Non-scanning measurement of position and attitude using two linear cameras

Most photogrammetry-based object position and attitude measurement systems use area cameras for two-dimensional (2D) image acquisition. However, the large volume of 2D images provided by area cameras limits the image capture speed, thus preventing the application of such methods to some high-speed measurements. Linear camera-based systems cannot be used to obtain real-time position and attitude parameters of non-specially designed objects because of scanning imaging and optimisation requirements. In this work, a novel position and attitude measurement method based on linear cameras was proposed. The position and attitude of objects can be obtained by analysing simultaneously recorded images of a specially designed five-line plane target using two calibrated linear cameras. This method can be used to carry out high-speed measurement of position and attitude parameters because no scanning imaging is required. In the present paper, we introduce the principle of this method, present verifications based on virtual and actual experiments, and analyse the main factors that affect measurement error.