A general gamma nonlinearity compensation method for structured light measurement with off-the-shelf projector based on unique multi-step phase-shift technology

ABSTRACT

Nonlinearities in the application of fringe projection metrology make it very difficult to acquire perfect 3D data. This paper describes a six-step phase-shifting technique for a structured light measurement system with an off-the-shelf projector. First, the phase error is analysed and a gamma model is established by deriving the relative expression between the wrapped phase and input images. This is then expressed in matrix form to derive a unique solution, which is used for the gamma solver. The complex gamma calibration and projector error compensation can be removed once the gamma value of the off-the-shelf projector has been determined. The ideal model reconstruction results are obtained through simulations and experiments, and the standard deviation of the phase error is found to be only 0.0039 radians. Hence, the proposed method eliminates the nonlinear errors associated with fringe projection technology using existing projectors and improves the overall image reconstruction quality.     

Generic nonsinusoidal phase error correction for three-dimensional shape measurement using a digital video projector

A structured light system using a digital video projector is widely used for 3D shape measurement. However, the nonlinear gamma of the projector causes the projected fringe patterns to be nonsinusoidal, which results in phase error and therefore measurement error. It has been shown that, by using a small look-up table (LUT), this type of phase error can be reduced significantly for a three-step phase-shifting algorithm. We prove that this algorithm is generic for any phase-shifting algorithm. Moreover, we propose a new LUT generation method by analyzing the captured fringe image of a flat board directly. Experiments show that this error compensation algorithm can reduce the phase error to at least 13 times smaller.     

Uneven fringe projection for efficient calibration in high-resolution 3D shape metrology

A novel uneven fringe projection technique is presented whereby nonuniformly spaced fringes are generated at a digital video projector to give evenly spaced fringes in the measurement volume. The proposed technique simplifies the relation between the measured phase and the object's depth independent of pixel position. This method needs just one coefficient set for calibration and depth calculation. With uneven fringe projection the shape data are referenced to a virtual plane instead of a physical reference plane, so an improved measurement with lower uncertainty is achieved. Further, the method can be combined with a radial lens distortion model. The theoretical foundation of the method is presented and experimentally validated to demonstrate the advantages of the uneven fringe projection approach compared with existing methods. Measurement results on a National Physical Laboratory (UK) "step standard" confirm the measurement uncertainty using the proposed method.     

Single-shot color fringe projection for three-dimensional shape measurement of objects with discontinuities

A simple but effective fringe projection profilometry is proposed to measure 3D shape by using one snapshot color sinusoidal fringe pattern. One color fringe pattern encoded with a sinusoidal fringe (as red component) and one uniform intensity pattern (as blue component) is projected by a digital video projector, and the deformed fringe pattern is recorded by a color CCD camera. The captured color fringe pattern is separated into its RGB components and division operation is applied to red and blue channels to reduce the variable reflection intensity. Shape information of the tested object is decoded by applying an arcsine algorithm on the normalized fringe pattern with subpixel resolution. In the case of fringe discontinuities caused by height steps, or spatially isolated surfaces, the separated blue component is binarized and used for correcting the phase demodulation. A simple and robust method is also introduced to compensate for nonlinear intensity response of the digital video projector. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.     

Acoustic grating fringe projector for high-speed and high-precision three-dimensional shape measurements

A new acoustic grating fringe projector (AGFP) was developed for high-speed and high-precision 3D measurement. A new acoustic grating fringe projection theory is also proposed to describe the optical system. The AGFP instrument can adjust the spatial phase and period of fringes with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Using rf power proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control and CCD synchronous control, we obtain fringes with fine sinusoidal characteristics and realize high-speed acquisition of image data. Using the device, we obtained a precise phase map for a 3D profile. In addition, the AGFP can work in running fringe mode, which could be applied in other measurement fields.     

