An optical distance sensor : tilt robust differential confocal measurement with mm range and nm uncertainty

Compared with conventional high-end optical systems, application of freeform optics offers many advantages. Their widespread use, however, is held back by the lack of a suitable measurement method.The NANOMEFOS project aims at realizing a universal freeform measurement machine to fill that void.The principle of operation of this machine requires a novel sensor for surface distance measurement, the development and realization of which is the objective of the work presented in this thesis. The sensor must enable non-contact, absolute distance measurement of surfaces with reflectivities from 3.5% to 99% over 5 mm range, with 1 nm resolution and a 2s measurement uncertainty of 10 nm for surfaces perpendicular to the measurement direction and 35 nm for surfaces with tilts up to 5°. To meet these requirements, a dual-stage design is proposed: a primary measurement system tracks the surface under test by translating its object lens, while the secondary measurement system measures the displacement of this object lens. After an assessment of various measurement principles through comparison of characteristics inherent to their principle of operation and the possibilities for adaptation, the differential confocal measurement has been selected as the primary measurement method. Interferometry is used as secondary measurement method. To allow for correction of tilt dependent error through calibration, a third measurement system has been added, which measures through which part of the aperture the light returns. An analytical model of the differential confocal measurement principle has been derived to enable optimization. To gain experience with differential confocal measurement, a demonstrator has been built, which has resulted in insights and design rules for prototype development. The models show satisfactory agreement with the experimental results generated using the demonstrator, thus building confidence that the models can be applied as design and optimization tools. Various properties that characterize the performance of a differential confocal measurement system have been identified. Their dependence on the design parameters has been studied through simulations based on the models. The results of this study are applied to optimize the sensor for use in NANOMEFOS. An optical system has been designed in which the interferometer and the differential confocal systems are integrated in a compact design. The optical path of the differential confocal system has been folded using prisms and mirrors so that it can be realized within the allotted volume envelope. For the same reason, many components are adapted from commercially available parts or are custom made. An optomechanical and mechatronic design has been made around the optical system. A custom focusing unit has been designed that comprises a guidance mechanism and actuator to enable tracking of the surface. To achieve a low measurement uncertainty, it aims at accurate motion, high bandwidth and low dissipation. The lateral position of the guidance reproduces within 20 nm and from the frequency response, it is expected that a control bandwidth of at least 800 Hz can be realized. Power dissipation depends on the form of the freeform surface and is a few mW for most expected trajectories. Partly custom electronics are used for signal processing, and to drive the laser and the focusing unit. Control strategies for interferometer nulling, focus locking and surface tracking have been developed, implemented and tested. Various tests have been performed on the system to evaluate the performance. Calibrations must be carried out to achieve the required measurement uncertainty. One calibration is based on a new method to measure tilt dependency of distance sensors. The sensor realized has 5 mm measurement range, -2.5 µm to 1.5 µm tracking range, sub-nanometer resolution, and a small-signal bandwidth of 150 kHz. Using the test results, the 2s measurement uncertainty after calibration is estimated to be 4.2 nm for measurement of rotationally symmetric surfaces, 21 nm for measurement of medium freeform surfaces and 34 nm for measurement of heavily freeform surfaces. To test the performance of the machine with the sensor integrated, measurements of a tilted flat have been carried out. In these measurements, a tilted flat serves as a reference freeform with known surface form. The measurements demonstrate the reduction of tilt dependent error using the new calibration method. A tilt robust, single point distance sensor with millimeter range and nanometer uncertainty has been developed, realized and tested. It is installed in the freeform measurement machine for which it has been developed and is currently used for the measurement of optical surfaces

