Novel method to construct a quality map for phase unwrapping based on modulation and the phase gradient

A novel method to construct a quality map, called modulation-phase-gradient variance (MPGV), is proposed, based on modulation and the phase gradient. The MPGV map is successfully applied to two phase-unwrapping algorithms - the improved weighted least square and the quality-guided unwrapping algorithm. Both simulated and experimental data testify to the validity of our proposed quality map. Moreover, the unwrapped-phase results show that the new quality map can have higher reliability than the conventional phase-derivative variance quality map in helping to unwrap noisy, low-modulation, and/or discontinuous phase maps. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.