A hybrid infrared vision sensor to monitor the situation on the road is described. This sensor consists of a sensor head and a signal-processing unit. The sensor head is composed of a camera unit which takes pictures on the maximum three lanes and a laser unit which emits and sweeps the laser beam continuously at a high speed. The signal-processing unit consists of an image processing unit which extracts the vehicles by image processing, a laser ranging unit which measures the distance up to the vehicles by reflected lights, and an integration processing unit which integrates the location data of vehicles from each unit to grasp the behaviors of the cruising vehicles. This sensor was verified more effectively in an experiment performed under conditions in which the only conventional image processing technology could not work well. (A*)
Abstract