Practical Considerations For A Design Of A High Precision 3-D Laser Scanner System

The Laboratory for Intelligent Systems of the Division of Electrical Engineering of the National Research Council of Canada is intensively involved in the development of laser-based three-dimensional vision systems and their applications. Two basic systems have been invented. One, based on a double aperture mask in front of a CCD camera, has been developed for robotic applications and control. The other technique is based on an auto-synchronized scanning principle to provide accurate, fast, and reliable 3-D coordinates. Using the latter method, several prototypes have been developed for the acquisition of 3-D data of objects and for inspection. This paper will describe some practical considerations for the design and implementation of triangulation-based 3-D range sensors with emphasis on the latter triangulation technique. Some applications and results will be presented.