Analytical/Numerical Modelling of Two Parallel Robots as Laser Calibration Instruments Controlled by Classical/Intelligent Schemes

Industrial metrology deals with measurements in production environment. It concerns calibration procedures as well as control of measurement processes. Measuring devices have been evolving from manual theodolites, electronic theodolites, robotic total stations, to a relatively new kind of laser-based systems known as laser trackers. Laser trackers are 3D coordinate measuring devices that accurately measure large （and relatively distant） objects by computing spatial coordinates of optical targets held against those objects. In addition, laser trackers are used to align truthfully large mechanical parts. However, such aligning can be done in moving parts, for instance during robot calibration in a welding line. In this case, serial robots are controlled in order to keep a prescribed trajectory to accomplish its task properly. Nevertheless, in spite of a good control algorithm design, as time goes by, deviations appear and a calibration process is necessary. It is well known that laser tracker systems are produced by very well established enterprises but their laser products may result expensive for some （small） industries. We offer two parallel robot-based laser tracker systems models whose implementation would result cheaper than sophisticated laser devices and takes advantage of the parallel robot bondages as accuracy and high payload. The types of parallel robots evaluated were 3-SPS-1-S and 6-PUS. Modelling of the parallel robots was done by analytical and numerical techniques. The latter includes classical and artificial intelligence-based algorithms. The control performance was evaluated between classical and intelligent controllers.

The broadband laser source and an active beam stabilization device for laser calibration systems

Purpose Currently,the calibration for astronomical telescopes requires a broadwavelength range of several hundred nanometers.Therefore,a simple and compact wavelength broadening device is applied to generate a variety of wavelengths.In addition,a beam stabilization system is designed to automatically correct the beam deviation due to vibration and temperature fluctuation.Methods We broaden the laser spectrum by nonlinear effect between the noble gas in a hollow-core fiber and the laser electric field.By selecting the species and pressure of the noble gases,one can control the spectral broadening.The active beam stabilization system consists of two mirror mounts with motorized actuators and two CCD cameras.After acquiring the centroid of the laser beam and comparing it with the target position,an algorithm is implemented to correct the beam pointing.Results Both experimental and simulation results show that the spectral range of the laser is greatly broadened.Besides,we have attained the phase of pulses.These parameters can be used to monitor the laser’s running status over time.The active stabilization system can quickly correct the deviation of beam pointing and simultaneously obtain the beam profile,allowing for nominally perfect control of the beam.Conclusion In our design,both the broadband laser source and beam stabilizer are involved in the laser calibration system,providing us with various wavelengths and a high-precision pointing with outstanding intrinsic long-term stability.

Sub-pixel extraction of laser stripeand itsapplication in laser plane calibration

For calibrating the laser plane to implement 3D shape measurement, an algorithm for extracting the laser stripe with sub-pixel accuracy is proposed. The proposed algorithm mainly consists of two stages： two-side edge detection and center line extraction. First, the two-side edge of laser stripe is detected using the principal component angle-based progressive probabilistic Hough transform and its width is calculated through the distance between these two edges. Secondly, the center line of laser strip is extracted with 2D Taylor expansion at a sub-pixel level and the laser plane is calibrated with the 3D reconstructed coordinates from the extracted 2D sub-pixel ones. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can not only extract the laser stripe at a high speed, nearly average 78 ms/frame, but also calibrate the coplanar laser stripes at a low error, limited to 0.3 mm. The proposed algorithm can satisfy the system requirement of two-side edge detection and center line extraction, and rapid speed, high precision, as well as strong anti-jamming.

Detailed calibration of the PI-LCX：1300 high performance single photon counting hard x-ray CCD camera

X-ray charge-coupled-device（CCD） camera working in single photon counting mode is a type of x-ray spectrometer with high-sensitivity and superior signal-to-noise performance. In this study, two single photon counting CCD cameras with the same mode（model： PI-LCX： 1300） are calibrated with quasi-monochromatic x-rays from radioactive sources and a conventional x-ray tube. The details of the CCD response to x-rays are analyzed by using a computer program of multi-pixel analyzing and event-distinguishing capability. The detection efficiency, energy resolution, fraction of multi-pixel events each as a function of x-ray energy, and consistence of two CCD cameras are obtained. The calibrated detection efficiency is consistent with the detection efficiency from Monte Carlo calculations with XOP program. When the multi-pixel event analysis is applied, the CCDs may be used to measure x-rays up to 60 ke V with good energy resolution（E /？E ≈ 100 at60 ke V）. The difference in detection efficiency between two CCD cameras is small（5.6% at 5.89 ke V）, but the difference in fraction of the single pixel event between them is much larger（25% at 8.04 ke V）. The obtained small relative error of detection efficiency（2.4% at 5.89 ke V） makes the high accurate measurement of x-ray yield possible in the laser plasma interaction studies. Based on the discrete calibration results, the calculated detection efficiency with XOP can be used for the whole range of 5 ke V–30 ke V.

