A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners
Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are portable dimensional measurement instruments used to obtain 3D point clouds of objects in a scene. While TLSs do not require the use of cooperative targets, they are sometimes placed in a scene to fuse or compare data from different instruments or data from the s...
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| author | Bala Muralikrishnan Xinsu Lu Mary Gregg Meghan Shilling Braden Czapla |
| author_facet | Bala Muralikrishnan Xinsu Lu Mary Gregg Meghan Shilling Braden Czapla |
| author_sort | Bala Muralikrishnan |
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| description | Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are portable dimensional measurement instruments used to obtain 3D point clouds of objects in a scene. While TLSs do not require the use of cooperative targets, they are sometimes placed in a scene to fuse or compare data from different instruments or data from the same instrument but from different positions. A contrast target is an example of such a target; it consists of alternating black/white squares that can be printed using a laser printer. Because contrast targets are planar as opposed to three-dimensional (like a sphere), the center of the target might suffer from errors that depend on the orientation of the target with respect to the TLS. In this paper, we discuss a low-cost method to characterize such errors and present results obtained from a short-range TLS and a long-range TLS. Our method involves comparing the center of a contrast target against the center of spheres and, therefore, does not require the use of a reference instrument or calibrated objects. For the short-range TLS, systematic errors of up to 0.5 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances (5 m and 10 m) and resolutions (30 points-per-degree (ppd) and 90 ppd) considered for this TLS. For the long-range TLS, systematic errors of about 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances (5 m and 10 m) at low resolution (28 ppd). Errors of under 0.3 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances at high resolution (109 ppd). |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-5d5b0654eed349afaed7fc777403846a2025-01-24T13:49:10ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-01-0125250510.3390/s25020505A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser ScannersBala Muralikrishnan0Xinsu Lu1Mary Gregg2Meghan Shilling3Braden Czapla4Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USASensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USAStatistical Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80305, USASensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USASensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20878, USATerrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are portable dimensional measurement instruments used to obtain 3D point clouds of objects in a scene. While TLSs do not require the use of cooperative targets, they are sometimes placed in a scene to fuse or compare data from different instruments or data from the same instrument but from different positions. A contrast target is an example of such a target; it consists of alternating black/white squares that can be printed using a laser printer. Because contrast targets are planar as opposed to three-dimensional (like a sphere), the center of the target might suffer from errors that depend on the orientation of the target with respect to the TLS. In this paper, we discuss a low-cost method to characterize such errors and present results obtained from a short-range TLS and a long-range TLS. Our method involves comparing the center of a contrast target against the center of spheres and, therefore, does not require the use of a reference instrument or calibrated objects. For the short-range TLS, systematic errors of up to 0.5 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances (5 m and 10 m) and resolutions (30 points-per-degree (ppd) and 90 ppd) considered for this TLS. For the long-range TLS, systematic errors of about 0.3 mm to 0.8 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances (5 m and 10 m) at low resolution (28 ppd). Errors of under 0.3 mm were observed in the target center as a function of the angle for the two distances at high resolution (109 ppd).https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/2/505center errorcheckerboardcontrast targetforensicssphere targetterrestrial laser scanner |
| spellingShingle | Bala Muralikrishnan Xinsu Lu Mary Gregg Meghan Shilling Braden Czapla A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners Sensors center error checkerboard contrast target forensics sphere target terrestrial laser scanner |
| title | A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners |
| title_full | A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners |
| title_fullStr | A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners |
| title_short | A Method to Evaluate Orientation-Dependent Errors in the Center of Contrast Targets Used with Terrestrial Laser Scanners |
| title_sort | method to evaluate orientation dependent errors in the center of contrast targets used with terrestrial laser scanners |
| topic | center error checkerboard contrast target forensics sphere target terrestrial laser scanner |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/2/505 |
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