Phase-Based Optical Flow Method with Optimized Parameter Settings for Enhancing Displacement Measurement Adaptability

To enhance the applicability and measurement accuracy of phase-based optical flow method using complex steerable pyramids in structural displacement measurement engineering applications, an improved method of optimizing parameter settings is proposed. The optimized parameters include the best measurement points of the Region of Interest (ROI) and the levels of pyramid filters. Additionally, to address the issue of updating reference frames in practical applications due to the difficulty in estimating the maximum effective measurement value, a mechanism for dynamically updating reference frames is introduced. Experimental results demonstrate that compared to representative image gradient-based displacement measurement methods, the proposed method exhibits higher measurement accuracy in engineering applications. This provides reliable data support for structural damage identification research based on vibration signals and is expected to broaden the engineering application prospects for structural health monitoring.

Improved calibration method for displacement transformation coefficient in optical and visual measurements

Optical and visual measurement technology is used widely in fields that involve geometric measurements,and among such technology are laser and vision-based displacement measuring modules(LVDMMs).The displacement transformation coefficient(DTC)of an LVDMM changes with the coordinates in the camera image coordinate system during the displacement measuring process,and these changes affect the displacement measurement accuracy of LVDMMs in the full field of view(FFOV).To give LVDMMs higher accuracy in the FFOV and make them adaptable to widely varying measurement demands,a new calibration method is proposed to improve the displacement measurement accuracy of LVDMMs in the FFOV.First,an image coordinate system,a pixel measurement coordinate system,and a displacement measurement coordinate system are established on the laser receiving screen of the LVDMM.In addition,marker spots in the FFOV are selected,and the DTCs at the marker spots are obtained from calibration experiments.Also,a fitting method based on locally weighted scatterplot smoothing(LOWESS)is selected,and with this fitting method the distribution functions of the DTCs in the FFOV are obtained based on the DTCs at the marker spots.Finally,the calibrated distribution functions of the DTCs are applied to the LVDMM,and experiments conducted to verify the displacement measurement accuracies are reported.The results show that the FFOV measurement accuracies for horizontal and vertical displacements are better than±15μm and±19μm,respectively,and that for oblique displacement is better than±24μm.Compared with the traditional calibration method,the displacement measurement error in the FFOV is now 90%smaller.This research on an improved calibration method has certain significance for improving the measurement accuracy of LVDMMs in the FFOV,and it provides a new method and idea for other vision-based fields in which camera parameters must be calibrated.

Nanometer-scale displacement measurement based on an orthogonal dual Michelson interferometer

In this Letter,we propose a simple structure of an orthogonal type double Michelson interferometer.The orthogonal detection method overcomes the problems of uneven ranging sensitivity and the inability of traditional interferometers to determine the displacement direction.The displacement measurement principle and signal processing method of the orthogonal double interferometer are studied.Unlike the arctangent algorithm,the displacement analysis uses the arc cosine algorithm,avoiding any pole limit in the distance analysis process.The minimum step size of the final experimental displacement system is 5 nm,which exhibits good repeatability,and the average error is less than 0.12 nm.

Sinusoidal Phase-Modulating Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Angular Displacement Measurement

In this paper, a sinusoidal phase-modulating Fabry-Perot interferometer is proposed to measure angular displacement. The usefulness of the interferometer is demonstrated by simulations and experiments.

Ultra-high speed holographic shape and displacement measurements in the hearing sciences

The auditory system of mammals enables the perception of sound from our surrounding world.Containing some of the smallest bones in the body,the ear transduces complex acoustic signals with high-temporal sensitivity to complex mechanical vibrations with magnitudes as small as tens of picometers.Measurements of the shape and acoustically induced motions of different components of the ear are essential if we are to expand our understanding of hearing mechanisms,and also provide quantitative information for the development of numerical ear models that can be used to improve hearing protection,clinical diagnosis,and repair of damaged or diseased ears.We are developing digital holographic methods and instrumentation using an ultra-high speed camera to measure shape and acoustically-induced motions in the middle ear.Specifically we study the eardrum,the first structure of the middle ear which initializes the acoustic-mechanical transduction of sound for hearing.Our measurement system is capable of performing holographic measurement at rates up to 2.1 M frames per second.Two shape measurement modalities had previously been implemented into our holographic systems:(1)a multi-wavelength method with a wavelength tunable laser;and(2)a multi-angle illumination method with a single wavelength laser.In this paper,we present a third method using a miniaturized fringe projection system with a microelectromechanical system(MEMS)mirror.Further,we optimize the processing of large data sets of holographic displacement measurements using a vectorized Pearson's correlation algorithm.We validate and compare the shape and displacement measurements of our methodologies using a National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST)traceable gauge and sound-activated latex membranes and human eardrums.

