System and method for determining operating deflection shapes of a structure using optical techniques

A system for measuring total operating deflection shapes of a structure includes one or more imagers , each including two cameras spaced apart from one another and each oriented and positioned to have corresponding fields of view of a different corresponding section of the structure , with the corresponding sections that may include overlap area of the structure within each of the different sections of the structure . Each of the cameras generates a corresponding data stream , which is communicated to a controller , which is configured to measure the response of the structure to an excitation , such as a vibration or an impulse . The system is configured to convert time - domain data from each of the data streams to the frequency - domain data using a Fourier Transform algorithm and stitching the shapes to obtain the total operating deflection shapes of the structure by scaling and stitching together the frequency - domain data .