System Integration and Control for 3D Scanning Laser Metrology

Mechatronic imaging systems, ranging from nanoscale metrology to telescope systems and adaptive optics for astronomy, are complex machines that demand continual improvement of system speed, range, and precision. This demand requires advanced designs of the mechatronic components and a motion control scheme that carefully considers the interplay of a physical plant and the target application. A proper data acquisition system is required to synchronously acquire and process measurement and position data, and a sophisticated system integration is needed to obtain the maximum performance of the resulting system. This paper discusses the interplay between process and control design, as well as the system integration with the example of a scanning laser triangulation system for high precision 3D metrology. The integration process can be tailored to individual applications, and is discussed for raster and Lissajous scan trajectories, considering their individual requirements for the system and control design. Further it is demonstrated how these individually tailored system components can improve the performance in terms of precision and efficiency by several orders of magnitude.