Lens distortion correction and geometrical alignment for Around View Monitoring system

Around View Monitoring (AVM) system assists drivers by providing a more natural perspective of scenes (around the vehicle) to the driver, thus enhancing road safety. The AVM system usually employs several ultra-wide angle lens cameras to cover a large area around the vehicle. These camera lenses are usually spherical in nature and they suffer from severe distortions. Conventional distortion correction techniques have their own limitations and hence, a novel distortion correction technique is proposed to correct the distortion introduced by such lenses. To generate the bird´s eye view of the surrounding environment, a homography based geometrical alignment technique is also proposed. A unique pattern is used in conjunction with a feature based refinement technique to align the multi-camera views precisely, and to generate an accurate bird´s eye view of the surroundings. Further, colour temperature balancing and blending techniques are applied to enhance the appearance of the bird´s eye view.