Calibration of the intensityrelated distance error of the pmd tof-camera. SPIE

Abstract

A growing number of modern applications such as position determination, online object recognition and collision prevention depend on accurate scene analysis. A low-cost and fast alternative to standard techniques like laser scanners or stereo vision is the distance measurement with modulated, coherent infrared light based on the Photo Mixing Device (PMD) technique. This paper describes an enhanced calibration approach for PMD-based distance sensors, for which highly accurate calibration techniques have not been widely investigated yet. Compared to other known methods, our approach incorporates additional deviation errors related with the active illumination incident to the sensor pixels. The resulting calibration yields significantly more precise distance information. Furthermore, we present a simple to use, vision-based approach for the acquisition of the reference data required by any distance calibration scheme, yielding a light-weighted, on-site calibration system with little expenditure in terms of equipment