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In this paper a distance measurement sensor is introduced, equipped with two integrated optical systems, the first one for rotationally symmetric triangulation and the second one for imaging the object while using only one 2D detector for both purposes. Rotationally symmetric triangulation, introduced in [1], eliminates some disadvantages of classical triangulation sensors, especially at steps or strong curvatures of the object, wherefore the measurement result depends not any longer on the angular orientation of the sensor. This is achieved by imaging the scattered light from an illuminated object point to a centered and sharp ring on a low cost area detector. The diameter of the ring is proportional to the distance of the object. The optical system consists of two off axis aspheric reflecting surfaces. This system allows for integrating a second optical system in order to capture images of the object at the same 2D detector. A mock-up was realized for the first time which consists of the reflecting optics for triangulation manufactured by diamond turning. A commercially available appropriate small lens system for imaging was mechanically integrated in the reflecting optics. Alternatively, some designs of retrofocus lens system for larger field of views were investigated. The optical designs allow overlying the image of the object and the ring for distance measurement in the same plane. In this plane a CCD detector is mounted, centered to the optical axis for both channels. A fast algorithm for the evaluation of the ring is implemented. The characteristics, i.e. the ring diameter versus object distance shows very linear behavior. For illumination of the object point for distance measurement, the beam of a red laser diode system is reflected by a wavelength bandpath filter on the axis of the optical system in. Additionally, the surface of the object is illuminated by LED's in the green spectrum. The LED's are located on the outside rim of the reflecting optics. The scattered LED light is transmitted by the before mentioned bandpath filter and is captured by the imaging lens. A simultaneous mode, in which the ring for distance measurement is superimposed to the image of the object, and a time multiplexing mode were implemented thus demonstrating the flexibility and performance options of this approach.
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