Method and apparatus for detecting surface features
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsAlan R. Katz, Stephen J. Bennison
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting a feature on a surface. A mesh comprising a plurality of mesh elements is generated using surface data generated for a surface region. The plurality of normal vectors is computed for the plurality of mesh elements. A distribution for the plurality of normal vectors is generated. A dominant subset of the plurality of mesh elements is identified in which a Z component of a corresponding normal vector for each mesh element of the dominant subset is in substantially a first direction. Z components of a portion of the plurality of normal vectors corresponding to a remaining subset of the plurality of mesh elements are analyzed to determine whether the feature is present within the surface region.
Claims20
A method for detecting a feature on a surface, the method comprising:
- generating, by a computer system, a mesh comprising a plurality of mesh elements using surface data generated for a surface region;
- computing, by the computer system, a plurality of normal vectors for the plurality of mesh elements;
- generating, by the computer system, a distribution for the plurality of normal vectors;
- identifying, by the computer system, a dominant subset of the plurality of mesh elements based on the distribution in which a Z component of a corresponding normal vector of each mesh element of the dominant subset is in substantially a first direction;
- and
- analyzing, by the computer system, Z components of a portion of the plurality of normal vectors corresponding to a remaining subset of the plurality of mesh elements to determine whether the feature is present within the surface region.
An apparatus comprising:
- a sensor system that measures a profile of a surface region to generate surface data;
- a computer system that receives the surface data;
- generates a mesh comprising a plurality of mesh elements using the surface data generated for a surface region;
- computes a plurality of normal vectors for the plurality of mesh elements;
- generates a distribution for the plurality of normal vectors;
- identifies a dominant subset of the plurality of mesh elements in which a Z component of a corresponding normal vector of each mesh element of the dominant subset is in substantially a first direction;
- and analyze Z components of a portion of the plurality of normal vectors corresponding to a remaining subset of the plurality of mesh elements to determine whether a feature is present within the surface region.
A method for detecting a feature on a surface, the method comprising:
- scanning a surface region of an aircraft structure using a sensor system to generate point cloud data;
- generating a mesh comprising a plurality of mesh elements in which each point in the point cloud data is assigned to a mesh element in the plurality of mesh elements;
- computing a plurality of normal vectors for the plurality of mesh elements;
- generating a distribution of Z components for the plurality of normal vectors;
- identifying a main portion of the Z components that are substantially in a first direction based on the distribution;
- analyzing a remaining portion of the Z components based on the distribution to determine whether the feature is present within the surface region,
- wherein a substantially conical hole is detected at a region of the mesh when substantially all corresponding Z components for the region are substantially in a second direction that is not the first direction;
- and
- wherein a surface texture feature is detected at the region of the mesh when the region is associated with a random and varied distribution of Z components.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.