A vision sensor having an expanded dynamic range for autonomous vehicles

Author

Yamada, Keiichi ; Nakano, Tomoaki ; Yamamoto, Shin

Author_Institution

Toyota Central Res. & Dev. Labs. Inc., Aichi, Japan

Volume

47

Issue

1

fYear

1998

fDate

2/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

332

Lastpage

341

Abstract

Insufficiency of dynamic range of conventional video cameras is an important problem in realizing a robust vision system for autonomous vehicles because road scenes have a very wide dynamic range of brightness. To solve the problem, a method for expanding the dynamic range of video cameras by combining the images taken under different exposure conditions has been developed. Using this method, an experimental vision sensor with a wide dynamic range has been manufactured. The developed sensor has a dynamic range of 10 000, which is approximately 30 times as wide as that of a conventional video camera. The effectiveness of the developed vision sensor in comparison with a conventional video camera was confirmed from the experiments on a highway under various lighting conditions

Keywords

CCD image sensors; automobiles; computer vision; image sensors; lighting; video cameras; CCD camera; autonomous vehicles; brightness; expanded dynamic range; experimental vision sensor; experiments; exposure conditions; highway; lighting conditions; road scenes; robust vision system; video cameras; wide dynamic range; Brightness; Cameras; Dynamic range; Layout; Machine vision; Manufacturing; Mobile robots; Remotely operated vehicles; Road vehicles; Robustness;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9545

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/25.661058

Filename

661058