基于反向条纹投影的多投影显示系统几何校准

多投影器大屏幕显示系统的一项关键技术是如何实现多个投影器的精确校准。本文提出一种基于反向条纹投影原理的,简单、快速、高精度的校准方法。该方法通过投影正弦条纹测量屏幕相位分布,建立投影器和摄像机像素之间的几何传递关系,然后根据期望图像为每个投影器产生各自的投影图像。该方法仅需一部摄像机,并且无须对它或投影器进行标定,屏幕也无须是平面。实验结果表明,在摄像机方向观察可以得到几何校准良好的图像,校准精度可达到亚像素级。     

Phase Error Compensation of Three-Dimensional Reconstruction Combined with Hilbert Transform

Nonlinear response is an important factor affecting the accuracy of three-dimensional image measurement based on the fringe structured light method. A phase compensation algorithm combined with a Hilbert transform is proposed to reduce the phase error caused by the nonlinear response of a digital projector in the three-dimensional measurement system of fringe structured light. According to the analysis of the influence of Gamma distortion on the phase calculation, the algorithm establishes the relationship model between phase error and harmonic coefficient, introduces phase shift to the signal, and keeps the signal amplitude constant while filtering out the DC component. The phase error is converted to the transform domain, and compared with the numeric value in the space domain. The algorithm is combined with a spiral phase function to optimize the Hilbert transform, so as to eliminate external noise, enhance the image quality, and get an accurate phase value. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy and speed of phase measurement. By performing phase error compensation for free-form surface objects, the phase error is reduced by about 26%, and about 27% of the image reconstruction time is saved, which further demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the method.     

Closed-loop phase stepping in a calibrated fiber-optic fringe projector for shape measurement

Active homodyne feedback control can be used to stabilize an interferometer against unwanted phase drifts introduced by, for example, temperature gradients. The technique is commonly used in fiber-optic sensors to maintain the fiber at its most sensitive (quadrature) position. We describe an extension of the technique to introduce stabilized, pi/2-rad phase steps in a full-field interferometer. The technique was implemented in a single-mode, fiber-optic interference fringe projector used for shape measurement and can be easily applied to other fiber- or bulk-optic interferometers, for example, speckle pattern and holographic interferometers. Fresnel reflections from the distal fiber ends undergo a double pass in the fibers and interfere at the fourth port of a directional coupler. The interference intensity (and hence phase) is maintained at quadrature by feedback control to a phase modulator in one of the fiber arms. Stepping between quadrature positions (separated by pi rad for light undergoing a double pass) introduces stabilized phase steps in the projected fringes (separated by pi/2 rad for a single pass). A root-mean-square phase stability of 0.61 mrad in a 50-Hz bandwidth and phase step accuracy of 1.17 mrad were measured.     

Phase error compensation for three-dimensional shape measurement with projector defocusing

This paper analyzes the phase error for a three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement system that utilizes our recently proposed projector defocusing technique. This technique generates seemingly sinusoidal structured patterns by defocusing binary structured patterns and then uses these patterns to perform 3D shape measurement by fringe analysis. However, significant errors may still exist if an object is within a certain depth range, where the defocused fringe patterns retain binary structure. In this research, we experimentally studied a large depth range of defocused fringe patterns, from near-binary to near-sinusoidal, and analyzed the associated phase errors. We established a mathematical phase error function in terms of the wrapped phase and the depth z. Finally, we calibrated and used the mathematical function to compensate for the phase error at arbitrary depth ranges within the calibration volume. Experimental results will be presented to demonstrate the success of this proposed technique.     

Comparison of the squared binary, sinusoidal pulse width modulation, and optimal pulse width modulation methods for three-dimensional shape measurement with projector defocusing

This paper presents a comparative study on three sinusoidal fringe pattern generation techniques with projector defocusing: the squared binary defocusing method (SBM), the sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) technique, and the optimal pulse width modulation (OPWM) technique. Because the phase error will directly affect the measurement accuracy, the comparisons are all performed in the phase domain. We found that the OPWM almost always performs the best, and SPWM outperforms SBM to a great extent, while these three methods generate similar results under certain conditions. We will briefly explain the principle of each technique, describe the optimization procedures for each technique, and finally compare their performances through simulations and experiments.     

