Flexible calibration of phase-to-height conversion in fringe projection profilometry

A flexible new technique is presented to calibrate the monocular system of phase-based fringe projection profilometry, which is made of a camera, a projector, and a computer. The proposed algorithm mainly consists of a more flexible phase-to-height conversion model and a minimum norm solution, followed by a nonlinear optimization based on the maximum likelihood criterion. In the whole calibration procedure, this method only requires the camera to capture a few two-dimensional checkerboard target images and several deformed fringe images with at least three different orientations. The proposed technique neither subjects to certain limitations nor measures additional geometry parameters in advance. Also, no highly precise gauge blocks or extra reference phases are involved. In contrast with the existing methods, the proposed technique is easier to use and more flexible. Experiments have been performed to validate the performance of this technique.