Performance evaluation method of homogeneous stereo camera system for full-field structural deformation estimation

Abstract

This study presents how we can evaluate stereo camera systems for the structural deformation monitoring. A stereo camera system, consisting of a set of stereo cameras and reflective markers attached on the structure, is introduced for the measurement and the stereo pattern recognition (SPR) method is utilized for the full-field structural deformation estimation. Performance of this measurement system depends on many parameters including types and specifications of the cameras, locations and orientations of them, and sizes and positions of markers; it is difficult to experimentally identify the effects of each parameter on the measurement performance. In this study, a simulation framework for evaluating performance of the stereo camera systems with various parameters has been developed. The maximum normalized root-mean-square (RMS) error is defined as a representative index of stereo camera system performance. A plate structure is chosen for an introductory example. Its several modal harmonic vibrations are generated and estimated in the simulation framework. Two cases of simulations are conducted to see the effects of camera locations and the resolutions of the cameras. An experimental validation is carried out for a few selected cases from the simulations. Using the simultaneous laser displacement sensor (LDS) measurements as the reference, the measurement errors are obtained and compared with the simulations.