反向条纹投影技术及其在数字地球仪中的应用

本文提出一种基于反向条纹投影原理的数字地球仪.在数字地球仪中,显示屏是一个球面的漫反射屏,通过投影的方法可以实现数字地球仪任意方向的旋转显示.首先通过投影正弦条纹到球面显示屏上,从观察数字地球仪的方向用CCD相机获取变形条纹图像,通过相移算法,建立投影器和摄像机像素之间的几何传递关系.基于地球三维图形信息数据库,根据期望图像为投影器产生投影图像.本文建立了地球三维信息提取模型,可快速获取从任意角度观察地球的图形信息.实验使用一半径为25 cm的漫反射球体作为显示屏,将计算得到反向地图投影其上,得到相当好的实验结果.     

Shape measurement by use of liquid-crystal display fringe projection with two-step phase shifting

The use of an optical fringe projection method with two-step phase shifting for three-dimensional (3-D) shape measurement of small objects is described. In this method, sinusoidal linear fringes are projected onto an object's surface by a programmable liquid-crystal display (LCD) projector and a long-working-distance microscope (LWDM). The image of the fringe pattern is captured by another LWDM and a CCD camera and processed by a phase-shifting technique. Usually a minimum of three phase-shifted fringe patterns is necessary for extraction of the object shape. In this method, a new algorithm based on a two-step phase-shifting technique produces the 3-D object shape. Unlike in the conventional method, phase unwrapping is performed directly by use of an arccosine function without the need for a wrapped phase map. Hence, shape measurement can be speeded up greatly with this approach. A small coin is evaluated to demonstrate the validity of the proposed measurement method, and the experimental results are compared with those of the four-step phase-shifting method and the conventional mechanical stylus method.     

Surface profilometry with laser-diode optical feedback interferometer outside optical benches

A simple and robust interferometer with a laser diode subject to optical feedback from the interferometer is presented for surface testing of a spherical mirror. The fringe phase can be locked by the optical feedback within less than 0.2pi (peak-to-valley value) even when the interferometer is placed on a wooden table. The fringe locking is caused by the change of lasing wavelength that suppresses the net phase change to be much less than 2pi. The locked fringe pattern with spatial carriers can be analyzed by a fringe analyzer at a video rate, and the measurement results of the spherical mirror showed the same result as on an optical bench.     

Robust spatiotemporal quadrature filter for multiphase stepping

A robust algorithm for phase recovery from multi-phase-stepping images is presented. This algorithm is based on the minimization of an energy (cost) functional and is equivalent to the simultaneous application of a fixed temporal quadrature filter and a spatial adaptive quadrature filter to the phase-stepping pattern ensemble. The algorithm, believed to be new, is specially suited for those applications in which a large number of phase-stepping images may be obtained, e.g., profilometry with a computer-controlled fringe projector. We discuss the selection of parameter values and present examples of its performance in both synthetic and real image sequences.     

十六步相移技术在弹痕条纹图分析中的应用

在三维弹痕测量系统中,为了获取较高的测量精度,为此本文提出一种采用十六步相移技术的条纹图处理算法。首先分析了物体三维形貌相位分布获取原理,然后对采集到的弹痕图像进行自适应维纳滤波,去除一部分系统噪声,再利用小波变换对原始图像进行3层sym4小波分解去噪,本系统在小波软阈值分析法的基础上,加入了3层的小波系数分解,同时结合十六步相移法进行相位主值的计算。实验结果表明,弹痕条纹图的位相值曲线更加平滑,原始图像条纹图位相高度偏差的最大值为1.631μm,在经过十六步相移技术处理后,位相主值最大偏差值仅为0.8674μm,对本系统的精度提高奠定了基础。     

