Fusion of map matching and traffic sign recognition

This paper presents a high performance and robust system for traffic sign recognition with digital map fusion. The proposed system is enhanced by fusion of different sensors and recognition is improved. Traffic sign is detected by a monochrome camera added by a reflective surface detector whereas recognition is achieved by a template matching algorithm. Digital Maps used in this work are standard navigable data. For localization the GPS receiver and the odometer of the test vehicle is used with the developed particle filter based map-matching algorithm. Tests are accomplished in rural and urban areas of metropolitan city for both day and night conditions. Especially, success rate at night scenes is comparably higher when compared to existing approaches and technologies. The system is unique since it is not limited to certain sign types, can be used in day and night conditions. The proposed system can be easily adapted to real world applications since it utilizes low cost and industrially available digital map content and sensors.