ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR MEASURING SURFACE IRREGULARITIES AT AN OBJECT

Abstract: Arrangement and method for measuring surface irregularities at an object, which arrangement comprises at least one source of light arranged to illuminate the object from at least two different positions at a small angle of incidence towards the object, a camera arranged to measure the shadow formation generated by said illumination of the surface microstructure, and an evaluting means for determining the surface microstructure from the generated shadow formation by means of signal processing of an input signal from said camera.

Description: TITLE Arrangement and method for measuring surface irregularities at an object. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an arrangement for measuring surface irregularities at an object in accordance with the preamble of claim 1, and to a method for measuring surface irregularities at an object in accordance with the preamble of claim 8. Particularly, the invention relates to an arrangement for measuring surface irregularities at an object which utilises strobe lighting and photometric stereo, and to a method for measuring surface irregularities at an object which utilises strobe lighting and photometric stereo. STATE OF THE ART A method for topography measurement on flat objects by means of directional illumination is previously known from "Optronik nyheter - Topografimatning med strykande belysning", June 1999. TECHNICAL PROBLEM In those cases when the object which is to be measured is not flat but exhibits a three- dimensional geometry, there is no possibility to apply topography measurement by means of directional illumination directly. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide an arrangement and a method for measuring surface irregularities at an object, where the object is iUuminated by a source of light from a first position at a small angle of incidence, whereby measurement on an object exhibiting a curved, three-dimensional geometry is made possible. This object is achieved by means of an arrangement according to the characterising portion of claim 1, and a method according to the characterising portion of claim 8. By generating a pattern matrix by means of a pattern projector, information about the shape and location of the object in relation to the pattern projector and camera is created. A useful pattern for this application is a gridiron pattern which is projected on the object. The projection of the pattern on the object describes the surface and position of the object, wherein the size of the squares can be utilised for determining the distance from the projector, and the deviation from linearity determines the shape of the object. When the shape and position of the object are known, the evaluating means determines the surface microstructure of the object. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following, the invention will be described in detail with reference to attached figures in the drawings, where Fig. 1 shows an explanatory sketch of the function of a strobe lighting profilometer, Fig. 2 shows an embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 3 shows a measurement result generated by means of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Fig. 1 shows a simple method which has been tested within this work. Surface irregularities are shadowed differently, when the surface is illuminated at two different angles by means of two concentrated sources of light. By means of collecting images at these two lighting angles, information about the surface profile can be obtained. The question at issue was if this simple method provides measurement vales which are sufficiently reliable. The geometry of an arbitrary image point (x, y) is shown in Fig. 1. The pixel of the camera records the angle φ c and "sees" the distance d in the -direction of the test surface. It can be demonstrated that the lighting effect R,- (x,y) inciding on the camera from the image point (x, y) of the surface, with lighting from lamp no. i (i = 1, 2), is (x, y) Ri (x, y) sin(βi (x, y) - a(x, y)) Pi (x,y)= φ c 2 - lc 2 - Ωc [W] (1) / (x, y) Ω (x, y) sin(β c (x, y) - a(x, y)) where φ c [rad] is the angle which a camera-pixel records, l c [m] is the distance between the camera and the test surface, Ω c [srad] is the solid recording-angle of the camera, / [W/srad] is the light intensity from lamp no. to the image point (x,y) [m] is the distance between lamp no. i and the image point (x, v) R,- [-] is the reflectance of the surface in the point (x,y) Ω, [srad] is the solid scattering-angle of the surface in the point (x,y) towards the camera with lighting from lamp no. , βi [rad] is the angle from the image point (x, y) to lamp no. i, β c [rad] is the angle from the image point (x, y) to the camera, a [rad] is the deformation angle of the surface in the image point (x,y). In order to obtain the angle a(x,y) for all image points (x, y) on the surface, it is convenient to create