Micro-fiducial for machine vision
A micro-fiducial marker arrangement representing a unique ID that is readable by a camera during an imaging operation. The micro-fiducial marker includes a base substrate, a perimeter line, an orientation bar, and a plurality of bit cells. The base substrate may be a first color, while the perimeter line, the orientation bar, and the plurality of bit cells may be a color that is different from the first color. The perimeter line may be positioned on the base substrate and arranged to run along a perimeter of the base substrate. Each of said plurality of bit cells may be either the first color or the second color to represent a binary-coded datum.
1. A system for locating a physical target object within a physical location, the system comprising:
a camera configured to capture a digital scene of the physical location having a physical micro-fiducial marker and the physical target object, wherein the physical micro-fiducial marker comprises (1) a base substrate of a first color, (2) a perimeter line of a second color that is positioned on the base substrate and arranged to run along a perimeter of the base substrate, (3) an orientation bar of the second color, and (4) a plurality of bit cells, each of said plurality of bit cells being either the first color or the second color to represent a binary-coded datum and, arranged to form a two-dimensional grid arrangement representing a unique ID that is readable by the camera; and
a processor operatively coupled with the camera, wherein the processor is configured to process the digital scene to determine a spatial relation between the physical target object and the physical micro-fiducial marker and to output information relating to the physical target object or the spatial relation.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first color is a highly contrasting color relative to the second color.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the orientation bar is a rectangle having an aspect ratio of at least 3:1.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the perimeter line defines an image region having a first non-overlapping sub-region and a second non-overlapping sub-region.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the first non-overlapping sub-region comprises the orientation bar.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second non-overlapping sub-region comprises the plurality of bit cells.
7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the second non-overlapping sub-region is a data region.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of bit cells consists of six bit cells.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the six bit cells are arranged in a 2×3 grid arrangement.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two-dimensional grid arrangement includes at least one bit row.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one bit row is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the orientation bar.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the base substrate is a quadrilateral base substrate.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the quadrilateral base substrate is a square.
14. A method for locating a physical target object within a physical location using a plurality of physical micro-fiducial markers and a digital scene captured by a camera, the method comprising the steps of:
determining a spatial relation between the physical target object relative to a plurality of physical micro-fiducial markers positioned on an external surface of an object,
wherein each of the physical micro-fiducial markers comprises a base substrate of a first color; a perimeter line of a second color that is positioned on the base substrate and arranged to run along a perimeter of the base substrate, an orientation bar of the second color, and a plurality of bit cells, each of said plurality of bit cells being either the first color or the second color and configured to represent a binary-coded datum, and
wherein the plurality of bit cells is arranged to form a two-dimensional grid arrangement representing a unique ID that is readable by a camera during an imaging operation;
obtaining the digital scene of the object including a digital representation of each of the plurality of said physical micro-fiducial markers;
performing an edge-detection algorithm on the digital scene to generate a binary image of the digital scene; and
processing the binary image to extract information relating to the physical target object.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the physical target object is a flight instrument and the information is flight information.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the flight information is determined by performing one or more optical character recognition (OCR) processes on the binary image or a portion thereof.
17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of determining a spatial relation of an actuable instrument relative to the plurality of physical micro-fiducial markers.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising the step of actuating the actuable instrument as a function of the flight information determined using the physical target object.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the step of actuating the actuable instrument is performed using a robotic arm.
20. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of determining a location of the camera relative to the location of the physical target object as a function of the digital representation of each of the plurality of said physical micro-fiducial markers in the digital scene.