Accuracy Analysis of an Oblique Underwater Laser Lightsheet Triangulation System

Abstract

Laser lightsheet triangulation is a well-established optical measurement method, which is frequently used in industrial applications. With some adaptions, the technique can also be used underwater. Placing a green laser line projector and a camera at a fixed base inside a watertight housing enables flexible and accurate underwater measurements at low cost. To achieve near-orthogonal intersections on the object surface, camera and laser need to be placed oblique to the housing interface. Refraction influences have to be considered strictly in geometric modelling, with the light propagating through the air–glass and glass–water interfaces. The measurement and calibration methods presented in the paper utilize a concept of splitting the lightsheet into multiple sub-beams, which are traced, refracted, and intersected with image observations to receive 3D measurements. In a calibration step, the relative orientation between camera, laser and interfaces is determined. In a theoretical accuracy analysis, the error influences caused by the calibrated parameters is estimated with a standard deviation of 0.2 to 0.4 mm in a depth range of up to 15 cm. A prototype triangulation sensor is applied for practical measurements of two test objects with known geometry. The predicted accuracy is validated in stationary single scan measurements. The sensor is furthermore moved along the test objects, using a six-degrees-of-freedom method to determine its exterior orientation. The combination of multiple single scans results in dense point clouds with 0.3 mm standard deviation compared to a reference.