a normalized difference A of the two images P \ (x,y) and P 2 (x,y) in accordance with k 2 (χ, y) ■ P 2 (χ, y) - k\ (x, y) ■ P\ (x, y) A(x, y) = (2) k 2 (x, y) ■ Pι(x, y) + k\(x, y) ■ P\(x, y) where / (x, y) Ω; (x. y) k( χ , y) 1, 2 (3) / (x, y) R t (x, y) Pi (x,y) are measured, / (x,y) are known geometrical quantities, I; (x,y) are known from calibration, , ( χ ,y) in principle is different for different angles and directions. P, ( χ ,y) As a result of the symmetry of the arrangement (Fig. 1), the ratio for i = 1 can be expected to become rather similar to the ratio for / = 2, but this must be investigated further. A completely diffuse surface gives the ratio = π/ reflectance. If Ωi (x, y) Ω 2 (x, y) R x (x, y) R 2 (x, y) it results in sin(βι (x, y) - a (x, y)) - sin(β \ (x, y) - a (x, y)) A(x, y) _= (4) sin(βχ (x, y) - a (x, y)) + sin(β \ (x, y) - a (x, y)) Since the angles β \ and βι are known geometrical quantities, the deformation angle a(x,y) of the surface can be calculated from the measured images P \ (x,y) and P 2 (x,y) by means of equations 2 - 4. If β \ (x,y) ∞π- βι (x,y) β and a (x, y)« X , a (x, y) can be approximated as a(x,y) *ιan (β) ■ A(x,y) (5) If further k \ (x,y) »k 2 (x,y), it results in P 2 (x, y) - P \ (x, y) a(x,y) ~ tan (β ■ (6) P 2 (x, y) + P\(x, y) Figure 2 shows an arrangement 1 for measuring surface irregularities at an object 2. The arrangement 1 comprises a source of light 3 arranged to illuminate the object from at least two different positions at a small angle of incidence towards the object. In the shown embodiment, 8 flash bulbs are mounted in such a way that the flash bulbs form the corners in a rectilinear block. By means of this design, simplified calculation routines are obtained for an evaluating means 4, which is arranged to calculate the surface microstructure on the object 2 from input data provided by a camera 5. The camera 5 is arranged to measure the surface microstructure from the shadow formation generated by the flash bulbs 3. The evaluating means 4 determines the surface microstructure from the generated shadow formation by means of signal processing of an input signal from said camera 5, in accordance with the principle which has been explained with reference to Fig. 1. Furthermore, the arrangement comprises a pattern projector 6, which is intended to generate a pattern matrix on the object 2. The pattern matrix preferably can be constituted by a gridiron pattern which is projected on the object. The projection of the pattern on the object describes the surface and the position of the object, wherein the size of the squares can be utilised for deteririining the distance from the projector, and the deviation from linearity determines the shape of the object. The evaluating means 4 is arranged to measure the shape of the object 2 from the projection of the pattern matrix on the object 2, wherein the evaluating means 4 is arranged to utilise information about the shape of the object 2, calculated from the projection of the pattern matrix, when determining the surface microstructure of the object. When the shape and position of the object 2 are known, the evaluating means 4 determines the surface microstructure of the object. By means of performing at least two lightings of the object 2, the system can compensate for variations in the reflectance of the object. An angle-dependent scattering pattern can be compensated for if additional lightings are performed. In order to compensate for the angle-dependent scattering, it is advantageous to mount the lamps at different heights above the object. Initially, however, a parameter model for the scattering variation has to be generated. Thereafter, the value of the parameters can be calculated. In order to achieve a good measurement result, the angle of the incident ray should not be made too large. For this reason, when objects having a non-flat geometry are to be measured, it is necessary with an array of sources of light. When performing measurements by means of the arrangement, a calibration step is performed whenever applicable. This step includes that data concerning relative positions between camera and lamps is controlled and loaded into the evaluating means, that the lamps are calibrated with regard to light intensity and direction, that the camera is calibrated in each pixel, and that the pattern projector is calibrated against a flat surface. The above-mentioned calibration step is not necessary to perform for each measurement. However, it is of great importance for the result that the arrangement is correctly calibrated. When the measurement is to be performed, according to one embodiment, the following steps are performed: 1) A background image is recorded. 2) One image from each lamp is recorded and the background image is subtracted from this. 3) The shape of the object is measured by means of the pattern projector. 4) The angles of inclination α in x- and y-direction of the surface are calculated for each image point from normalized differences in accordance with what has been described in connection with the above-explained principle. 