Characterization of a Low-Cost Optical Flow Sensor When Using an External Laser as a Direct Illumination Source

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2011
Author
Font Calafell, Davinia
Tresánchez Ribes, Marcel
Pallejà Cabrè, Tomàs
Teixidó Cairol, Mercè
Palacín Roca, Jordi
Suggested citation
Font Calafell, Davinia; Tresánchez Ribes, Marcel; Pallejà Cabrè, Tomàs; Teixidó Cairol, Mercè; Palacín Roca, Jordi; . (2011) . Characterization of a Low-Cost Optical Flow Sensor When Using an External Laser as a Direct Illumination Source. Sensors, 2011, vol. 11, núm. 12, p. 11856-11870. https://doi.org/10.3390/s111211856.
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Abstract
In this paper, a low cost optical flow sensor is combined with an external laser device to measure surface displacements and mechanical oscillations. The measurement system is based on applying coherent light to a diffuser surface and using an optical flow sensor to analyze the reflected and transferred light to estimate the displacement of the surface or the laser spot. This work is focused on the characterization of this measurement system, which can have the optical flow sensor placed at different angles and distances from the diffuser surface. The results have shown that the displacement of the diffuser surface is badly estimated when the optical mouse sensor is placed in front of the diffuser surface (angular orientation >150°) while the highest sensitivity is obtained when the sensor is located behind the diffuser surface and on the axis of the laser source (angular orientation 0°). In this case, the coefficient of determination of the measured displacement, R2 , was very high (>0.99) with a relative error of less than 1.29%. Increasing the distance between the surface and the sensor also increased the sensitivity which increases linearly, R2 = 0.99. Finally, this measurement setup was proposed to measure very low frequency mechanical oscillations applied to the laser device, up to 0.01 Hz in this work. The results have shown that increasing the distance between the surface and the optical flow sensor also increases the sensitivity and the measurement range.
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http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/49274
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s111211856
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Sensors, 2011, vol. 11, núm. 12, p. 11856-11870
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cc-by (c) Font et al., 2011
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as cc-by (c) Font et al., 2011