Sub-pixel measurement system for grid's width and period based on an improved partial area effect

Based on the partial area effect of charge-coupled device (CCD), a sub-pixel line detecting algorithm is proposed to measure the width and the period of a metal grid. An optical pointing system is developed and applied to accurately measure the line-width and the period of a grid. The grid's moving image is captured by the developed system. From the obtained images, one can determine position of a line with sub-pixel resolution. By controlling the grid's movement and aiming at the grid, the absolute coordinates of a grating ruler are obtained. Simulated calculations and experiments are performed with recorded video images to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show that the precision of the proposed estimation algorithm can reach 0.025 pixels for a moving image.