Some practical considerations in fringe projection profilometry

As technologies evolve, there have been high demands for the three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement techniques to posses the following combined technical features: high accuracy, fast speed, easy implementation, capability of measuring multiple objects as well as measuring complex shapes. Generally, the existing techniques can satisfy some of the requirements, but not all of them. This paper presents four practical considerations in fringe projection profilometry (FPP) based 3D shape measurements, along with simple but robust solutions, including gamma correction of digital projection, arbitrary setup of system components, phase unwrapping with multi-frequency fringes, and system calibration with a least-squares inverse approach. The validity and practicability of the FPP-based 3D shape measurement technique using the four corresponding technical approaches have been verified by experiments. The presented technique is capable of satisfying the various critical demands in enormous scientific and engineering applications. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.