Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Hou, Yoshen
URN	etd-07102009-040351
Title	Developing a flexible range sensing system for industrial inspection applications
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Electrical Engineering
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Conners, Richard W. Committee Chair Kline, D. Earl Committee Co-Chair Abbott, A. Lynn Committee Member Schmoldt, Daniel L. Committee Member
Keywords	range sensing systems
Date of Defense	1993-06-15
Availability	restricted
Abstract This thesis describes the development of a range sensing system. The goal was to create a range sensor that is robust and flexible so that a number of applications within the forest products manufacturing environment can be addressed. Features of the system include: the capability of producing spatially registered image pairs of range and intensity, the ability to generate both range and intensity very quickly, the applicability to a wide variety of industrial applications, the ability to handle large depth-of-field range sensing problems, the ability to do real-time data processing, and the capability to do extensive system diagnostics under complete software control. A triangulation based plane-of-light optical method is employed to extract range information. The research shows that this method suits range sensing applications where conveyor belts are involved. An in-depth study of the triangulation method is included. In the study it shows that this method also supports large depth-of-field range sensing. A dedicated signal processing hardware, built on the Micro Channel interface, performs pipelined image processing and generates range and intensity images in a spatially registered form. The hardware is designed to support several modes of operation, for the purpose of facilitating optical adjustments and calibrations. The hardware self-diagnostic facility is also included in the design. A memory management scheme is provided that facilitates real-time data processing of the range and intensity images. The experiments show that this scheme provides a real-time environment for software processing. This thesis also contains a theory exploring the limitations of the measurement accuracy of the range detection algorithm employed in the prototype system. The maximum data generation rate of the prototype system is 380 range/intensity lines per second at 128 range/intensity pixels per line. Several proposals toward future work are included that aim at improving the speed as well as the measurement accuracy of the prototype system.
Files	Filename       Size       Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)     28.8 Modem   56K Modem   ISDN (64 Kb)   ISDN (128 Kb)   Higher-speed Access  LD5655.V855_1993.H68.pdf 26.16 Mb 02:01:07 01:02:17 00:54:30 00:27:15 00:02:19 next to an author's name indicates that all files or directories associated with their ETD are accessible from the Virginia Tech campus network only.

If you have questions or technical problems, please Contact DLA.