JP3137499B2 - Obstacle detection device for railway vehicles - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an obstacle detecting device for a railway vehicle for detecting an obstacle present on the course of a running railway vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the operation of railway vehicles such as trains and trains,
In order to ensure the safety of the vehicle, it is conceivable to take an image of the front of the traveling vehicle and determine the presence or absence of an obstacle on the course from the captured image. In this case, the problem is the distance La to the obstacle. If the braking distance of the vehicle is L, a collision can be avoided if L <La, but L> L
If it is a, it will collide. Therefore, it is necessary to detect an obstacle at a distance greater than L (braking distance) ahead of the vehicle.

[0003] Conventionally, when measuring the distance from a traveling vehicle to an obstacle, it is performed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 1 denotes an imaging device provided at the head position of a railway vehicle, which photographs the front of the vehicle, converts the photographed image signal into a digital signal by the A / D converter 2, and inputs the digital signal to the image processing device 3. I do. This image processing device 3
The image signal sent from the image processing device 3 is processed to determine the position of a target in the image, that is, the position of the obstacle, and the position information is input to the mirror driver 4. The mirror driver 4 adjusts the position (X-axis and Y-axis) of the mirror 5 according to the position information from the image processing device 3 and
Is reflected by the mirror 5 in the target direction. Thereby, the target object is reliably irradiated with the laser beam emitted from the laser distance measuring device 6, and the distance to the target object is measured.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, image processing is performed by the image processing device 3 to obtain position information of the target, and the mirror driver 4 is driven by the position information to drive the laser distance measuring device. Since the target is irradiated with the laser beam from the mirror 6, the mirror 5 moves at one time from the previous position to the next target position. There is a problem that the time required for distance measurement becomes longer as the time becomes longer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to reduce the swing angle of a mirror, shorten the mirror stabilization time, and detect an obstacle in a short time. It is intended to provide a device.

[0006]

An obstacle detection device for a railway vehicle according to the present invention is provided with an imaging device installed to photograph the front of a running railway vehicle, and an image pickup device mounted on the vehicle and mounted on a distant rail. A laser distance measuring device having a laser irradiation direction setting mirror for measuring a distance to a certain obstacle, a vehicle position detecting means for detecting a current position of the traveling vehicle,
A map information database for storing rail information indicating how a rail looks in an image captured by the imaging device as data corresponding to a vehicle position; and an image signal captured by the imaging device. At the same time, the rail information is read from the map information database in accordance with the position information detected by the position detecting means, and the laser emitting direction of the laser distance measuring device is directed to a tentative target position far from the rail based on the rail information. Means for driving the mirror as described above, means for detecting an obstacle located far from the rail from the rail information read from the image signal and the map information database captured by the imaging device, and obtaining the position of the obstacle, Laser emission direction by the difference between the position of the obstacle obtained by this means and the provisional target position obtained from the stored information of the map information database Means for adjusting the position of the mirror by generating a correction signal to be shifted, and means for operating the laser distance measuring device to measure a distance to an obstacle after adjusting the mirror by the means. It is a feature.

[0007]

When the railway vehicle starts running, the image signal output from the imaging device is taken into the image processing device, and the rail information stored in the map information database is read according to the current position of the vehicle. The information about the tentative target on the distant rail determined from the coordinate information of the rail read out from the map information database is sent to the mirror driver to drive the mirror, and the laser beam emitted from the laser distance measuring device is used by the mirror for the tentative target To be reflected in the direction.

[0008] The image processing apparatus is provided with map information data
A model of how the rail looks is created by processing the coordinate information from the base, and a process of determining whether an obstacle is present on the rail is performed from an actual image captured by the imaging device.
If there is an obstacle, determine its position,
A correction signal indicating a difference between the obstacle and the temporary target position is generated. The mirror driver is driven by the correction signal to adjust the position of the mirror, and thereafter, an operation command is given to the laser distance measuring device to measure the distance to the obstacle.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a railway vehicle obstacle detection device according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of information setting of a map information data base in FIG.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle on which the obstacle detection device is mounted.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes an imaging device such as an infrared camera, which is mounted at the head of a train car 21 as shown in FIG. This imaging device 1
The image signal photographed in 1 is converted into digital data by an A / D (analog / digital) converter 12 and input to an image processing device 13. This image processing device 13
Is provided with an image memory inside,
The image signal input via the / D converter 12 is stored.

