Positioning error calibration for two-dimensional precision stages via globally optimized image registration

Abstract Positioning errors are a primary performance indicator of precision stages. Calibration of stage positioning errors usually requires expensive, specialised instruments or artefacts. In this paper, we introduce a simple and cost-effective, machine vision-based method for stage error calibration. The novelty is that we used an arbitrarily textured plane, for example an array of coins, as the imaging target, as opposed to costly precision machined artefacts. Positioning errors were extracted from overlapped texture images using a fast and globally optimised feature-matching algorithm. A computer simulation demonstrates that the method is accurate and numerically stable in terms of sensing noise. Trials with a coordinate measuring machine reveal that the method can achieve sub-pixel accuracy, with a maximum measurement error of approximately 3 μm within a 100 mm range.