Image acquisition techniques for automatic visual inspection of metallic surfaces

This paper provides an overview of three different image acquisition approaches for automatic visual inspection of metallic surfaces. The first method is concerned with gray-level intensity imaging, whereby the most commonly employed lighting techniques are surveyed. Subsequently, two range imaging techniques are introduced which may succeed in contrast to intensity imaging if the reflection property across the intact surface changes. However, range imaging for surface inspection is restricted to surface defects with three-dimensional characteristics, e.g. cavities. One range imaging approach is based on light sectioning in conjunction with fast imaging sensors. The second introduced range imaging technique is photometric stereo. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.