Color-Encoded Structured Light for Rapid Active Ranging

TLDR

The paper proposes a novel color‑encoded structured‑light method for rapid acquisition of scene range maps. The method projects a single grid of colored light stripes and matches detected stripes to their projected positions via the color encoding to solve the indexing problem. The technique delivers faster, more accurate, real‑time high‑resolution range data at low cost, eliminating grid‑alignment issues, removing the need for dark interstices, and providing uniform illumination that simplifies stripe detection and reduces mechanical complexity.

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss a novel strategy for rapid acquisition of the range map of a scene employing color-encoded structured light. This technique offers several potential advantages including increased speed and improved accuracy. In this approach we illuminate the scene with a single encoded grid of colored light stripes. The indexing problem, that of matching a detected image plane stripe with its position in the projection grid, is solved from a knowledge of the color grid encoding. In fact, the possibility exists for the first time to acquire high-resolution range data in real time for modest cost, since only a single projection and single color image are required. Grid to grid alignment problems associated with previous multistripe techniques are eliminated, as is the requirement for dark interstices between grid stripes. Scene illumination is more uniform, simplifying the stripe detection problem, and mechanical difficulties associated with the equipment design are significantly reduced.