Comparative Analysis of Object Digitization Techniques Applied to the Characterization of Deformed Materials in Ballistic Tests

Sensors (Basel). 2020 Sep 4;20(18):5017. doi: 10.3390/s20185017.

Abstract

Several three-dimensional scanning methods have been developed and improved over the past 40 years. The peculiarities of each technique, associated with the computational advances of the period, allowed the increasing application and diffusion of the technology in several sectors, among them those related to metrology in ballistics and the testing of protective materials. The specific goal of such ballistic tests is to estimate the depth of indentation caused by projectiles. In particular, this study presents a comparative analysis between two three-dimensional optical scanning methods, taking into account the same object of interest. The comparative analysis was based on reference planes detected by Random Sample Consensus methodology in each cloud. By comparing the results of the different techniques, it was found for this case that three-dimensional reconstruction by stereo images estimated values closer to the real ones in comparison to those estimated by the structured light scanner, mainly due to the fact that, for three-dimensional reconstruction, the image acquisition was conducted statically.

Keywords: ballistic tests; depth measurement; digitization; three-dimensional reconstruction; three-dimensional scanners.