High-quality dense 3D point clouds with active stereo and a miniaturizable interferometric pattern projector

Abstract

We have built and characterized a compact, simple and flexible 3D camera based on interferometric fringe projection and stereo reconstruction. The camera uses multi-frame active stereo as basis for 3D reconstruction, providing full-field 3D images with 3D measurement standard deviation of 0.09 mm, 12.5 Hz 3D image capture rate and 3D image resolution of 500 × 500 pixels. Interferometric projection enables a compact, low-power projector that consumes < 1 W of electrical power. The key component in the projector, a movable micromirror, has undergone initial vibration, thermal vacuum cycling (TVAC) and radiation testing, with no observed component degradation. The system's low power, small size and component longevity makes it well suitable for space applications.