Video Distance Measurement Technique

Article
Video Distance Measurement Technique Using Least Squares
Based Sharpness Cost Function
Elena Serea 1,* , Mihai Penciuc 2, Marinel Costel Temneanu 1 and Codrin Donciu 1
1 Faculty of Electrical Engineering, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Ias, i, 700050 Ias, i, Romania
2 Faculty of Industrial Design and Business Management, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Ias, i,
700050 Ias, i, RomaniaCorrespondence: edanila@tuiasi.ro; Tel.: +40-0040740481758
Abstract: A wide range of precision applications requires video measuring systems that achieve a
large number of successive measurements and deliver fast results. Their efficiency is essentially given
by the technical performances of the used equipment and by the measurement technique on which
they operate. In order to enhance the reliability of such a system, the paper presents a new method of
measuring the distance with a single video camera intended to assess the distance at which the object
of interest to the camera is located. The technique makes use of a least squares-based sharpness cost
function and determines the distance between the camera and the object of interest by minimizing
the least squares deviation of the current sharpness values from the sharpness values obtained by
calibration. It involves the current sharpness calculation phase, the normalization phase, the phase of
calculating the deviations of the current sharpness from the dependencies obtained by calibration
and the phase of determining the minimum deviation index.