On-orbit geometric calibration of satellite laser altimeters using infrared detectors and corner-cube retroreflectors

After being launched into orbit,the geometric calibration of a satellite laser altimeter will reduce errors in laser pointing and ranging caused by satellite vibrations during launch,environmental changes,and thermal effects during long-term operation,which guarantees the accuracy of measurement data.In this study,a satellite laser geometric calibration method combining infrared detectors and corner-cube retroreflectors(CCRs)is proposed.First,a CCR-based laser ranging error calibration method was established,and then a laser pointing error calibration model was derived based on a single infrared detector array.Taking GaoFen-7(GF-7)satellite laser beam 2 as the experimental object,laser geometric calibration was realized using an infrared detector and CCR-measured data.Then,the accuracy of the proposed method was compared with that of other calibration methods,the CMLID and the CMSPR.The results show that the accuracy of the proposed calibration method is equivalent to that of the CMLID and higher than that of the CMSPR.Among them,the accuracy of the laser pointing after calibration using the proposed method is better than 0.8 arcsec,and the elevation accuracy of the laser on flat,sloping,and mountainous terrains is better than 0.11 m,0.30 m,and 1.80 m,respectively.

Seam Tracking and Visual Control for Robotic Arc Welding Based on Structured Light Stereovision

A real-time arc welding robot visual control system based on a local network with a multi-level hierarchy is developed in this paper. It consists of an intelligence and human-machine interface level, a motion planning level, a motion control level and a servo control level. The last three levels form a local real-time open robot controller, which realizes motion planning and motion control of a robot. A camera calibration method based on the relative movement of the end-effector connected to a robot is proposed and a method for tracking weld seam based on the structured light stereovision is provided. Combining the parameters of the cameras and laser plane, three groups of position values in Cartesian space are obtained for each feature point in a stripe projected on the weld seam. The accurate three-dimensional position of the edge points in the weld seam can be calculated from the obtained parameters with an information fusion algorithm. By calculating the weld seam parameter from position and image data, the movement parameters of the robot used for tracking can be determined. A swing welding experiment of type V groove weld is successfully conducted, the results of which show that the system has high resolution seam tracking in real-time, and works stably and efficiently.

Extrinsic calibration of a laser displacement sensor in a non-contact coordinate measuring machine

In order to implement 3D scanning of those complicated parts such as blades in the aviation field,a non-contact optical measuring system is established in the paper,which integrates a laser displacement sensor,a probe head,the frame of a coordinate measuring machine（CMM）,etc.As the output of the laser sensor directly obtained possesses the 1D length of the laser beam,it needs to determine the unit direction vector of the laser beam denoted as（l,m,n）by calibration so as to convert the 1D values into 3D coordinates of target points.Therefore,an extrinsic calibration method based on a standard sphere is proposed to accomplish this task in the paper.During the calibration procedure,the laser sensor moves along with the motion of the CMM and gathers the required data on the spherical surface.Then,both the output of the laser sensor and the grating readings of the CMM are substituted into the constraint equation of the spherical surface,in which an over-determined nonlinear equation group containing unknown parameters is established.For the purpose of solving the equation group,a method based on non-linear least squares optimization is put forward.Finally,the system after calibration is utilized to measure the diameter of a metallic sphere 10 times from different orientations to verify the calibration accuracy.In the experiment,the errors between the measured results and the true values are all smaller than 0.03 mm,which manifests the validity and practicality of the extrinsic calibration method presented in the paper.

A Rapid Calibration Technique for Scanning Line-Structured Laser Sensor

A novel procedure to calibrate the scanning line-structured laser sensor is presented. A drone composed of two orthogonal planes is designed, with the result that camera parameters and light-plane equation parameters is achieved simultaneously.

A Wavelength Monitoring System Using Tunable MEMS Filter Calibrated by F-P Laser

We report a wavelength and power monitoring system based on a scanning MEMS filter as wavelength discriminator and a near threshold-biased Fabry-Perot diode laser as wavelength reference. This system is capable of monitoring 250 channels of DWDM signal at 25 GHz ITU Grid with an error of less than ±8 pm.