Metrological performance verification of coordinate measuring systems with optical distance sensors

Optical coordinate measuring systems are gaining increasing interest in production quality control, due to their rapidity and other advantages with respect to traditional measuring techniques using contact probes. This paper presents an experimental investigation on procedures and standards for testing coordinate measuring systems equipped with optical distance sensors. Particular attention is given to methods for testing two of the most important specifications of optical coordinate measuring system: the probing error and the error of indication for size measurement. The investigation is aimed at improving the performance verification methods employed at the state of the art. This will help the industrial users in the selection process of those systems, with an improvement of measurement precision in manufacturing.