JP3001955B2 - Driving lane recognition system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention supports traveling related to lane change by automatically and accurately measuring the relative positional relationship in the transverse direction of an own vehicle on a route. The present invention also relates to a traffic lane recognition system for realizing safe and smooth traffic flow of automobiles on a road network.

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of rear-end collision prevention sensor systems have been devised in order to recognize the distance between a preceding vehicle traveling on the same lane and the host vehicle for the purpose of driving safely. The most common type is a radar-type rear-end collision prevention sensor using microwaves or millimeter waves. The radar wave emitted from the own vehicle receives a reflected wave reflected by the body of the preceding vehicle, and the propagation delay or Doppler of the radio wave is received. It measures the inter-vehicle distance by observing the frequency change due to the effect.

The autonomous lane-following autonomous driving system automatically controls the steering drive system by observing the white line that separates the lane with a CCD camera and extracting the relative position information with the lane by image processing. Research and development of driving systems are also being attempted.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The conventional relative position measurement system for a preceding vehicle as described above is still insufficient in terms of safe driving under the increasingly complicated road traffic conditions in recent years. That is, in specific road traffic, lanes are often changed due to overtaking, interruption, merging, and branching. In such a running state, it is necessary to recognize a running position in a transverse direction on the track.

However, at present, it only depends on the driver's viewing angle, and attempts to analyze white line CCD images are also greatly affected by environmental conditions such as weather and lighting because they target natural light images. The image processing becomes extremely complicated due to the included moving image processing, which makes it difficult to increase the processing speed and reduce the cost of the processing device.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a traveling vehicle recognition system capable of performing highly reliable traveling lane recognition while greatly simplifying image processing. I do.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a set of two infrared sensors installed at a predetermined distance in the direction of the road or in the transverse direction on the roadside or median strip of the road. An infrared light roadside marker transmitting a light marker signal, and a CCD camera mounted on the traveling vehicle and blocking the visible light and receiving the infrared light marker signal from the two infrared light roadside markers, Mounted on the traveling vehicle, the C
From the image corresponding to the infrared roadside marker received by the CD camera, the transverse direction distance information of the traveling vehicle from a reference line determined based on the position where the infrared roadside marker is installed. And an output image processing device.

Further, means for modulating an infrared light marker signal to be transmitted with unique information is provided in both or one of the two infrared light roadside marker machines, and the traveling vehicle is provided with the infrared light marker signal. A device for receiving and extracting the unique information is mounted.

(Operation) The traveling lane recognition system of the present invention is basically based on the observation of two infrared optical roadside markers installed at a predetermined distance in the direction of the road or in the transverse direction on the roadside or the median strip. When a conventional white line on a road surface is observed by a CCD camera, a visible reflected light image due to sunlight or road illumination light greatly changes depending on ambient environmental conditions. In order to cover only the image of the roadside marker as the infrared light source specified in a state where the light is blocked, the image becomes an extremely simplified image excluding unnecessary moving image components such as the background, The image processing for extracting the traveling position information in the direction can be greatly simplified.

Further, the infrared light beacon signal transmitted from both or any one of the two sets of the infrared light roadside beacon is modulated by the unique information code at the position of the beacon, and the traveling vehicle side is red. In addition to locating the outside light marking device image, by demodulating the received image signal and extracting the unique information, the number of lanes, lane width, radius of curvature, radius of the road, etc. It can provide direct information and route-based static information of position information for navigation.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein 1a and 1b are vehicles running on a road, and 2a and 2b are CCDs provided at the front of the vehicles 1a and 1b. The cameras, 3a and 3b are upper and lower lanes in a left-hand traffic route system, and P1a, P2a, P1b, and P2b are infrared light roadside markers that transmit infrared light marker signals.

FIG. 1 (a) shows a pair of two infrared optical roadside marking machines P1a and P2a.
To the up lane 3a, one set of two infrared light roadside marking machines P1
b, P2b, down the lane 3b on the roadside, a predetermined distance 2
Sp is separated, the infrared light roadside marking machine P1a,
P2a is located on the left side in the traveling direction when viewed from the vehicle 1a traveling on the up lane 3a, and the infrared light roadside marking devices P1b and P2b are also located on the left side in the traveling direction when seen from the vehicle 1b traveling on the down lane 3b. ing. FIG. 1 (b) shows one set 2 for the up lane 3a.
A set of two infrared optical roadside marking machines P1a, P2a and a pair of two infrared optical roadside marking machines P1b, P2b for the down lane 3b are arranged at a predetermined distance 2Sp in the route direction on the median strip, respectively. The infrared light roadside marking machines P1a and P2a are located on the right side of the traveling direction when viewed from the vehicle 1a traveling on the up lane 3a,
b and P2b are also located on the right side when viewed from the vehicle 1b traveling on the down lane 3b.

