Outdoor tracking using machine vision, xenon strobe illumination, and retroreflective landmarks

Michael J. Schreiber; Stephen L. Dickerson

doi:10.1117/12.265349

23 January 1997 Outdoor tracking using machine vision, xenon strobe illumination, and retroreflective landmarks

Michael J. Schreiber, Stephen L. Dickerson

Proceedings Volume 2903, Mobile Robots XI and Automated Vehicle Control Systems; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.265349
Event: Photonics East '96, 1996, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

This paper investigates developing a robust method for outdoor tracking using low cost machine vision. The conditioning method combines an electronically-shuttered vision system with a xenon strobe to produce a high contrast image of the structured target at up to a quarter mile away. The high contrast image eases landmark recognition which ultimately increases robustness and improves system response time. Tracking landmarks outdoors is important for farming, construction, and highway automation. Numerical analysis shows a retro-reflector can be detected to 530 meters with a S/N ratio of 2 for the nominally case of a 1 Joule xenon flash focused to 5 degrees with a flash duration of 100 microsecond(s) . The target position can be determined to within 17 millimeters at 400 meters using subpixel edge detection and a vision system with a 24 mm lens and 10 micrometers square pixels. Experimentally, the retro-reflective target achieved a 1.5 S/N at 91 meters which was 66.5 percent of the expected value. Experimentally, an IR blocking filter increased the S/N ratio by 42 percent by taking advantage of the differences in the spectrum of the xenon strobe and the sun. This result closely matches the expected S/N ratio increase associated with using an IR filter.

Citation Download Citation

Michael J. Schreiber and Stephen L. Dickerson "Outdoor tracking using machine vision, xenon strobe illumination, and retroreflective landmarks", Proc. SPIE 2903, Mobile Robots XI and Automated Vehicle Control Systems, (23 January 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.265349

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KEYWORDS

Charge-coupled devices

Interference (communication)

Retroreflectors

Xenon

Sensors

Sun

Signal to noise ratio

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