Adaptive whole-field optical profilometry: a study of the systematic errors

An analysis of the sources of systematic errors in an optical whole-field profilometer based on the projection of fringes is presented here. In the system, the determination of the object profile is performed by triangulation. Both the period of the fringes and the geometrical system parameters on which triangulation operates (i.e. the distance between the object and the acquisition/projection units, and the distance between the acquisition unit and the projection unit) represent the input parameters of the profile evaluation algorithm. The influence on the height error introduced by an inaccuracy in the determination of the projected fringe period, as well as of the geometrical parameters of the system, is investigated here. The distortion in reconstructing the object shape due to the finite distance illumination scheme used in the system is also studied. The results obtained from the analysis are used to increase the accuracy at the optical profilometer by means of a suitably developed correction algorithm