A machine vision technique for subpixel estimation of three-dimensional profilometry

A quick and efficient technique for a charge-coupled device (CCD)-based profilometric measurement system is proposed and verified by experiment. When a laser stripe is projected onto an object, the deformed laser line image is detected by a CCD camera with subpixel resolution and is automatically transferred to its space position using a least-squares mapping algorithm. Measurements are executed on each separate surface of a three-dimensional object and the multi-surface data are integrated through a process of coordinate transformation. Large arrays of data points are acquired on each surface by means of a scanning mechanism. Because the measuring data from each laser stripe position can provide two-dimensional information concerning the surface contour, the laser stripe and the CCD camera are integrated into a measurement system for obtaining the entire three-dimensional information. Theoretical analysis shows that this technique can determine the three-dimensional profile of an object with an accuracy below 0.2 mm.