Optical Position Sensor Based on Digital Image Processing: Magnetic Field Mapping Improvement

Optical position measurement system for an automated magnetic field mapping apparatus based on fluxgate sensors is presented. For the exact position estimation of the sensor head, a simple smart camera was developed with respect to minimal hardware configuration and real-lime execution of position measurement algorithm. The camera is observing the mapped scene and evaluates position of the sensor head using an active marker. The sensor head is designed as movable, what allows keeping the scene fixed and exactly referenced to the mapped magnetic field using coordinates obtained from image. With image sensor fixed 2.5 in above the plane and range +/- 130 mm around the lens optical axis (image center), the total position measurement error is less than 0.5 mm.