Softsensors: key component of property control in forming technology

The constantly increasing challenges of production technology for the economic and resource-saving production of metallic workpieces require, among other things, the optimisation of existing processes. Forming technology, which is confronted with new challenges regarding the quality of the workpieces, must also organise the individual processes more efficiently and at the same time more reliably in order to be able to guarantee good workpiece quality and at the same time to be able to produce economically. One way to meet these challenges is to carry out the forming processes in closed-loop control systems using softsensors. Despite the many potential applications of softsensors in the field of forming technology, there is still no definition of the term softsensor. This publication therefore proposes a definition of the softsensor based on the definition of a sensor and the distinction from the observer, which on the one hand is intended to stimulate scientific discourse and on the other hand is also intended to form the basis for further scientific work. Based on this definition, a wide variety of highly topical application examples of various softsensors in the field of forming technology are given

Design and Analysis of a Single-Camera Omnistereo Sensor for Quadrotor Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs)

We describe the design and 3D sensing performance of an omnidirectional stereo (omnistereo) vision system applied to Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). The proposed omnistereo sensor employs a monocular camera that is co-axially aligned with a pair of hyperboloidal mirrors (a vertically-folded catadioptric configuration). We show that this arrangement provides a compact solution for omnidirectional 3D perception while mounted on top of propeller-based MAVs (not capable of large payloads). The theoretical single viewpoint (SVP) constraint helps us derive analytical solutions for the sensor’s projective geometry and generate SVP-compliant panoramic images to compute 3D information from stereo correspondences (in a truly synchronous fashion). We perform an extensive analysis on various system characteristics such as its size, catadioptric spatial resolution, field-of-view. In addition, we pose a probabilistic model for the uncertainty estimation of 3D information from triangulation of back-projected rays. We validate the projection error of the design using both synthetic and real-life images against ground-truth data. Qualitatively, we show 3D point clouds (dense and sparse) resulting out of a single image captured from a real-life experiment. We expect the reproducibility of our sensor as its model parameters can be optimized to satisfy other catadioptric-based omnistereo vision under different circumstances

