Road Border Recognition Using FIR Images and LIDAR Signal Processing

This paper addresses the detection and tracking of road borders in non cooperative environments. A 2-dimensional scanning LIDAR is used to improve the reliability of the FIR camera based road border recognition. In order to detect the road boarders we apply a Kalman-filter based model fitting strategy. Extracted measurements of the FIR images are transformed into the vehicle coordinate system in order to provide a precise description of the road course ahead. The model description in a common coordinate system -the vehicle coordinate system -allows an easy compensation of the ego-motion and a direct and straight forward fusion of the different sensor data. Both the detection and the estimation were developed and enhanced for the intended sensor configuration. The corresponding mathematical derivations are presented in this paper. Using the range values, delivered by the LIDAR, a more stable estimation of the pitch angle can be achieved. The realization of that is shown in detail. This is used to define the ROI in which the image processing is carried out.