensor saturation may occur if there is a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface that causes measurement errors. To overcome this problem, a novel fringe pattern projection method is proposed to avoid image saturation and maintain high-intensity modulation for measuring shiny surfaces by adaptively adjusting the pixel-to-pixel projection intensity according to the surface reflectivity. First, three sets of orthogonal color fringe patterns and a sequence of uniform gray-level patterns with different gray levels are projected onto a measured surface by a projector. The patterns are deformed with respect to the object surface and captured by a camera from a different viewpoint. Subsequently, the optimal projection intensity at each pixel is determined by fusing different gray levels and transforming the camera pixel coordinate system into the projector pixel coordinate system. Finally, the adapted fringe patterns are created and used for 3D shape measurement. Experimental results on a flat checkerboard and shiny objects demonstrate that the proposed method can measure shiny surfaces with high accuracy.

With the development of science and technology and industrial production, the application of three-dimensional shape measurement technology in the fields of machine vision, industrial monitoring, mechanical engineering and medical testing has become increasingly widespread. The optical three-dimensional shape measurement technology is a method that uses a series of optical methods to obtain the three-dimensional information of the measured object, and the structured light measurement method is a widely used measurement method. In the structured light measurement method, the generation of fringe patterns is a very important link. Here, we use holographic method to generate a fringe pattern whose period and phase can be easily modulated. First, a black and white fringe pattern with a certain spatial frequency is generated according to the cosine structured light period and phase. The spatial frequency of the black and white fringe is determined by the spatial frequency of the structured light to be generated and the magnification of the projection system. A prism phase that can cause lateral movement is applied to the black part of the black and white stripes, so that the light incident on the black area deviates from the optical axis to the first order of diffraction, while the light incident on other parts (without being modulated) continues to travel along the optical axis. In this way, the deviated beam is bright and dark, and finally structured illumination is obtained. Theories and experiments verify the effectiveness of the method. The method to generate fringe patterns is simple, fast, accurate and can be conveniently controlled, and can be well applied to three-dimensional shape measurement technology.

Phase-shifting shadow moire is an efficient technique for three-dimensional (3-D) shape measurement, but the technique is always suffered from the error of phase shifter. A three-frame random phase-shifting algorithm is proposed to relax the requirements of repeatability and accuracy of the phase shifter in a shadow moire system. The proposed method can act as a bridge between the three phase-shifting analysis methods and two-shot phase-shifting methods. The value of introduced arbitrary and unknown phase shift can be calculated by a determinate formula. The algorithm has the advantages of being free from the disturbance of background elimination and less computation. In addition, the proposed method is immune to nonsinusoidal fringe patterns and can be implemented easily in many applications. Both simulation and optical experimental results verify the feasibility of this method.

In fringe projection profilometry, temporal phase unwrapping is an essential procedure to recover an unambiguous absolute phase even in the presence of large discontinuities or spatially isolated surfaces. In this work, a dual-sensitivity profilometry technique is presented, which is based on defocused projection of binary and sinusoidal fringe patterns with a high and low-frequency spatial carrier, respectively. The binary defocusing techniques (based on PWM or square-wave profile patterns, whose pitch is relatively narrow) have demonstrated successful for high-quality three-dimensional shape measurement when the projector presents a nonlinear response. But they suffer if pitch fringe is wide. On the other hand, using dual sensitivity profilometry, the quality of the unwrapped phase is determined by the high-frequency carrier. Thus, working with only one binary pattern, one can use a single defocusing level (low) in order to reduce the data acquisition time and maintain the quality of the unwrapped phase. Experimental results are presented to verify the success of the proposed method.

Blade is the key component of the aero-engine. In generally, it requires precise size and accurate shape, so the three-dimensional shape measurement of the blade is very important. Fringe projection profilometry is generally used to measure the 3D shape of an object, because of the advantages of non-contact operation, full-field acquisition, high resolution, and fast data processing. In this paper, 3D shape measurement method based on surface structured light that combination of gray-code and phase-shift projection is proposed. The wrapped phase of the blade is got by the four-step phase-shift method. In the projection process of the gray-code, due to the ambient light, different surface reflectance and surface physical discontinuous, the edge of gray-code becomes smooth, leading to decode error, so that the gray-code pattern must be binaried before decode. Through the accurate binarization of the blade gray-code pattern, the decoding cycle of the blade is achieved, and the unwrapped phase is achieved by phase unwrapping. Then the unwrapped phase difference between the blade and reference plane is got, the height of the blade can be obtained by the relationship between the phase difference and the height. The experimental and simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve a high precision, high speed and low cost 3D shape measurement of the blade. The measurement accuracy reaches 0.03 mm. The proposed method extends the reliability and practicality of the fringe projection profilometry.

A color phase-shifting technique has been recently developed for high-speed 3-D shape measurement. In this technique, three sinusoidal phase-shifted images used for a measurement cycle in a traditional grayscale phase-shifting technique are encoded into one color image. Therefore, only a single color image is needed for reconstructing the 3-D surface shape of an object. The measurement speed can then be increased up to the frame rate of the camera. However, previous experimental results showed that the measurement accuracy of this technique was initially low, due largely to the coupling and imbalance of color channels. In this paper, two solutions, one software-based and one hardware-based, are proposed to compensate for these errors. Experimental results show that the second solution—modification of the camera together with an imbalance compensation algorithm—would effectively reduce the errors and produce better measurement results than the software-based compensation method. This technique has many potential applications in high-speed measurement, such as highway inspection and dynamic measurement of human body.

A simple and practical full-frame single-camera stereo-digital image correlation (stereo-DIC) technique for three-dimensional (3D) shape, displacement, and deformation measurements is proposed. The technique uses a compact X-cube prism-based color separation device and a color camera to capture images of blue and red colors from different optical paths, and then extracts the surface 3D shape and deformation information of a test sample by processing the captured two sub-channel color images using regular stereo-DIC algorithm. Compared with the existing full-frame single-camera stereo-DICs, the proposed one eliminates the need for a beam splitter and two bandpass filters to capture images, and offers more simple, compact, and easy-to-use optical arrangement. This novel single-camera stereo-DIC technique was validated by a series of baseline experiments involving 3D surface reconstructions, translation tests, and full-field deformation measurements, which provide a new flexible and practical avenue for measuring surface 3D shape and deformation, particularly in microscopic and high-speed applications.