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Sensors and Sensing Technologies for Precision Optical Measurement and Metrology

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Intelligent Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 754

Special Issue Editors

1. Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
2. Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Interests: optical measurement technology; grating lithography manufacturing; digital grating 3D measurement; machine vision measurement
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Guest Editor
College of Intelligence Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China
Interests: optical metrology; quantum precision measurement; photonic-chip-based sensing and measurement
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Guest Editor Assistant
College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: visual measurement and photometric image analysis; visual navigation and multi-source fusion image perception; pattern recognition and intelligent systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, sensors and sensing technologies for precision optical measurement and metrology have shown great significance in precision instruments and equipment, high-end equipment manufacturing, aerospace engineering, and more. This field involves the intersection and integration of multiple disciplines, such as physics, optics, mechanics, information, and materials. It is highly precise and efficient, and demonstrates high resolution and strong performance. Therefore, it has become a research hotspot in many fields globally, and new research results are constantly emerging in basic theories, innovative methods and technologies, new instruments and equipment, and applications.

This Special Issue, therefore, aims to bring together original research and review articles on recent advances, technologies, solutions, applications, and challenges in the field of precision optical measurement technologies.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following: 

  • Optoelectronic sensing technology and intelligent sensors;
  • Fiber grating sensing technology;
  • Fiber Fabry–Perot interferometer sensing technology;
  • Laser radar technology;
  • Laser displacement measurement technology;
  • Material characterization measurement;
  • Optical frequency comb technology;
  • Nano-grating interferometry and lithography manufacturing technology;
  • Spectral confocal technology and instruments;
  • Optical scattering measurement technology;
  • High-resolution and super-resolution imaging technology;
  • Extremely short wavelength nano-measurement technology;
  • Optical sensing for micro–nano metrology;
  • Optical sensors for surface topography;
  • Multi-mode optical hybrid measurement technology;
  • Multi-sensor data fusion;
  • Feature selection and extraction of measurement signals;
  • Machine learning and deep learning methods for measurement signals;
  • Error tracing and calibration.

Dr. Xinghui Li
Dr. Yueqiang Zhang
Guest Editors

Dr. Yueqiang Zhang
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • optoelectronic sensing
  • optical measurement
  • precision metrology
  • intelligent instrument

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2032 KiB  
Article
Measurement Techniques for Highly Dynamic and Weak Space Targets Using Event Cameras
by Haonan Liu, Ting Sun, Ye Tian, Siyao Wu, Fei Xing, Haijun Wang, Xi Wang, Zongyu Zhang, Kang Yang and Guoteng Ren
Sensors 2025, 25(14), 4366; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144366 - 12 Jul 2025
Viewed by 270
Abstract
Star sensors, as the most precise attitude measurement devices currently available, play a crucial role in spacecraft attitude estimation. However, traditional frame-based cameras tend to suffer from target blur and loss under high-dynamic maneuvers, which severely limit the applicability of conventional star sensors [...] Read more.
Star sensors, as the most precise attitude measurement devices currently available, play a crucial role in spacecraft attitude estimation. However, traditional frame-based cameras tend to suffer from target blur and loss under high-dynamic maneuvers, which severely limit the applicability of conventional star sensors in complex space environments. In contrast, event cameras—drawing inspiration from biological vision—can capture brightness changes at ultrahigh speeds and output a series of asynchronous events, thereby demonstrating enormous potential for space detection applications. Based on this, this paper proposes an event data extraction method for weak, high-dynamic space targets to enhance the performance of event cameras in detecting space targets under high-dynamic maneuvers. In the target denoising phase, we fully consider the characteristics of space targets’ motion trajectories and optimize a classical spatiotemporal correlation filter, thereby significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio for weak targets. During the target extraction stage, we introduce the DBSCAN clustering algorithm to achieve the subpixel-level extraction of target centroids. Moreover, to address issues of target trajectory distortion and data discontinuity in certain ultrahigh-dynamic scenarios, we construct a camera motion model based on real-time motion data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and utilize it to effectively compensate for and correct the target’s trajectory. Finally, a ground-based simulation system is established to validate the applicability and superior performance of the proposed method in real-world scenarios. Full article
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19 pages, 2610 KiB  
Article
Influence of Flow Field on the Imaging Quality of Star Sensors for Hypersonic Vehicles in near Space
by Siyao Wu, Ting Sun, Fei Xing, Haonan Liu, Kang Yang, Jiahui Song, Shijie Yu and Lianqing Zhu
Sensors 2025, 25(14), 4341; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25144341 - 11 Jul 2025
Viewed by 170
Abstract
When hypersonic vehicles fly in near space, the flow field near the optical window leads to light displacement, jitter, blurring, and energy attenuation of the star sensor. This ultimately affects the imaging quality and navigation accuracy. In order to investigate the impact of [...] Read more.
When hypersonic vehicles fly in near space, the flow field near the optical window leads to light displacement, jitter, blurring, and energy attenuation of the star sensor. This ultimately affects the imaging quality and navigation accuracy. In order to investigate the impact of aerodynamic optical effects on imaging, the fourth-order Runge–Kutta and the fourth-order Adams–Bashforth–Moulton (ABM) predictor-corrector methods are used for ray tracing on the density data. A comparative analysis of the imaging quality results from the two methods reveals their respective strengths and limitations. The influence of the optical system is included in the image quality calculations to make the results more representative of real data. The effects of altitude, velocity, and angle of attack on the imaging quality are explored when the optical window is located at the tail of the vehicle. The results show that altitude significantly affects imaging results, and higher altitudes reduce the impact of the flow field on imaging quality. When the optical window is located at the tail of the vehicle, the relationship between velocity and offset is no longer simply linear. This research provides theoretical support for analyzing the imaging quality and navigation accuracy of a star sensor when a vehicle is flying at hypersonic speeds in near space. Full article
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