The image processing device 13 is connected to a map information database 14, an output device 15, a laser distance measuring device 16, and the like. The above map information database 14
In FIG. 2A, information on rails corresponding to each kilometer (distance from a reference point), for example, as shown in FIG. 2A, "Right (x200 ,
y200), (x300, y300), ..., (x1000, y100
0) "," left (x200, y200), (x300, y300
,..., (X1000, y1000) "are written in advance. The above map information database 1
The coordinate information written in 4 is information as to how a rail 200 m to 1000 m far from the local point r looks on the screen as shown in FIG. 2B, for example, (x1000, y1000) Indicates that a rail 1000 m far from the local point r is displayed at coordinates (x1000, y1000) on the screen.

The information stored in the map information database 14 is a kilometer sensor 1 for detecting the current position of the vehicle.
It is read by the kilometer from seven. The kilometer sensor 17 detects the rotation of the wheels 22 of the vehicle 21 as shown in FIG. 3, for example, and outputs distance data from the reference point, that is, the kilometer r.

The map information database 14 stores rail coordinate information "(x200, y200), (x300, y300)," according to the kilometer r detected by the kilometer sensor 17.
.., (X1000, y1000) "to the image processing device 13 and only the coordinate information indicating the target distance beyond the braking distance of the vehicle 21, for example, (x1000, y1000), to the mirror driver 19 via the adder 18. Output. The mirror driver 19 sets the position (X-axis and Y-axis) of the laser irradiation direction setting mirror 20 of the laser distance measuring device 16 based on information given via the adder 18, and outputs the laser beam from the laser distance measuring device 6. Light is irradiated by the mirror 20 in the temporary target direction.

On the other hand, the image processing device 13 processes the coordinate information from the map information database 14 to create a model of the appearance of the rail, and uses the actual image captured by the imaging device 11 to display obstacles on the rail. Is determined, and if an obstacle exists, its position is determined. Further, the image processing device 13 corrects the position of the obstacle by performing pattern matching of the rail appearance model and the rail candidates extracted from the actual image captured by the imaging device 11, that is, the vibration of the vehicle. In addition to correcting the error of the detection position caused by the error of the distance sensor 17 or the kilometer sensor 17, the position of the obstacle and the map information database 1 are corrected.
4, a correction signal Δx indicating a difference from the tentative target position obtained from
Δy is generated. The correction signals Δx and Δy are supplied from the image processing device 13 via the adder 18 to the mirror driver 19.
To adjust the position of the mirror 20.
The correction signals Δx and Δy are signals for correcting vibration of the vehicle, an error of the kilometer sensor 17, and the like. afterwards,
The image processing device 13 gives an operation command to the laser distance measuring device 16 to measure the distance to the obstacle. The distance to the obstacle measured by the laser distance measuring device 16 is sent to the image processing device 13 and is notified to the driver by the output device 15.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the train leaves the starting station,
The kilometer corresponding to the current position of the vehicle is set in the kilometer sensor 17 (step A1). When the train starts running, the image signal output from the imaging device 11 is converted to an A / D signal.
The data is read into the image processing device 13 via the converter 12 (step A2) and stored in the internal image memory. At the same time as reading the image signal from the imaging device 11 into the image processing device 13, the map information stored in the map information database 14, that is, the coordinate information “(x200, y200), ( x300, y300), ..., (x1
000, y1000) "in accordance with the kilometer r from the kilometer sensor 17 (step A3).

As for the rail coordinate information read out from the map information database 14, all the information is stored in the image processing device 13.
, And only the coordinate information, for example, (x1000, y1000) for the temporary target is sent to the mirror driver 19 via the adder 18. The mirror driver 19 determines the position of the mirror 20 with respect to the laser distance measuring device 16 (X axis and Y axis) based on the coordinate information sent from the image processing device 13.
Is set as a temporary target so that the laser beam emitted from the laser distance measuring device 16 is reflected in the target direction by the mirror 20 (step A4).

On the other hand, the image processing device 13 binarizes the image signal written in the image memory by various well-known image processing algorithms, extracts a rail portion as a binary image, and stores the binary image in the image memory. It is stored (step A5).

The image processing device 13 processes the coordinate information from the map information database 14 to create a model of the appearance of the rail, and disturbs the rail from a real image taken by the imaging device 11 to the far side of the rail. A determination process is performed to determine whether an object exists (step A6). If there is an obstacle, the position of the obstacle is corrected by performing pattern matching of the rail appearance model and a rail candidate extracted from an actual image taken by the imaging device 11 while obtaining the position of the obstacle. Then, correction signals Δx and Δy for the difference between the corrected position of the obstacle and the tentative target position, that is, the coordinate information (x1000, y1000) of the map information database 14 are generated. Specifically, move the rail model up, down, left, and right to generate multiple models, compare them with rail candidates extracted from actual images, find out which model matches best, and find the model that matches best , The correction signals Δx and Δy are determined based on how much the original model has been moved.

