Introduction of 3-D motion analysis in safety testing

Porsche's safety test benches have been extended to also include the required equipment for the 3D motion analysis. By combining digital photogrammetry elements with the highspeed video recording technique the required basis has been created for 3D tracking. The measuring accuracy of the motion analysis has been further improved through systematic calibrations which allow measuring errors to be detected and eliminated. There are different calibration methodes which can be used for this purpose. The quality of the measured results clearly depends on the various parameters and is influenced above all by the camera constants (focal lengths) and tens distortions. Shooting is simplified by the fact that such operations as the manual measurement and documentation of the camera position are now automatized. To be able of automatically determining and documenting these external camera orientation parameters the test benches must be fitted with reference points. This procedure has already been implemented on the crash test facility, the acceleration sled and the pedestrian safety bench.