Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes

Imaging 3-D measurement systems differ not only in design, power consumption, and resolution but, most notably, in their measurement performance, which is rarely documented in a reproducible or comparable manner. In this work, we introduce a simple, universal methodology for quantitatively character...

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Main Authors: Bastian Stahl, Alexandra Mielke, Robert Lange
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11080294/
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author Bastian Stahl
Alexandra Mielke
Robert Lange
author_facet Bastian Stahl
Alexandra Mielke
Robert Lange
author_sort Bastian Stahl
collection DOAJ
description Imaging 3-D measurement systems differ not only in design, power consumption, and resolution but, most notably, in their measurement performance, which is rarely documented in a reproducible or comparable manner. In this work, we introduce a simple, universal methodology for quantitatively characterizing indirect time-of-flight cameras, focusing on point cloud data acquired under reproducible conditions. Our metrics build upon the ISO 5725-1 standard and related research to enable standardized comparisons across different systems, independent of their measurement principles. Beyond trueness, accuracy, and precision, we propose additional metrics to evaluate surface texture quality, addressing visually disruptive systematic measurement errors. We condense these measurements into 14 key metrics for a straightforward camera comparison. In addition, we introduce the energy-density-weighted depth precision index (EPI) as a metric to relate an active measurement system’s performance to the emitted optical power. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of our methodology by evaluating seven state-of-the-art 3-D systems.
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spelling doaj-art-66b78f11b015460d93bb09019a4d277e2025-08-22T23:17:36ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement2768-72362025-01-01411110.1109/OJIM.2025.358896211080294Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor ScenesBastian Stahl0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5304-8385Alexandra Mielke1https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1749-8220Robert Lange2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4567-6907Institute for Safety and Security Research, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Sankt Augustin, GermanyInstitute for Safety and Security Research, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Sankt Augustin, GermanyInstitute for Safety and Security Research, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, Sankt Augustin, GermanyImaging 3-D measurement systems differ not only in design, power consumption, and resolution but, most notably, in their measurement performance, which is rarely documented in a reproducible or comparable manner. In this work, we introduce a simple, universal methodology for quantitatively characterizing indirect time-of-flight cameras, focusing on point cloud data acquired under reproducible conditions. Our metrics build upon the ISO 5725-1 standard and related research to enable standardized comparisons across different systems, independent of their measurement principles. Beyond trueness, accuracy, and precision, we propose additional metrics to evaluate surface texture quality, addressing visually disruptive systematic measurement errors. We condense these measurements into 14 key metrics for a straightforward camera comparison. In addition, we introduce the energy-density-weighted depth precision index (EPI) as a metric to relate an active measurement system’s performance to the emitted optical power. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of our methodology by evaluating seven state-of-the-art 3-D systems.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11080294/3-D depth sensing camerascharacterizationmeasurement erroroptical powerquantitative benchmarksurface texture
spellingShingle Bastian Stahl
Alexandra Mielke
Robert Lange
Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes
IEEE Open Journal of Instrumentation and Measurement
3-D depth sensing cameras
characterization
measurement error
optical power
quantitative benchmark
surface texture
title Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes
title_full Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes
title_fullStr Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes
title_full_unstemmed Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes
title_short Universal Metrics to Characterize the Performance of Imaging 3-D Measurement Systems With a Focus on Static Indoor Scenes
title_sort universal metrics to characterize the performance of imaging 3 d measurement systems with a focus on static indoor scenes
topic 3-D depth sensing cameras
characterization
measurement error
optical power
quantitative benchmark
surface texture
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11080294/
work_keys_str_mv AT bastianstahl universalmetricstocharacterizetheperformanceofimaging3dmeasurementsystemswithafocusonstaticindoorscenes
AT alexandramielke universalmetricstocharacterizetheperformanceofimaging3dmeasurementsystemswithafocusonstaticindoorscenes
AT robertlange universalmetricstocharacterizetheperformanceofimaging3dmeasurementsystemswithafocusonstaticindoorscenes