In the next step A7, it is determined whether or not an obstacle has been detected in step A6. If an obstacle has been detected, the position information of the obstacle corrected by the correction signals .DELTA.x and .DELTA.y is determined. Is output to the mirror driver 19 via the adder 18. As a result, the position of the mirror 20 is correctly adjusted in the target direction (step A8).

Thereafter, the image processing device 13 gives an operation command to the laser distance measuring device 16 to measure the distance to the obstacle (step A9). The distance to the obstacle measured by the laser distance measuring device 16 is sent to the image processing device 13, and the existence of the obstacle and the distance to the obstacle are output to the output device 15.
Is notified to the driver (step A10). The driver checks the presence of the obstacle and the distance to the obstacle using the output device 15, and performs operations such as deceleration and stop of the train according to the distance.

After the completion of the process in step A10, or when it is determined in step A7 that there is no obstacle, it is determined in step A11 whether or not the operation has been completed. If not, the flow returns to step A2 to repeat the above operation.

FIG. 5 shows a comparison between the processing time of the apparatus of the present invention and the processing time of the conventional apparatus from the time when the image signal is taken until the distance measurement is completed. In the apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the image capture from the image pickup device 11 is started at time t0, and after the image capture, the mirror 20 is driven simultaneously with the image processing at time t1. In this case, the driving of the mirror 20 is completed in a time ta shorter than the image processing time. As a result, the mirror 20 moves to the position of the temporary target. When the image processing is completed at time t2, the mirror 20 is driven again based on the result of the image processing, and is adjusted to a correct position. The mirror driving time at this time ends in a time tb shorter than the initial driving time ta. Thereafter, a drive command is sent from the image processing device 13 to the laser distance measuring device 16 to measure the distance to the obstacle, and the distance measuring operation ends at time t3.

In the conventional apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), image capture starts at time t0, and after image capture, t
Image processing starts at one point. When the image processing ends at time t2, the mirror is driven based on the image processing result. Since the mirror at this time is not set as a temporary target, the mirror moves a long distance and requires a driving time of “ta + tb”. After that, distance measurement for obstacles was performed,
At the time point t4, the distance measuring operation ends.

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, a mirror driving time of "ta + tb" is required after image processing, whereas in the present invention, the mirror driving time after image processing is only tb. As a result, the time tb is reduced.

[0025]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when an image signal is captured, a mirror is set as a tentative target by rail coordinate information stored in advance in a map information database. Since the position of the mirror is adjusted based on the position information on the obstacle obtained by performing the image processing, the mirror swing angle after the image processing is reduced, the mirror driving time and the mirror stabilization time can be reduced, and the obstacle can be reduced. Can be quickly and reliably measured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an obstacle detection device for a railway vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of storage information of a map information database in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a vehicle on which the obstacle detection device is mounted.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing of the obstacle detection device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a comparison of processing time between the apparatus of the present invention and the conventional apparatus from the time when an image signal is taken until the end of distance measurement.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional obstacle detection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Image pick-up device, 12 ... A / D converter, 13 ... Image processing device, 14 ... Map information database, 15 ... Output device, 16 ... Laser distance measuring device, 17 ... Kilometer sensor, 18
... Adder, 19 ... Mirror driver, 20 ... Mirror, 21
... vehicle, 22 ... wheels.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kazumasa Miyamoto 1-1-1, Wadazakicho, Hyogo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture Inside Kobe Shipyard, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (72) Inventor Kuniaki Wakuzawa Nishi-ku, Hiroshima 4-6-22 Kannon Shinmachi Inside the Hiroshima Laboratory, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-4-95889 (JP, A) JP-A-59-47663 (JP, A) Patent 3087555 (JP, B2) Patent 3021131 (JP, B2) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01S ⁷ /48-7/51 G01S 17/00-17/95 B61D 37/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image pickup device installed to take an image of the front of a running railway vehicle, and a mirror for setting a laser irradiation direction mounted on the vehicle and measuring a distance to an obstacle on a distant rail. A laser distance measuring device, a vehicle position detecting means for detecting a current position of the traveling vehicle, and rail information indicating how a rail looks in an image taken by the image pickup device corresponding to the vehicle position. At the same time as capturing a map information database stored in advance as data and an image signal captured by the imaging device,
Rail information is read from the map information database in accordance with the position information detected by the position detecting means, and the mirror is driven so that the laser emission direction of the laser distance measuring device is directed to a tentative target position far from the rail based on the rail information. Means for detecting obstacles located far from the rails based on the image signals captured by the imaging device and the rail information read from the map information database, and determining the position of the obstacles; Means for adjusting the position of the mirror by generating a correction signal for shifting the laser emission direction by the difference between the position of the object and the temporary target position obtained from the stored information of the map information database; Means for operating the laser distance measuring device after the adjustment to measure a distance to an obstacle. Object detection device.