The five-degree of freedom stitching method of areal surface data for high precision and large area measurement

In this research, a five-degree of freedom (5-d.o.f.) stitching method is proposed which is implemented by calculating the 5-d.o.f. relative position and orientation between small areas of 3D profile data acquired with high resolution. The relative position and orientation is calculated from the data of the overlap area for adjacent measured areas by using the least squares method and the cross correlation function. Furthermore, a data synchronizing algorithm is also proposed for the case in which a specimen is measured by different instruments. To verify practical application of the stitching method and the synchronizing algorithm, a multi-probe optical measuring instrument was developed.