Non-contact measurement machine for freeform optics

The performance of high-precision optical systems using spherical optics is limited by aberrations. By applying aspherical and freeform optics, the geometrical aberrations can be reduced or eliminated while at the same time also reducing the required number of components, the size and the weight of the system. New manufacturing techniques enable creation of high-precision freeform surfaces. Suitable metrology (high accuracy, universal, non-contact, large measurement volume and short measurement time) is key in the manufacturing and application of these surfaces, but not yet available. In this thesis, the design, realization and testing of a new metrology instrument is described. This measurement machine is capable of universal, noncontact and fast measurement of freeform optics up to Ø500 mm, with an uncertainty of 30 nm (2s). A cylindrical scanning setup with an optical distance probe has been designed. This concept is non-contact, universal and fast. With a probe with 5 mm range, circular tracks on freeform surfaces can be measured rapidly with minimal dynamics. By applying a metrology frame relative to which the position of the probe and the product are measured, most stage errors are eliminated from the metrology loop. Because the probe is oriented perpendicular to the aspherical best-fit of the surface, the sensitivity to tangential errors is reduced. This allows for the metrology system to be 2D. The machine design can be split into three parts: the motion system, the metrology system and: the non-contact probe. The motion system positions the probe relative to the product in 4 degrees of freedom. The product is mounted on an air bearing spindle (??), and the probe is positioned over it in radial (r), vertical (z) and inclination (¿) direction by the R-stage, Z-stage and ¿- axis, respectively. The motion system provides a sub-micrometer repeatable plane of motion to the probe. The Z-stage is hereto aligned to a vertical plane of the granite base using three air bearings, to obtain a parallel bearing stage configuration. To minimize distortions and hysteresis, the stages have separate position and preload frames. Direct drive motors and high resolution optical scales and encoders are used for positioning. Mechanical brakes are applied while measuring a track, to minimize power dissipation and to exclude encoder, amplifier and EMC noise. The motors, brakes and weight compensation are aligned to the centres of gravity of the R and Zstage. Stabilizing controllers have been designed based on frequency response measurements. The metrology system measures the position of the probe relative to the product in the six critical directions in the plane of motion of the probe (the measurement plane). By focussing a vertical and horizontal interferometer onto the ¿-axis rotor, the displacement of the probe is measured relative to the reference mirrors on the upper metrology frame. Due to the reduced sensitivity in tangential direction at the probe tip, the Abbe criterion is still satisfied. Silicon Carbide is the material of choice for the upper metrology frame, due to its excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Mechanical and thermal analysis of this frame shows nanometer-level stabilities under the expected thermal loads. Simulations of the multi-probe method show capabilities of in process separation of the spindle reference edge profile and the spindle error motion with sub-nanometer uncertainty. The non-contact probe measures the distance between the ¿-axis rotor and the surface under test. A dual stage design is applied, which has 5 mm range, nanometer resolution and 5° unidirectional acceptance angle. This enables the R and Z-stage and ¿-axis to be stationary during the measurement of a circular track on a freeform surface. The design consists of a compact integration of the differential confocal method with an interferometer. The focussing objective is positioned by a flexure guidance with a voice coil actuator. A motion controller finds the surface and keeps the objective focused onto it with some tens of nanometers servo error. The electronics and software are designed to safely operate the 5 axes of the machine and to acquire the signals of all measurement channels. The electronics cabinet contains a real-time processor with many in and outputs, control units for all 5 axes, a safety control unit, a probe laser unit and an interferometry interface. The software consists of three main elements: the trajectory planning, the machine control and the data processing. Emphasis has been on the machine control, in order to safely validate the machine performance and perform basic data-processing. The performance of the machine assembly has been tested by stability, single track and full surface measurements. The measurements focus on repeatability, since this is a key condition before achieving low measurement uncertainty by calibration. The measurements are performed on a Ø100 mm optical flat, which was calibrated by NMi VSL to be flat within 7 nm rms. At standstill, the noise level of the metrology loop is 0.9 nm rms over 0.1 s. When measuring a single track at 1 rev/s, 10 revolutions overlap within 10 nm PV. The repeatability of three measurements of the flat, tilted by 13 µm, is 2 nm rms. The flatness measured by the uncalibrated machine matches the NMi data well. Ten measurements of the flat tilted by 1.6 mm repeat to 3.4 nm rms. A new non-contact measurement machine prototype for freeform optics has been developed. The characteristics desired for a high-end, single piece, freeform optics production environment (high accuracy, universal, non-contact, large measurement volume and short measurement time) have been incorporated into one instrument. The validation measurement results exceed the expectations, especially since they are basically raw data. Future calibrations and development of control and dataprocessing software will certainly further improve these results

Non-destructive technologies for fruit and vegetable size determination - a review

Here, we review different methods for non-destructive horticultural produce size determination, focusing on electronic technologies capable of measuring fruit volume. The usefulness of produce size estimation is justified and a comprehensive classification system of the existing electronic techniques to determine dimensional size is proposed. The different systems identified are compared in terms of their versatility, precision and throughput. There is general agreement in considering that online measurement of axes, perimeter and projected area has now been achieved. Nevertheless, rapid and accurate volume determination of irregular-shaped produce, as needed for density sorting, has only become available in the past few years. An important application of density measurement is soluble solids content (SSC) sorting. If the range of SSC in the batch is narrow and a large number of classes are desired, accurate volume determination becomes important. A good alternative for fruit three-dimensional surface reconstruction, from which volume and surface area can be computed, is the combination of height profiles from a range sensor with a two-dimensional object image boundary from a solid-state camera (brightness image) or from the range sensor itself (intensity image). However, one of the most promising technologies in this field is 3-D multispectral scanning, which combines multispectral data with 3-D surface reconstructio

