Flexible calibration method for an inner surface detector based on circle structured light

A new calibration method for an inner surface detector based on circle structured light is proposed in this study. Compared with existing methods, this technique is more flexible and practical and only requires a blank planar board and an additional camera, which is precalibrated under the detector's coordinate system. The board is observed by the detector and the additional camera at a few (at least two) different orientations, which need not be known. The mathematical model of this method considers different alignment errors, which are disregarded in existing methods; therefore, precise assembly is not required. The binocular intersection algorithm is used to calculate the coordinates of the calibration points. The measurement system calibrated by this method performs well in the field test in which the maximum relative error of the measured values is less than 0.18%. The experimental result indicates that this method is highly accurate and can be easily applied in inner surface detection.