Status, challenges, and future perspectives of fringe projection profilometry

As one of the most popular techniques for non-contact three-dimensional (3D) sensing/imaging, fringe projection profilometry (FPP) has been growing rapidly over the past decades partially because of the improved speed of computing devices and reduced cost of hardware. 3D optical sensing has started being an integral part of our daily lives such as Face ID enabled by 3D sensors on smart phones. The impact of such techniques can be even greater with the ever-growing artificial intelligent (AI), machine learning, smart manufacturing, robotics as well as other fields. However, there are still fundamental challenges to be tackled to make such advanced optical sensing techniques ubiquitous. This paper presents the current status of FPP techniques, the major challenges still facing in the field, and our perspectives on the future of FPP techniques.