3D shape, deformation, and vibration measurements using infrared Kinect sensors and digital image correlation

Consumer-grade red-green-blue and depth (RGB-D) sensors, such as the Microsoft Kinect and the Asus Xtion, are attractive devices due to their low cost and robustness for real-time sensing of depth information. These devices provide the depth information by detecting the correspondences between the captured infrared (IR) image and the initial image sent to the IR projector, and their essential limitation is the low accuracy of 3D shape reconstruction. In this paper, an effective technique that employs the Kinect sensors for accurate 3D shape, deformation, and vibration measurements is introduced. The technique involves using the RGB-D sensors, an accurate camera calibration scheme, and area- and feature-based image-matching algorithms. The IR speckle pattern projected from the Kinect projector considerably facilitates the digital image correlation analysis in the regions of interest with enhanced accuracy. A number of experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed technique and approach. It is shown that the technique can yield measurement accuracy at the 10 μm level for a typical field of view. The real-time capturing speed of 30 frames per second makes the proposed technique suitable for certain motion and vibration measurements, such as non-contact monitoring of respiration and heartbeat rates.