Investigation of different polar to Cartesian coordinate system conversion methods for ToF-cameras in the close-up range

Abstract

In machine vision applications, Time-of-Flight (TOF) sensors like the Photonic Mixer Devices (PMD) became considerable alternatives to common 3D sensing devices. Because of the enormous progress in TOF-vision systems, nowadays 3D matrix cameras can be used for many applications such as robotic, automotive, industrial, medical and multimedia applications. This paper focuses on the range data resolution for machine vision applications in the close-up range. For many applications the 3D information of objects are required in Cartesian coordinates. However TOF cameras normally deliver polar coordinates. In this paper different polar to Cartesian coordinate system conversion methods and their influence of the range resolution in the close-up range of TOF cameras are investigated.