Fundamental limits of 3D optical metrology
Richard Leach
University of Nottingham, UK
*richard.leach@nottingham.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
Optical instruments are now used extensively in manufacturing industry
to determine the 3D geometry of objects. Optical instruments offer a
range of benefits over mechanical contacting techniques; not least,
much higher measurement speeds. However, despite their benefits,
optical instruments have a number of fundamental limitations when
being used for 3D measurement, many of which cannot be overcome by
improvements in engineering and technology. These limitations will be
discussed in this paper along with limitations in current technology.
Approaches will be presented that can partially overcome some of the
limitations by making use of advances in mathematics, physics and
engineering.
BIOGRAPHY
Professor Richard Leach leads the Manufacturing Metrology research at
the University of Nottingham in the UK and is a visiting professor at
Loughborough University and the Harbin Institute of Technology.
Richard obtained his PhD in Surface Metrology from University of
Warwick in 2000 and was at the National Physical Laboratory from
1990 to 2014. He has current research interests in surface topography
measurement, micro-coordinate metrology, high dynamic range sensing
and computed tomography. Richard is on the Council of euspen, the
Board of ASPE, the IoN Advisory Board, the International Committee
on Measurements and Instrumentation and several international
standards committees. He is the European Editor-in-Chief for Precision
Engineering and Surface Topography. He has over 200 publications
including three textbooks. Richard is a Fellow of the Institute of
Physics, the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institute
of Nanotechnology.