A one-step intrinsic and extrinsic calibration method for laser line scanner operation in coordinate measuring machines

Abstract

A technique for intrinsic and extrinsic calibration of laser line scanners, also called laser triangulation sensors (LTSs), for integration in a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is presented in this paper. Setting out from the modeling of a commercial LTS for use in a CMM and the algorithms implemented for image capture and processing, with the use of a gauge object, a one-step calibration procedure has been developed to obtain both intrinsic parameters—laser plane, CCD sensor and camera geometry—and extrinsic parameters which relate the LTS's reference system to the CMM's reference system, integrating both mathematical models. This method performs both calibrations in a single step, thus avoiding the digitalization of a reference sphere in order to obtain the extrinsic parameters, or optimization procedures subsequent to LTS calibration. The results obtained in accuracy and repeatability tests performed on gauge geometric primitives attest to the viability of this technique for the integration of LTSs in CMMs.