3D Microdisplacement Monitoring of Large Aircraft Assembly with Automated In Situ Calibration

Three-dimensional(3D)microdisplacement monitoring plays a crucial role in the assembly of large aircraft.This paper presents a broadly applicable high-precision online 3D microdisplacement monitoring method and system based on proximity sensors as well as a corresponding in situ calibration method,which can be applied under various extreme working conditions encountered in the aircraft assembly process,such as compact and obstructed spaces.A 3D monitoring model is first established to achieve 3D microdisplacement monitoring based only on the one-dimensional distances measured by proximity sensors,which concerns the extrinsic sensor parameters,such as the probe base point(PBP)and the unit displacement vector(UDV).Then,a calibration method is employed to obtain these extrinsic parameters with high precision by combining spatial transformation principles and weighted optimization.Finally,calibration and monitoring experiments performed for a tailplane assembly process are reported.The calibration precision for the PBP is better than±10 lm in the X and Y directions and±2 lm in the Z direction,and the calibration precision for the UDV is better than 0.07°.Moreover,the accuracy of the 3D microdisplacement monitoring system can reach±15 lm.In general,this paper provides new insights into the modeling and calibration of 3D microdisplacement monitoring based on proximity sensors and a precise,efficient,and low-cost technical means for performing related measurements in compact spaces during the aircraft assembly process.

Sampling Moiré method for full-field deformation measurement: A brief review

The sampling Moiré(SM) method is one of the vision-based non-contact deformation measurement methods, which is a powerful tool for structural health monitoring and elucidation of damage mechanisms of materials. In this review, the basic principle of the SM method for measuring the twodimensional displacement and strain distributions is introduced. When the grid is not a standard orthogonal grating and cracks exist on the specimen surface, the measurement methods are also stated. Two of the most typical application examples are described in detail. One is the dynamic deflection measurement of a large-scale concrete bridge, and the other is the residual thermal strain measurement of small-scale flip chip packages. Several further development points of this method are pointed out. The SM method is expected to be used for deformation measurement of various structures and materials for residual stress evaluation, crack location prediction, and crack growth evaluation on broad scales.

Vertical Displacement Measurement in a Slow-Moving Sinkhole Using BOTDA

The effectiveness of monitoring and early-warning systems for ground deformation phenomena,such as sinkholes,depends on their ability to accurately resolve the ongoing ground displacement and detect the subtle deformation preceding catastrophic failures.Sagging sinkholes with a slow subsidence rate and diffuse edges pose a significant challenge for subsidence monitoring due to the low deformation rates and limited lateral strain gradients.In this work,we satisfactorily illustrate the practicality of the Brillouin optical time domain analysis(BOTDA)to measure the spatial-temporal patterns of the vertical displacement in such challenging slow-moving sagging sinkholes.To assess the performance of the approach,we compare the strain recorded by the distributed optical fiber sensor with the vertical displacement measured by high-precision leveling.The results show a good spatial correlation with the ability to identify the maximum subsidence point.There is also a good temporal correlation with the detection of an acceleration phase in the subsidence associated with a flood event.

The Measurement and Control of Diameter in Large-Scale Part Processing

Based on laser-scanned measuring technology, a met ho d of on-line dynamic non-contact measurement and feedback control of processin g dimension, i.e. the double edges laser-scanned large diameter on-line dynami c measurement and control system is presented, which can be used to measure diam eter in large-scale machine part processing. In this paper, the working princip le, overall structure and microcomputer real-time control and data processing s ystem of the system are discussed in detail, the method of double edges scanned large diameter dimension measurement and control is theoretically analyzed, its possibility has been verified by experiments of lathing large diameters machine parts by a vertical lathe. The system adopts the measuring scheme of double edge s laser-scanned combined with grating displacement measurement. The two edges c haracteristic information of the measured diameter is given by the double edges laser-scanned measuring system, the non-contact measurement of large diameter dimension is realized to combine with the grating displacement measuring systems . The main controller gives out feedback control signal by means of measured res ults, and controls advance and retreat of lathe tool by the servo-control syste m of a vertical lathe to realize on-line dynamic non-contact measurement and c ontrol in processing.

