Development of a Vision Based 3D Range Sensor using Modulated Light

This paper describes a new type of vision based 3D range sensor. It is a kind of active stereo vision that uses a camera and multiple light sources. The light source projects stripe-patterned light moving on target. The phase of variation of brightness is unique to emitting direction angle from the source. 3D position of a point can be determined by which phase is detected on corresponding pixel on camera image. Simultaneous detection reduced occlusion that is major problem of triangulation based system. Experiments showed the efficiency of the method with resolution of 1mm.