5) The angle-dependence of the light scattering is calculated for the obtained preliminary α-values. 6) The α-values are adjusted so that the angle-dependence of the light- scattering is optimised. 7) The height profile is integrated from the α-values and added to the shape of the object. 8) The result is presented.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An arrangement for measuring surface irregularities at an object, which arrangement comprises at least one source of light arranged to illuminate the object from at least two different positions at a small angle of incidence towards the object, a camera arranged to measure the shadow formation generated by said iUumination of the surface microstructure, and an evaluating means for determining the surface microstructure from the generated shadow formation by means of signal processing of an input signal from said camera, c h a r a c t e r i s e d i n that the arrangement further comprises a pattern projector which is intended to generate a pattern matrix on the object, and that the evaluating means is arranged to measure the shape of the object from the projection of the pattern matrix on the object, wherein the evaluating means is arranged to utilise information about the shape of the object calculated from the projection of the pattern matrix when determining the surface microstructure of the object. 2. An arrangement according to claim 1 , c h a r a c t e r i s e d i n that said at least one source of light is arranged to illuminate the object from a plurality of different positions at different angular positions in relation to the object, that said camera is arranged to measure the shadow formation at said different angular positions, and that said evaluating means is arranged to generate information about the reflectance of the object from said measured shadow formation. 3. An arrangement according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i s e d i n that said at least one source of light is arranged to Uluminate the object from a plurality of different positions at different angular positions in relation to the object, that said camera is arranged to measure the shadow formation at said different angular positions, and that said evaluating means is arranged to generate information about angle-dependence of the light-scattering of the object from said shadow formation. 4. An arrangement according to claim 2 and 3, characterised in that said source of light is arranged to _U_iminate the object from at least three different positions at different angular positions in pairs in relation to the object, wherein compensation for angle-dependence and reflectance is enabled when determining the surface microstructure of the object. 5. An arrangement according to any one of claims 1-4, characterised in that said at least one source of light is arranged to illuminate the object from a plurality of different positions at different angular positions, wherein illumination at a small angle of incidence towards the object is accomplished also for an object having a non-flat geometry. 6. An arrangement according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said at least one source of light is constituted of concentrated arrays of flash bulbs in pairs placed at different angles in relation to the object. 7. An arrangement according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said source of light is constituted of an orthogonal array of concentrated flash bulbs in pairs in x-direction, y-direction and z-direction. 8. A method for measuring surface irregularities at an object, where the object is iUuminated by a source of light from a first position at a small angle of incidence, wherein the surface microstructure of the object generates a first shadow formation and a camera measures the first shadow formation generated by a light source from a first position and stores information about the first shadow formation in a memory, where the object is illuminated by a source of light from a second position at a small angle of incidence, wherein the surface microstructure of the object generates a second shadow formation and a camera measures the second shadow formation generated by a source of light from a second position and stores information about the second shadow formation in a memory, characterised in that a pattern matrix is projected on the object by means of a pattern projector, that the shape of the object is measured by the evaluating means from the projection of the pattern matrix on the object, and that the evaluating means determines the surface microstructure from information about the projection of the pattern matrix on the object and said shadow formations.

Inventors: LARSSON PETER, MAX ERLAND, LARSSON, PETER, MAX, ERLAND
Applicants: LARSSON PETER, MAX ERLAND, VOLVO PERSONVAGNAR AB, LARSSON, PETER, MAX, ERLAND
Application year: 2001
Main classification: G01B11
IPC codes: G01B11