Line structured light vision sensor calibration using parallel straight lines features

Line structured light vision sensor (LSLVS) calibration is to establish the relation between the camera and the light plane projector. This paper proposes a geometrical calibration method for LSLVS via three parallel straight lines on a 2D target. The approach is based on the properties of vanishing points and lines. During the calibration, one important aspect is to determine the normal vector of the light plane, another critical step is to obtain the distance parameter d of the light plane. In this paper, we put the emphasis on the later one. The distance constraint of parallel straight lines is used to compute a 3D feature point on the light plane, resulting in the acquisition of the parameter d. Thus, the equation of the light plane in the camera coordinate frame (CCF) can be solved out. To evaluate the performance of the algorithm, possible factors affecting the calibration accuracy are taken into account. Furthermore, mathematical formulations for error propagation are derived. Both computer simulations and real experiments have been carried out to validate our method, and the RMS error of the real calibration reaches 0.134 mm within the field of view 500 mm × 500 mm.