A binary morphology-based filtering algorithm for reverse engineering

A laser scanner is a common surface measurement tool in reverse engineering (RE). The point cloud obtained from a laser scanner usually has some noisy points. An algorithm based on a binary morphology technique is presented to identify the noisy points. After removing the noisy points, the filtered point cloud can be used to reconstruct the surface of a 3D object. The filtering algorithm described can remove both the points at a "far" distance from the scanned object and the "prods" on the surface of the object.