Shift estimation method based fringe pattern profilometry and performance comparison

In this paper, we present and study two approaches to fringe pattern profilometry (FPP) technique. Based on generalized analysis model for fringe pattern profilometry (FPP), Inverse Function based Shift Estimation (IFSE) and Gradient-based Shift Estimation (GSE) are proposed to calculate the shift between the projected and deformed fringe patterns. Further, computer simulations are utilized to compare the performance between these two methods. Meanwhile, we also compare these two algorithms with Phase Shift profilometry (PSP). It can be seen that both of these two shift estimation algorithms can significantly improve the measurement accuracy when the fringe patterns are nonlinearly distorted.