PHASE-LOCKED LOOP PROFILOMETRY

An innovative technique for obtaining automatic three-dimensional shape information of a diffuse surface is presented. The technique is based on a new approach of phase measuring from a fringe pattern. The target to be studied is first modulated by projecting a linear grating onto its surface. The linear fringes are deformed according to the surface shape. Demodulation is carried out by determining the phase of these deformed fringes using a novel digital phase locked loop demodulation algorithm. The technique has the main advantage that the traditional phase unwrapping process is not required. The phase is determined continuously as the algorithm scans the two-dimensional fringe pattern. Owing to its sequential nature, this phase detection technique can be implemented using a special purpose video processor for phase determination at video rates, making it a very fast algorithm. The algorithm along with experimental results of real surface profiles are presented.