A new camera calibration accuracy standard for three-dimensional image reconstruction using Monte Carlo simulations

Camera calibration has applications in the fields of robotic motion, geographic mapping, semiconductor defect characterization, and many more. This thesis considers camera calibration for the purpose of high accuracy three-dimensional reconstruction when characterizing ball grid arrays within the semiconductor industry. Bouguet's calibration method is used following a set of criteria with the purpose of studying the method's performance according to newly proposed standards. The performance of the camera calibration method is currently measured using standards such as pixel error and computational time. This thesis proposes the use of standard deviation of the intrinsic parameter estimation within a Monte Carlo simulation as a new standard of performance measure. It specifically shows that the standard deviation decreases based on the increased number of images input into the calibration routine. It is also shown that the default thresholds of the non-linear maximum likelihood estimation problem of the calibration method require change in order to improve computational time performance; however, the accuracy lost is negligable even for high accuracy requirements such as ball grid array characterization.