In addition, two infrared optical roadside marking machines P1a, P2a and P1b, P
The directivity characteristic of the infrared light of 2b is such that the directional half-value angle in the horizontal direction is, for example, 30 degrees, and the inclination of the optical axis with respect to the route is 30 to illuminate the traveling vehicle approaching the infrared light roadside marker. Degree.

 Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

Attention is focused on the traveling vehicle 1a in FIG. When the traveling vehicle 1a approaches the infrared light path marking devices P1a and P2a and enters the irradiation range of the infrared light, the in-vehicle CCD camera 2a transmits the infrared light transmitted from the infrared light road marking devices P1a and P2a. Receive a light beacon signal. However, since a filter (not shown) that blocks visible light and passes only infrared light is provided on the front surface of the CCD camera 2a, all visible reflected light due to sunlight or road illumination light is blocked and infrared light is blocked. Only the infrared signal signals from the optical path marking devices P1a and P2a are input to the CCD camera 2a, and an infrared image as shown in FIG. 2 is obtained. Here, Q ₁ and Q ₂ are images corresponding to the infrared optical roadside marking devices P1a and P2a, and 2q ₀ is a CCD camera 2a
Indicates the horizontal screen width corresponding to the effective viewing angle range ± θ ₀ , and q ₁ and q ₂ indicate the deviation of the images Q ₁ and Q _{2 from} the horizontal screen center line, respectively. The image processing apparatus mounted on a moving vehicle 1a (not shown) is focused on the image Q _1, Q ₂ of the obtained by the camera 2a, it extracts the information of displacement q _1, q _2.

Here, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), one of the two infrared optical roadside marking devices P1a and P2a which is closer to the traveling vehicle 1a is denoted by P.
1a, distant ones and P2a, the viewing angle of the infrared light path side label machine P1a viewed from the in-vehicle CCD camera 2a and theta _1. Also, the above C
As parameters describing the relative positional relationship between the images Q ₁ and Q ₂ in the CD camera image, ξ, η _s and η are defined as follows.

ξ = q ₂ / q ₁ , η _s = (q ₁ −q ₂ ) / 2q ₀ , η = (q ₁ + q ₂ ) / 4q ₀ (1) Infrared optical roadside marking machines P1a, P2a are installed Using the roadside position as a reference line, the transverse distance W of the traveling vehicle 1a from the reference line is calculated by the following equation, as is clear from FIG.

The image processing apparatus detects the shifts q ₁ and q ₂ extracted from the camera 2a.
Is used to calculate and output the transverse distance W according to the equation (2).

The traveling vehicle 1b shown in FIG. 1 (a) and the traveling vehicles 1a, 1b shown in FIG. 1 (b) also calculate and output the transverse direction distance W in the same manner as in the case of the traveling vehicle 1a.

In this way, the traveling vehicles 1a and 1b can know their relative positions in the transverse direction.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein 1a and 1b are both vehicles traveling on a road, 2a and 2b are CCD cameras provided in front of the vehicles 1a and 1b, Reference numerals 3a and 3b denote upper and lower lanes in a left-handed route system, and P1a, P2a, P1b and P2b denote infrared light roadside marking machines for transmitting infrared light beacon signals. The directivity of the infrared light roadside marker P1a, P2a, P1b, P2b irradiates the traveling vehicle approaching the infrared light roadside marker as in the case of the first embodiment shown in FIG. For example, the directional half-value angle in the horizontal direction is, for example, 30 degrees, and the inclination of the optical axis with respect to the route is 30 degrees. However, unlike the case of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the pair of two infrared light roadside marking machines P1a and P2a and the infrared light roadside marking machines P1b and P2b are It is arranged at a predetermined distance 2Sp in the transverse direction.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the traveling vehicle 1a shown in FIG.
The description will be made by focusing on.

