Research and development of an accurate 3D shape measurement system based on fringe projection: Model analysis and performance evaluation

In this paper, the research and development of an accurate 3D shape measurement system based on fringe projection is presented. This system utilizes a sliding projection unit to project the desired encoding fringe patterns onto the object and the object shape can be obtained by analyzing the images captured with a camera for each projection. The sliding projection unit uses a high precision grating element fabricated by electron beam lithography to produce the accurate encoding fringe patterns thus to reduce the projection error. And a method based on gray-code and phase-period edge detection is developed to align the grating element with its sliding direction to guarantee the alignment between the projected patterns. The influence of the lens distortion of both the projection unit and the camera is also studied and an improved nonlinear system model is developed based on triangulation. This model gives a more accurate mathematical representation of the shape measurement system and thus improves the system measurement accuracy. The experimental results show that an overall measurement error of 0.04 mm with a variability of ±0.035 mm can be obtained for the developed system.