New multiplexed system for synchronous measurement of out-of-plane deformation and two orthogonal slopes

We propose a novel system for synchronous measurement of out-of-plane deformation and two orthogonal slopes using a single camera. The linearly polarized reference beam introduced by an optical fiber interferes with the unpolarized object beam to measure the out-of-plane deformation. A modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer is used to measure the two orthogonal slopes of the out-of-plane deformation. One of the object beams of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer is an unpolarized beam, and the other object beam is split into two orthogonal linearly polarized object beams by a polarizing prism. The two beams are orthogonally polarized. Hence, they will not interfere with each other. The two polarized beams respectively interfere with the unpolarized beam to simultaneously measure the two orthogonal slopes of the out-of-plane deformation. In addition, the imaging lens and apertures are respectively placed in three optical paths to independently control the carrier frequencies and shearing amounts. The effectiveness of this method can be proved by measuring two pressure-loaded circular plates.

Simultaneously detecting transversal and longitudinal displacement with the dielectric metasurface

The compact,sensitive,and multidimensional displacement measurement device plays a crucial role in semiconductor manufacture and high-resolution optical imaging.The metasurface offers a promising solution to develop high-precision displacement metrology.In this work,we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a two-dimensional displacement(XZ)measurement device by a dielectric metasurface.Both transversal and longitudinal displacements of the metasurface can be obtained by the analysis of the interference optical intensity that is generated by the deflected light beams while the metasurface is under linearly polarized incidence.We experimentally demonstrated that displacements down to 5.4 nm along the x-axis and 0.12μm along the z-axis can be resolved with a 900μm×900μm metasurface.Our work opens up new possibilities to develop a compact high-precision multidimensional displacement sensor.

Subset-based local vs.finite element-based global digital image correlation:A comparison study

Being the two primary approaches for full-field kinematics measurements,both subset-based local digital image correlation(DIC) and finite element-based global DIC have been extensively studied.Nowadays,most commercial DIC systems employ local DIC algorithm because of its advantages of straight forward principle and higher efficiency.However,several researchers argue that global DIC can provide better displacement results due to the displacement continuity constraint among adjacent elements.As such,thoroughly examining the performance of these two different DIC methods seems to be highly necessary.Here,the random errors associated with local DIC and two global DIC methods are theoretically analyzed at first.Subsequently,based on the same algorithmic details and parameters during analyses of numerical and real experiments,the performance of the different DIC approaches is fairly compared.Theoretical and experimental results reveal that local DIC outperforms its global counterpart in terms of both displacement results and computational efficiency when element(subset) size is no less than 11 pixels.

Employment of predictive search algorithm in digital image correlation

A predictive search algorithm to estimate the size and direction of displacement vectors was presented.The algorithm decreased the time of calculating the displacement of each pixel.In addition,the updating reference image scheme was used to update the reference image and to decrease the computation time when the displacement was larger than a certain number.In this way,the search range and computational complexity were cut down,and less EMS memory was occupied.The capability of proposed search algorithm was then verified by the results of both computer simulation and experiments.The results showed that the algorithm could improve the efficiency of correlation method and satisfy the accuracy requirement for practical displacement measuring.

A videogrammetric technique for measuring the vibration displacement of stay cables

Stay cables in cable-stayed bridges are prone to large amplitude oscillations under external excitations.The vibration of the cables is predominantly measured by using accelerometers to measure the acceleration.The dynamic displacement is then usually obtained indirectly from the double integration of the acceleration data.This paper reports an experimental method of measuring the displacement of stayed cables using a digital video camera.With the newly developed videogrammetric technique,the video clips are transferred into image frames,from which the shape and location of the target are identified.The displacement time history is then captured.The technique is applied to a cable-stayed bridge to measure the dynamic displacement of stay cables.The displacement is compared with the acceleration data in the frequency and time domains.The results show that the displacement measured by the digital video camera is comparable to the counterparts integrated from the acceleration data.The vibration frequencies identified from the acceleration are finally used to estimate the tension forces of the cables.The results show that the tension forces have insignificant changes after one year’s operation.

A digital moiré fringe method for displacement sensors

In this study, a displacement measurement method based on digital moiré fringe is described and experimentally demonstrated. The method is formed by only one grating with a constant pitch. First, the magnified grating image is received by an imaging array and is sent to a computer. Then, the digital moiré fringes are generated by overlaying the grating image with its mirrored one. Finally, a specifically designed algorithm is used to obtain the fringes' phase difference before and after movement and calculate the displacement. This method has the effects of amplifying displacement and averaging the grating lines error, the same as the traditional moiré technique using two pieces of gratings. At the same time, the proposed system is much easier to assemble and the measurement resolution can be set more flexibly. One displacement measuring system based on this method was built up. Experiment results show that its measurement errors are less than 0.3 μm and less than 0.12 μm at the resolutions of 0.1 μm and 0.03 μm, respectively.