Error analysis, modeling, and correction for 3-D range data

The improvements in structured lighting based 3D optical camera measurement systems have made these non-contact inspection systems more applicable. In this paper, a basic calibration problem, caused by systematical errors particular to structured lighting based 3D optical camera systems, is addressed. The analysis of these errors is discussed and two model-based approaches, line model (LM) and area model (AM), are proposed to model the pattern of systematical error. The main step of either approach is to build a lookup table based on collected planar data at predetermined working distances and orientation angles. The lookup table is then used to correct the systematical error existing in the inspected data. The experimental results show that the proposed approaches effectively improve inspection accuracy.