Uncertainty and error in laser triangulation measurements for pipe profiling

Underground pipeline infrastructure often receives insufficient attention and maintenance. Those responsible for ensuring the continuing functionality of this infrastructure primarily use subjective information in their decision making, and standards defining the level of damage acceptable before repair or replacement are difficult to implement. Laser pipe profiling is a relatively new technology that has emerged to take a step toward the objective assessment of buried assets. A laser profiler is a device that traverses a section of pipe, taking measurements of radius around the circumference of the inner pipe wall at multiple locations along the length of the pipe. The accuracy of the measurements obtained by a profiler is a critical piece of knowledge for the evaluation of its usefulness. Analytical measurement and uncertainty models were developed for three laser profiling configurations. These configurations involved a digital camera and a laser whose relative position and orientation were fixed relative to one another. The three configurations included (1) a conically projected laser aligned with the pipe axis, (2) a planar laser placed perpendicular to the pipe axis, and (3) a side-facing laser that projected a line onto the pipe wall parallel to the axis of the pipe. The models utilized normalized system parameters to compute pipe geometry from digital images that reveal the intersection of the laser light and the pipe wall; error propagation techniques were applied to compute the variation in measurement uncertainty as a function of position in the measurement space. Analytical evaluation of the conical projection configuration revealed infinite measurement error for a region of the measurement space; the unbounded error was eliminated by utilizing two conical lasers. The accuracy and uncertainty of the perpendicular plane and side facing configurations were much better than for the conical configuration. Physical models of these two configurations were constructed, and measurements were collected for a pipe section to validate the measurement and uncertainty predictions of the analytical models. The difference between observed worst-case laser measurement error and predicted uncertainty was on the order of 0.1% of nominal pipe radius. This work provides pipe profiler designers the analytical detail required to understand the relationship between system geometry, camera parameters and measurement accuracy. The work provides asset managers with a reference against which to evaluate laser profiling for their infrastructure condition monitoring needs

Automated Visual Database Creation For A Ground Vehicle Simulator

This research focuses on extracting road models from stereo video sequences taken from a moving vehicle. The proposed method combines color histogram based segmentation, active contours (snakes) and morphological processing to extract road boundary coordinates for conversion into Matlab or Multigen OpenFlight compatible polygonal representations. Color segmentation uses an initial truth frame to develop a color probability density function (PDF) of the road versus the terrain. Subsequent frames are segmented using a Maximum Apostiori Probability (MAP) criteria and the resulting templates are used to update the PDFs. Color segmentation worked well where there was minimal shadowing and occlusion by other cars. A snake algorithm was used to find the road edges which were converted to 3D coordinates using stereo disparity and vehicle position information. The resulting 3D road models were accurate to within 1 meter

Lens design for manufacture

The manufacture of complete optical systems can be broken down into three distinct stages; the optical and mechanical design, the production of both optical and mechanical components and finally their assembly and test. The three stages must not be taken in isolation if the system is to fulfil its required optical performance at reasonable cost. This report looks first at the optical design phase. There are a number of different optical design computer packages on the market that optimise an optical system for optical performance. These packages can be used to generate the maximum manufacturing errors, or tolerances, which are permissible if the system is to meets its design requirement. There is obviously a close relationship between the manufacturing tolerances and the cost of the system, and an analysis of this relationship is presented in this report. There is also an attempt made to optimise the design of a simple optical system for cost along with optical performance. Once the design is complete the production phase begins and this report then examines the current techniques employed in the manufacture, and testing of optical components. There are numerous methods available to measure the surface form generated on optical elements ranging from simple test plates through to complex interferometers. The majority of these methods require the element to be removed from the manufacturing environment and are therefore not in-process techniques that would be the most desirable. The difficulties surrounding the measurement of aspheric surfaces are also discussed. Another common theme for the non-contact test techniques is the requirement to have a test or null plate which can either limit the range of surfaces the designer may chose from or increase the cost of the optical system as the test surface will first have to be manufactured. The development of the synthetic aperture interferometer is presented in this report. This technique provides a non-contact method of surface form measurement of aspheric surfaces without needing null or test plates. The final area to be addressed is the assembly and test stage. The current assembly methods are presented, with the most common industry standard method being to fully assemble the optical system prior to examining its performance. Also, a number of active alignment techniques are discussed including whether the alignment of the individual optical elements is checked, and if need be adjusted, during the assembly phase. In general these techniques rely upon the accuracy of manufacture of the mechanical components to facilitate the optical alignment of the system. Finally a computer aided optical alignment technique is presented which allows the optical alignment of the system to be brought within tolerance prior to the cementing in place of an outer casing. This method circumvents the need for very tight manufacturing tolerances on the mechanical components and also removes the otherwise labour intensive task of assembling and disassembling an optical system until the required level of performance is achieved.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Focal position-controlled processing head for a laser pattern generator (LPG) for flexible micro-structuring

