Automated noise filtering program for 3D scanning process

Citation

(2008), "Automated noise filtering program for 3D scanning process", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 80 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2008.12780cad.015

Automated noise filtering program for 3D scanning process

Article Type: Equipment and software From: Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal, Volume 80, Issue 3.

Laser Design Inc., a supplier of 3D laser scanners for more than 20 years, announced the upcoming release of its Laser Design Point Cloud Denoiser (3D) Software, a step forward in the scanning process of parts with reflective surfaces. The DeNoiser software is said to greatly reduce or eliminate the need to spray surface treatments, powders, paints, or finishes on parts with reflective surfaces because the noisy data is reported to be automatically removed by the Point Cloud Denoiser software after the scanning is completed. The actual surface data is left intact by the software's proprietary denoising algorithms.

According to Laser Design Inc., Point Cloud DeNoiser automatically removes both long-range noise, i.e. outliers, and short-range noise. The software identifies and deletes discrete and clustered outliers without moving any of the input data points. The software's algorithm also excels at removing structured point data usually associated with reflections. The DeNoiser saves the most time of any data processing product on the market for high-density scanning applications. The amount of time spent cleaning up scan data to eliminate excessive or minute noise in scan files can be more than 50 per cent of the time spent on the entire data processing project. The Point Cloud DeNoiser automates the whole noise reduction process for 3D data from any scanner that uses industry-standard file formats. No additional operator training is necessary.

Noisy data removal is said to be crucial for industries that use scanning technologies for their reverse engineering, quality inspection, and object recognition applications such as aerospace, automotive, electronics, telecommunications, medical device, consumer appliance, and tooling manufacturing. In addition, the DeNoiser can reportedly eliminate the interactive operator time needed for data editing on any 3D scan data files including huge terrestrial laser scanning projects such as a building, power plant interior, or land contours. By definition, large-scale terrestrial scanning in less than optimum conditions results in scans with the most noise and errant flier data points.

By eliminating the need for surface sprays, the reliability of laser scanning results for inspection applications is heightened since parts will no longer be deformed by the application of a messy surface spray. Many more applications for scanning parts will be viable because there is no part contamination: for example, medical, electronics components/circuit boards, clean room parts, machined metal surfaces, polished parts and many high finish, reflective materials that previously could not be scanned without surface sprays. Some extremely reflective surfaces may still need surface preparation.

The Point Cloud DeNoiser claims to outperform the imbedded data processing features of the market leaders in 3D digitised data processing software for reverse engineering, inspection, and analysis applications. According to laser design in comparison tests, the competing software programs completely failed to automatically denoise many measured data models while the Point Cloud DeNoiser provided impressive outlier removal results without user interaction. The competing software often requires manual point selection and deletion to denoise a point cloud, which is a tedious, time consuming task. Point Cloud DeNoiser is said to have been shown to be up to ten times faster in removing noisy data than manual methods to obtain comparable results. Laser Design's software handles both planar and arbitrarily curved surfaces with equivalent efficacy.

For further information, please contact: Laser Design Inc., Tel: +1 952 252 3402, Fax: +1 952 884 9653.