A Wide Dynamic Range Vision Sensor for Indoor Autonomous Vehicles

Abstract

Research and development on autonomous vehicles which move indoors with a vision system has been actively carried out. At present, however, the autonomous vehicles in practical use are capable only under good lighting conditions. One of the reasons for the limited condition is the narrow dynamic range of TV cameras which input images into the vision system.
We have developed a method for expanding the dynamic range of TV cameras. A trial vision sensor with a wide dynamic range has been manufactured using the method.
The developed method makes it possible to obtain an image with a wider dynamic range than that of TV camera itself by combining the images taken under different exposure conditions. A dynamic range of 10⁴ was obtained by the developed sensor. The resolution, frame rate and sensitivity of the developed sensor were almost the same as those of conventional TV cameras. The developed sensor was applied to the vision system of an autonomous vehicle; The effectiveness of the method has been confirmed by the experiments under various lighting conditions.