Adrian Schischmanow

Geometrical camera calibration with diffractive optical elements

Traditional methods for geometrical camera calibration are based on calibration grids or single pixel illumination by collimated light. A new method for geometrical sensor calibration by means of diffractive optical elements (DOE) in connection with a laser beam equipment is presented. This method can be especially used for 2D-sensor array systems but in principle also for line scanners.

MERTIS: geometrical calibration of thermal infrared optical system by applying diffractive optical elements

Geometrical sensor calibration is essential for space applications based on high accuracy optical measurements, in this case for the thermal infrared push-broom imaging spectrometer MERTIS. The goal is the determination of the interior sensor orientation. A conventional method is to measure the line of sight for a subset of pixels by single pixel illumination with collimated light. To adjust angles, which define the line of sight of a pixel, a manipulator construction is used. A new method for geometrical sensor calibration is using Diffractive Optical Elements (DOE) in connection with laser beam equipment. Diffractive optical elements (DOE) are optical microstructures, which are used to split an incoming laser beam with a dedicated wavelength into a number of beams with well-known propagation directions. As the virtual sources of the diffracted beams are points at infinity, the resulting image is invariant against translation. This particular characteristic allows a complete geometrical sensor calibration with only one taken image avoiding complex adjustment procedures, resulting in a significant reduction of calibration effort. We present a new method for geometrical calibration of a thermal infrared optical system, including an thermal infrared test optics and the MERTIS spectrometer bolometer detector. The fundamentals of this new approach for geometrical infrared optical systems calibration by applying diffractive optical elements and the test equipment are shown.

MERTIS: using diffractive optical elements for geometrical calibration

Geometrical sensor calibration is essential for space applications based on high accuracy optical measurements, in this case for MERTIS. The goal is the determination of interiour sensor parameters. A conventional method is to measure the line of sight for a subset of pixels by single pixel illumination with collimated light. To adjust angles which define the line of sight of a pixel a manipulator construction is used. A new method for geometrical sensor calibration is presented using Diffractive Optical Elements (DOE) in connection with laser beam equipment. This method is especially used for 2D-sensor array systems but can also be applied to the thermal infrared push-broom imaging spectrometer MERTIS. Diffractive optical elements (DOE) are optical microstructures which are used to split an incoming laser beam with a dedicated wavelength into a number of beams with well-known propagation directions. As the virtual sources of the diffracted beams are points at infinity, the object to be imaged is similar to the starry sky which gives an image invariant against translation. This particular feature allows a complete geometrical sensor calibration with one image avoiding complex adjustment procedures which means a significant reduction of calibration effort.

IPS – a vision aided navigation system

Abstract Ego localization is an important prerequisite for several scientific, commercial, and statutory tasks. Only by knowing one’s own position, can guidance be provided, inspections be executed, and autonomous vehicles be operated. Localization becomes challenging if satellite-based navigation systems are not available, or data quality is not sufficient. To overcome this problem, a team of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) developed a multi-sensor system based on the human head and its navigation sensors – the eyes and the vestibular system. This system is called integrated positioning system (IPS) and contains a stereo camera and an inertial measurement unit for determining an ego pose in six degrees of freedom in a local coordinate system. IPS is able to operate in real time and can be applied for indoor and outdoor scenarios without any external reference or prior knowledge. In this paper, the system and its key hardware and software components are introduced. The main issues during the development of such complex multi-sensor measurement systems are identified and discussed, and the performance of this technology is demonstrated. The developer team started from scratch and transfers this technology into a commercial product right now. The paper finishes with an outlook.