Quaternion-based delay time determination for kinematic optical measuring systems

By using kinematic optical measuring systems in spatiotemporal positioning necessarily all involved sensors of the measuring systems have to be synchronized. Otherwise existing delay times in a measuring system will lead to deviations in space-time position. These delay times will be determinated with a developed time-referenced 4D calibration system, which is qualified for tracking optical measuring systems of any kind. The base of this calibration system is built up by a tiltable rotating arm driven by a rotary direct drive. The rotating arm is supplemented by a further rotary direct drive mounted on a freely movable tripod. The developed modeling for determinability of the delay times is based on the theory of quaternions. The fundamental idea of modeling is equivalent to the fact that every measurand of the test item, which is measured at a particular time, could be assigned to an explicit position of the rotating arm.