In micro-structuring processes a direct structuring of the substrate is, in most cases, not possible and therefore the profile is first obtained in photo resist and then, in a second step, transferred into the substrate. The resist structuring can be performed using the flexible characteristics of a laser pattern generator (LPG). In these processes, there is a beneficial relationship between the apparatus/equipment expense and the obtainable processing results. For a reproduceable processing result in all micro structuring tasks, good reproducibility of all process relevant parameters is required. In the application of a laser pattern generator, precise control of the focal position of the strongly focussed laser beam relative to the processing surface must be maintained. [Continues.

Documentation of Rotationally Symmetric Archaeological Finds by 3D Shape Estimation

Zehntausende Scherben von Keramiken werden auf archäologischen Ausgrabungen gefunden. Diese Tonscherben müssen für abschließende wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen dokumentiert werden. Grundlage dieser Dokumentation ist bis heute die händische Zeichnung der Profillinie, welche einen vertikalen Schnitt durch die Scherbe entlang der Rotationsachse, auch Symetrieachse genannt, beschreibt. Die Handzeichnungen der Profillinie und die dafür benötigte Rotationsachse werden von Archäologen unter zur Hilfenahme verschiedenster Werkzeuge, wie zum Beispiel dem Profilkamm, flexiblem Bleidraht oder Kreisschablonen erstellt. Diese traditionelle Methode der Dokumentation ist allerdings sehr zeitaufwendig und fehleranfällig. Daher wurde der Profilograph entwickelt, der mit manuellem, mechanischem Abtasten der Scherben die Profillinie zur Weiterverarbeitung an einen Computer übermittelt. Da auch der Profilograph auf Grund der manuellen Arbeitsschritte keine schnellere Dokumentation ermöglicht, wurde ein automatisches System zur Aufnahme von Scherben und zur automatisierten Berechnung der Profillinie entwickelt. Die Erfassung wird mittels Lichtschnittverfahren (strukturiertes Licht) durchgeführt. Aus den Aufnahmen wird ein 3D-Modell erstellt, aus dem die Rotationsachse und somit die Profillinie von Scherben berechnet wird. Durch ständige Experimente, Zusammenarbeit mit Archäologen und dem Vergleich mit traditionellen Methoden, wurde das automatische System weiterentwickelt. Diese Arbeit stellt eine neue Methode zur Bestimmung der Rotationsachse, basierend auf den traditionellen Methoden der Archäologen vor, welche eine genauere Berechnung der Profillinie ermöglicht. Weiters werden auch methodische Experimente zur Analyse der Geometrie von Keramiken gezeigt, welche Rückschlüsse auf antike Fertigungstechniken ermöglichen. Das vorgestellte System wurde auf künstlichen und realen Daten getestet. Für die Experimente mit realen Daten wurde das System mittels Funden der archäologischen Ausgrabung in Tel Dor in Israel getestet und mit den traditionellen Handzeichnungen und dem Profilographen verglichen. Die Ergebnisse im Bezug auf dokumentierten Scherben pro Stunde und zur Präzision der verschiedenen Verfahren werden in diesem Dokument gezeigt. Abschließend werden künftige Erweiterungen vorgestellt