Noise analysis and synthesis for 3D laser depth scanners

This paper analyses the noise present in range data measured by a Konica Minolta Vivid 910 scanner, in order to better characterise real scanner noise. Methods for denoising 3D mesh data have often assumed the noise to be Gaussian, and independently distributed at each mesh point. We show via measurements of an accurately machined almost planar test surface that real scanner data does not have such properties: the errors are not quite Gaussian, and more importantly, exhibit significant short range correlation. We use this to give a simple model for generating noise with similar characteristics. We also consider how noise varies with such factors as laser intensity, orientation of the surface, and distance from the scanner. Finally, we evaluate the performance of three typical mesh denoising algorithms using real and synthetic test data, and suggest that new denoising algorithms are required for effective removal of real noise.