SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of a high resolution 3D imaging system, based on a new technology that allows simultaneous 3D coordinate measurement and high resolution imagery using the same off-the-shelf CCD or CMOS sensor. Although stereoscopic 3D images and movies have existed since for over 100 years in varying degrees of quality, only recently have technologies been developed that are able capture accurate 3D coordinates of points on surfaces, objects, and structures. Accuracies for single points to less than 1 mm have been achieved, but such systems produce no images and must assemble a collection of single 3D points over time, with significant errors and no motion permitted. This project will demonstrate a high resolution 3D camera that produces real-time 3D imagery and video with sub-mm accuracies at each pixel. The Phase I effort will verify the predicted performance of key components and measure the range resolution using a simplified optical system. Phase II will then construct a 3D camera prototype and demonstrate the promised performance. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is that many industries, from aerospace to industrial surveying to movie and game special effects, have a need to record and measure objects and scenes in three dimensions. Current technology used to capture the 3D coordinates of objects and surfaces is slow, difficult to use, and either can only be used on static objects or requires special suits and sound stages with very low resolution. In spite of the difficulty and associated high cost, the value of 3D data is such that its use is growing in many sectors. This project will demonstrate a high resolution 3D camera with the ability to simultaneously acquire 3D data and imagery 100X faster with higher accuracies and simplified operation, which could dramatically reduce the cost of 3D data. While this makes a large impact on the current markets, the capability to have high resolution images of moving objects with 3D coordinate measurements at each pixel enables a large number of new markets such as 3D biometrics, security, cost-effective digital heritage preservation, real-time measurement of 3D trajectories, robotic vision, etc. This is a disruptive technology for 3D data acquisition with tremendous broader potential

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will build upon the success of Phase I which demonstrated the feasibility of a high resolution three-dimensional (3D) imaging system, based on a new technology that allows simultaneous 3D coordinate measurement and high resolution imagery using commercial off-the-shelf Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) sensors. Although stereoscopic 3D images and movies have existed for over 100 years, only recently have 3D laser scanners which can reach 1 mm accuracies for single points at ranges of tens of meters and triangulation systems which can achieve 0.1 mm accuracies at ranges up to 2 m been developed. These systems produce no images and must assemble a collection of single 3D points over time. Phase I demonstrated the ability to capture 3D images using a 6 megapixel focal plane array with sub-centimeter accuracy and identified areas where further improvement can be achieved. The Phase II effort will implement these improvements but will focus on the engineering, miniaturization and fabrication of a 3D camera prototype which has performance and a form-factor traceable to the alpha version of a commercial 3D survey-grade instrument. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will benefit multiple industries, from aerospace to industrial surveying to movie and game special effects, by providing the new capability to record and measure objects, motion and scenes in three dimensions with imagery and in real-time. Current technology, e.g. 3D laser scanners and motion capture systems, used to capture 3D coordinates of objects and surfaces is slow, difficult to use, and either can only be used on static objects or requires special suits and sound stages with limited resolution. Despite the difficulty and associated high cost, the value of 3D data is such that its use in 3D industrial survey has been growing at 40% per year, reaching $425M in 2008. The high resolution 3D camera technology subject of this SBIR has been demonstrated in Phase I to have the potential to increase the acquisition speed by 100X over current solutions while reducing total data collection and processing costs by 10X. While this speed and resolution improvement will have a large impact on current markets, the capability to have high resolution images of moving objects with 3D coordinate measurements at each pixel enables a large number of new markets such as 3D biometrics, security, cost-effective digital heritage preservation, real-time measurement of 3D trajectories and robotic vision