Automatic optimal camera exposure time control for digital image correlation

Abstract We present a method that can automatically determine the optimal camera exposure time for high-quality deformation measurement with digital image correlation (DIC) techniques. The proposed method needs to capture a series of surface images of a test sample at its reference state with different camera exposure times. The relationship between the mean intensity gradients (MIGs) and average grayscales of these images reveals that the best quality (i.e. maximum MIG) of a speckled sample surface always corresponds to a certain average grayscale. Thus, the proposed method can serve two purposes in DIC practice. First, at the initial state, the camera exposure time can be adjusted automatically to obtain a reference image with the best speckle pattern quality. Second, by adjusting the camera exposure time to make the average grayscale of an image close to the predetermined optimal value, the proposed method can adaptively output high-quality deformed images with an almost constant speckle pattern quality, regardless of serious ambient light variations. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method can automatically obtain stable and high-quality speckle pattern images, thus delivering better DIC measurement compared with regular DIC techniques using a fixed camera exposure time. Because the present automatic camera exposure time control method allows a nonprofessional operator to consistently obtain high-quality speckle pattern images that warrant high-accuracy DIC measurements, it is therefore suggested that the present method should be used as a routine practice in practical DIC applications.