Modeling and simulation of a laser scanner sensor: An industrial application case study

Abstract

A laser scanner is a popular sensor widely used in industry and mobile robots applications that measures the distance to the sensor on a slice of the plan. At the same time, simulation has becoming more and more used in industries and academia since it presents several advantages. It takes the building and rebuilding phase out of the loop by using the model already created in the design phase. Further, simulation time on testing is cheaper and faster than performing the multiple tests of the design each time. Besides, it is easier to measure some variables in simulation than in real scenarios. In this paper, a laser scanner sensor is modeled and implemented in a developed simulator that already has several other sensors and actuators models. The presented simulation reflects the laser model properties such as target color dependences, noise, limits, time constraints, and target angle functions. As a case study, the same scenario is assembled with real components on a conveyer belt and in simulation. Results from both approaches are compared and validate the proposed model methodology. As an example, a 3D object recognition task is addressed highlighting the developed realistic model. Further industrial and R&D implementations based on this sensor could be stressed in simulation before implementation. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013.