When the traveling vehicle 1a approaches the infrared light roadside marker P1a, P2a and enters the infrared light irradiation range, the CCD camera 2a transmits the infrared light marker signal transmitted from the infrared light path marker P1a, P2a. Receive. However, since a filter (not shown) for blocking visible light and passing only infrared light is provided on the front surface of the CCD camera 2a, all visible reflected light due to sunlight or road illumination light is blocked, and an infrared light path is provided. Only the infrared light beacon signals from the side marking devices P1a and P2a enter the CCD camera 2a, and an infrared light image similar to that shown in FIG. 2 is observed.

In FIG. 3, two infrared optical roadside marking machines P1a and P2a
Is the one at the outer viewing angle from the traveling vehicle 1a
a, The one at the inner visual angle is defined as P2a, and the roadside reference line is set at an intermediate position between the infrared light roadside markers P1a and P2a.
Further, similarly to the equation (1), the images Q ₁ ,
Parameters ξ, η _s and η describing the relative positional relationship of Q ₂
, The transverse distance W of the traveling vehicle 1a from the reference line is calculated by the following equation, as is clear from FIG.

Image processing device (not shown) mounted on traveling vehicle 1a
Are the shifts q ₁ and q ₂ corresponding to the images Q ₁ and Q ₂ observed by the camera 2a.
Is extracted, and the transverse direction distance W is calculated and output according to equation (3).

The traveling vehicle 1b shown in FIG. 3 (a) and the traveling vehicles 1a, 1b shown in FIG. 3 (b) also calculate and output the transverse direction distance W in the same manner as in the case of the traveling vehicle 1a.

In this way, the traveling vehicles 1a and 1b can know their relative positions in the transverse direction.

Note that the distance 2Sp between the two infrared optical roadside signing agencies is the first
As shown in FIG.
If it is arranged in the cross direction of the line as shown in FIG. 3, it is set to, for example, about 0.5 to 2 meters. In addition, on a mounting route of the present system, a pair of infrared light roadside marking devices of the present invention are provided along the route, for example, 30 to 200 times.
They are periodically arranged at intervals of about meters.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the infrared light beacon signal transmitted from both or any one of the two infrared light path beacons is used as the infrared light beacon. A device configuration that modulates with a unique information code at the machine position,
The traveling vehicle is configured to extract the unique information by demodulating the received image signal in addition to locating the images Q ₁ and Q ₂ .
The device configuration can be easily realized by a known technique.

According to such a system configuration, the number of lanes of the route,
Direct information related to measurement of lane width, radius of curvature, road-side reference line position, and the like, and static information of a route system such as position information for navigation can be provided.

In a specific road network, the number of lanes, lane width, radius of curvature, road-side reference line position, etc. differ depending on the type of road, such as an expressway system or a main arterial road system. It is preferable to set the setting position, the interval, and the like of the outside light roadside marker at an optimum position.However, the above line specific information is not dependent on another system such as a small wireless zone road-to-vehicle individual communication system. With the additional function of the infrared light roadside marker, information can be transmitted as one part, which effectively works for online driving support system.

(Effect of the Invention) According to the present invention, since the specified infrared light roadside marker image is targeted, a highly reliable traveling lane recognition can be performed in a state where image processing is greatly simplified. In addition, a function of transmitting the unique information at the position of the marker to the traveling vehicle can be easily added to the infrared light roadside marker, and the present invention ensures the unity of the driving support system, and enables the information to be provided online. Processing can be speeded up.

Overall, the present invention greatly contributes to preventing traffic accidents and realizing high safety and smooth traffic flow.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an infrared light image of a camera, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. 1a, 1b …… Vehicle, 2a, 2b …… CCD camera, P1a, P2a, P1b, P2b
...... Infrared light roadside marking machine.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60R 21/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An infrared light roadside marking machine for transmitting a set of two infrared light marking signals installed at a predetermined distance in a road direction or a transverse direction on a road side or a median strip of a road; A CCD camera mounted on the traveling vehicle and blocking visible light and receiving an infrared light marker signal from the two infrared light roadside marking devices, and a CCD camera mounted on the traveling vehicle and received by the CCD camera From an image corresponding to the infrared light roadside marker, an image processing device that outputs transverse distance information of the traveling vehicle from a reference line determined based on the position where the infrared light roadside marker is installed. A traveling lane recognition system comprising: 2. A means for modulating an infrared light beacon signal to be transmitted with unique information is provided on both or one of the two infrared light roadside beacons. The traveling lane recognition system according to claim 1, further comprising a device that receives a beacon signal and extracts the unique information.