Three Degrees of Freedom Global Calibration Method for Measurement Systems with Binocular Vision

We develop a new method to globally calibrate the feature points that are derived from the binocular systems at different positions. A three-DOF (degree of freedom) global calibration system is established to move and rotate the 3D calibration board to an arbitrary position. A three-DOF global calibration model is constructed for the binocular systems at different positions. The three-DOF calibration model unifies the 3D coordinates of the feature points from different binocular systems into a unique world coordinate system that is determined by the initial position of the calibration board. Experiments are conducted on the binocular systems at the coaxial and diagonal positions. The experimental root-mean-square errors between the true and reconstructed 3D coordinates of the feature points are 0.573 mm, 0.520 mm and 0.528 mm at the coaxial positions. The experimental root-mean-square errors between the true and reconstructed 3D coordinates of the feature points are 0.495 mm, 0.556 mm and 0.627 mm at the diagonal positions. This method provides a global and accurate calibration to unity the measurement points of different binocular vision systems into the same world coordinate system.