Real-time disparity contrast combination for onboard estimation of the visibility distance

An atmospheric visibility measurement system capable of quantifying the most common operating range of onboard exteroceptive sensors is a key parameter in the creation of driving assistance systems. This information is then utilized to adapt sensor operations and processing or to alert the driver th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on intelligent transportation systems 2006-06, Vol.7 (2), p.201-212
Main Authors: Hautiere, N., Labayrade, R., Aubert, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Atmospheric measurements
Cameras
Charge coupled devices
Charge coupled devices camera
Climatology
Computer science
control theory
systems
contrast impairment
Control theory. Systems
Driving
driving assistance
Estimating
Exact sciences and technology
fog
Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction
Intelligent transportation systems
Laser radar
Lighting
meteorological visibility
Meteorology
Onboard
Roads
Robotics
Sensor systems
Sensors
stereovision
Vehicles
Video sequences
Visibility
Weather
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Summary:An atmospheric visibility measurement system capable of quantifying the most common operating range of onboard exteroceptive sensors is a key parameter in the creation of driving assistance systems. This information is then utilized to adapt sensor operations and processing or to alert the driver that his onboard assistance system is momentarily inoperative. Moreover, a system capable of either detecting the presence of fog or estimating visibility distances constitutes in itself a driving assistance. In this paper, the authors present a technique to estimate the mobilized visibility distance through a use of onboard charge-coupled device cameras. The latter represents the distance to the most distant object on the road surface having a contrast above 5%. This definition is very close to the definition of the meteorological visibility distance proposed by the International Commission on Illumination. The method combines the computations of local contrasts above 5% and of a depth map of the vehicle environment using stereovision within 60 ms on a current-day computer. In this paper, both methods are described separately. Then, their combination is detailed. The method is operative night and day in every kind of meteorological condition and is evaluated; thanks to video sequences under sunny weather and foggy weather.
ISSN:1524-9050
1558-0016
DOI:10.1109/TITS.2006.874682