Additive-subtractive phase-modulated electronic speckle interferometry: analysis of fringe visibility

Fringe-visibility issues of additive-subtractive phase-modulated (ASPM) electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) are explored. ASPM ESPI is a three-step method in which additive-speckle images are acquired rapidly in an analog fashion in every frame of a video sequence, a speckle phase modulation is intentionally introduced between frames, and a digital subtraction of consecutive pairs of additive-speckle images is performed. We show that this scheme has the good high-frequency noise immunity associated with additive-ESPI techniques as well as the good fringe visibility associated with subtractive-ESPI techniques. The method has better fringe visibility than can be obtained with purely additive ESPI and also does not suffer from the fringe distortions that can occur with subtractive ESPI in the presence of high-frequency noise. We show that even if full speckle decorrelation were to occur between the two additive speckle images that are to be subtracted, the visibility of ASPM ESPI fringes can be made to approach unity by suitable adjustment of the reference-to-object beam-intensity ratio.     

Quantization error of CCD cameras and their influence on phase calculation in fringe pattern analysis

We present an investigation into the phase errors that occur in fringe pattern analysis that are caused by quantization effects. When acquisition devices with a limited value of camera bit depth are used, there are a limited number of quantization levels available to record the signal. This may adversely affect the recorded signal and adds a potential source of instrumental error to the measurement system. Quantization effects also determine the accuracy that may be achieved by acquisition devices in a measurement system. We used the Fourier fringe analysis measurement technique. However, the principles can be applied equally well for other phase measuring techniques to yield a phase error distribution that is caused by the camera bit depth.     

Investigation of membrane deformation by a fringe projection method

An optical method has been developed to measure the deformation of a membrane in a microphone. A fringe projector that consists of an optical fiber and an optical wedge is described and analyzed by geometric optics. A three-step phase-shifting technique that involves the introduction of an arbitrary phase is discussed. The fine fringe patterns projected onto a small test surface are captured by a CCD camera mounted on a long-distance microscope. With the aid of a phase-shifting technique and signal-demodulating techniques, the proposed setup is capable of measuring deformation of the membrane of the order of as much as submicrometers.     

Phase error correction for fringe projection profilometry by using constrained cubic spline

In fringe projection profilometry, the nonlinear intensity response caused by the c effect of a digital projector results in periodic phase error and therefore measurement error. Previous error correction methods are largely based on the calibration of single c value. However, in practice, it is difficult to accurately model the full range of the intensity response with a one-parameter c function. In this paper, a compensated intensity response curve is generated and fitted with the constrained cubic spline. With the compensated curve, the full range of the nonlinear intensity response can be corrected and the periodic phase errors can be removed significantly. Experimental results on a flat board confirm the average root mean square (RMS) of the phase error which can be reduced to at least 0.0049 rad.     

Image encryption based on a grating generated by a reflection intensity map

A virtual optical technique for image encryption and decryption is presented in this paper. The technique is carried out using optical operation and computational algorithms. In this technique, a grey-level image is captured by a charge-coupled device camera and encrypted using a linear grating superposed on the reflected intensity map of the object. The grating is generated as a fringe pattern by a computer algorithm. The reflected intensity map is determined using the grey level of the image. This reflected intensity map is included in the fringe pattern as an optical phase. It generates a grating, which is represented as a fringe pattern deformed according to the reflected intensity map. The decryption method is performed by a phase recovery method. The technique used here is a spatial synchronous method. This encryption and decryption technique has been used to encrypt real face images. To describe the accuracy of results obtained by this technique, the rms of error is calculated using decrypted and original data images. This encrypting technique is a virtual optical method because all the optical operations are performed by computer processes, and optical components are not required, which are advantages over optical methods, where some physical optical components are used. Simulated images are used in order to assess the technique. Finally, results on real images are presented.