Detection and correction of line indexing ambiguities in Flying Triangulation

Flying Triangulation sensors enable a free-hand and motion-robust 3D data acquisition of complex shaped objects. The measurement principle is based on light sectioning with multiple lines and uses sophisticated algorithms for real-time registration (S. Ettl et al., Appl Opt 51 (2012) 281-289). As many other optical 3D measurement principles, Flying Triangulation only works properly in a defined volume of measurement. If a surface point is measured outside the defined volume, Flying Triangulation suffers line indexing ambiguities which lead to outliers in the resulting 3D dataset. After giving an overview of possible solutions last year, we now present a new approach that overcomes the ambiguity problem of Flying Triangulation. The approach can be used for the real-time detection and even correction of false 3D data. In addition to the possibility to extend the measurement volume, the number of projected lines can be increased by employing this new approach. This is an important feature towards a single-shot 3D movie camera.