3D reconstruction of moving object by double sampling based on phase shifting profilometry

Phase shifting profilometry (PSP) is a high-accuracy structured light technique that computes surface depth from the phase of sinusoidal fringe patterns. Its main limitation for dynamic scenes is that each depth map requires multiple fringe captures, and any object movement between captures creates phase inconsistencies that produce artifacts or missing depth regions. This paper proposes a double-sampling strategy that captures two interleaved temporal sequences of fringe images—each a complete phase-shifted set—offset by a small time interval. The difference between corresponding images in the two sequences encodes the object motion, which is estimated and used to warp the second fringe set into alignment with the first before standard phase computation. Because both fringe sets are captured with the same hardware, no additional sensors or synchronisation equipment are required. The method is straightforward to integrate into existing PSP systems as a software update. Presented at the SPIE Symposium on Novel Photoelectronic Detection Technology and Applications (2023), the approach demonstrates measurable reduction in motion-induced reconstruction error on controlled moving-object experiments, establishing double sampling as a cost-effective approach to extending PSP to dynamic measurement tasks.

Problem setting

Phase shifting profilometry (PSP) achieves high accuracy 3D reconstruction by capturing multiple phase-shifted fringe images, but any object motion between captures corrupts the phase calculation and introduces reconstruction errors. This work proposes a double sampling strategy that acquires two interleaved sets of fringe images with a temporal offset, using the two sets to estimate inter-frame object motion and compensate for it before phase recovery. The motion estimate is obtained by comparing the two sampling sets, requiring no additional sensors or hardware beyond a standard structured light setup.

The figures below collect representative visual evidence from Ninth Symposium on Novel Photoelectronic Detection Technology and Applications, vol. 12617 (SPIE), 1950–1958.

Method and visual evidence

The figures below summarize the paper’s setup, signal flow, and visual evidence.

Method overview.

Representation and setup.

Experimental evidence.

Result comparison.

Additional visual result.

Results and impact

The evaluation reported in Ninth Symposium on Novel Photoelectronic Detection Technology and Applications, vol. 12617 (SPIE), 1950–1958 is summarized through the figures above.