LIDAR-Based High Reflective Landmarks (HRL)s For Vehicle Localization in an HD Map

International audienceAccurate localization is very important to ensure performance and safety of autonomous vehicles. In particular, with the appearance of High Definition (HD) sparse geometric road maps, many research works have been focusing on the deployment of accurate localization systems in a previously built map. In this paper, we solve a localization problem by matching road perceptions from a 3D LIDAR sensor with HD map elements. The perception system detects High Reflective Landmarks (HRL) such as: lane markings, road signs and guard rail reflectors (GRR) from a 3D point cloud. A particle filtering algorithm estimates the position of the vehicle by matching observed HRLs with HD map attributes. The proposed approach extends our work in [1] and [2] where a localization system based on lane markings and road signs has been developed. Experiments have been conducted on a highway-like test track using GNSS/INS with RTK corrections as a ground truth (GT). Error evaluations are given as cross-track (CT) and along-track (AT) errors defined in the curvilinear coordinates [3] related to the map. The obtained accuracies of our localization system is 18 cm for the cross-track error and 32 cm for the along-track error

LIDAR-Based road signs detection For Vehicle Localization in an HD Map

International audienceSelf-vehicle localization is one of the fundamental tasks for autonomous driving. Most of current techniques for global positioning are based on the use of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems). However, these solutions do not provide a localization accuracy that is better than 2-3 m in open sky environments [1]. Alternatively, the use of maps has been widely investigated for localization since maps can be pre-built very accurately. State of the art approaches often use dense maps or feature maps for localization. In this paper, we propose a road sign perception system for vehicle localization within a third party map. This is challenging since third party maps are usually provided with sparse geometric features which make the localization task more difficult in comparison to dense maps. The proposed approach extends the work in [2] where a localization system based on lane markings has been developed. Experiments have been conducted on a Highway-like test track using GNSS/INS with RTK corrections as ground truth (GT). Error evaluations are given as cross-track and along-track errors defined in the curvilinear coordinates [3] related to the map

Vision-Based Georeferencing of GPR in Urban Areas

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) surveying is widely used to gather accurate knowledge about the geometry and position of underground utilities. The sensor arrays need to be coupled to an accurate positioning system, like a geodetic-grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device. However, in urban areas this approach is not always feasible because GNSS accuracy can be substantially degraded due to the presence of buildings, trees, tunnels, etc. In this work, a photogrammetric (vision-based) method for GPR georeferencing is presented. The method can be summarized in three main steps: tie point extraction from the images acquired during the survey, computation of approximate camera extrinsic parameters and finally a refinement of the parameter estimation using a rigorous implementation of the collinearity equations. A test under operational conditions is described, where accuracy of a few centimeters has been achieved. The results demonstrate that the solution was robust enough for recovering vehicle trajectories even in critical situations, such as poorly textured framed surfaces, short baselines, and low intersection angles

End-to-End Learning of Driving Models with Surround-View Cameras and Route Planners

For human drivers, having rear and side-view mirrors is vital for safe driving. They deliver a more complete view of what is happening around the car. Human drivers also heavily exploit their mental map for navigation. Nonetheless, several methods have been published that learn driving models with only a front-facing camera and without a route planner. This lack of information renders the self-driving task quite intractable. We investigate the problem in a more realistic setting, which consists of a surround-view camera system with eight cameras, a route planner, and a CAN bus reader. In particular, we develop a sensor setup that provides data for a 360-degree view of the area surrounding the vehicle, the driving route to the destination, and low-level driving maneuvers (e.g. steering angle and speed) by human drivers. With such a sensor setup we collect a new driving dataset, covering diverse driving scenarios and varying weather/illumination conditions. Finally, we learn a novel driving model by integrating information from the surround-view cameras and the route planner. Two route planners are exploited: 1) by representing the planned routes on OpenStreetMap as a stack of GPS coordinates, and 2) by rendering the planned routes on TomTom Go Mobile and recording the progression into a video. Our experiments show that: 1) 360-degree surround-view cameras help avoid failures made with a single front-view camera, in particular for city driving and intersection scenarios; and 2) route planners help the driving task significantly, especially for steering angle prediction.Comment: to be published at ECCV 201

Acquisition of relative vehicle trajectories to facilitate freeway merging using DSRC based V2V communication

University of Minnesota M.S.E.E. thesis.November 2017. Major: Electrical Engineering. Advisor: Imran Hayee. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 39 pages.For the anticipated benefits of connected vehicle technology, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITSJPO) of the US Department of Transportation continues to emphasize the need for having Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) based vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication to enhance driver safety and traffic mobility. To take full advantage of connected vehicle technology in most safety applications, precise vehicle positioning information is neeeded in addition to V2V communication. Although, there are many techniques including vision or sensor based systems and differential GPS receivers, which can obtain precise absolute position of a vehicle at the expense of cost and complexity, some critical safety applications such as merge assist or lane change assist systems require only relative positions of surrounding vehicles with lane level resolution so a given vehicle can differentiate the vehicles on its own lane from the vehicles on adjacent lanes. We have adopted a simple approach to acquire accurate relative trajectories of surrounding vehicles using standard GPS receviers and DSRC based V2V communication. Using this approach, we have conducted field tests to successfully acquire relative trajectories of vehicles travelling on multiple lanes towards a merging junction with an accuracy of ±0.5m. The achieved accuracy level in relative trajectory was sufficient to differentiate vehicles travelling on adjacent lanes of a multiple-lane freeway

Implementation of a hybrid localization system applied to the autonomous navigation of land vehicles

Orientador: Janito Vaqueiro FerreiraDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia MecânicaResumo: A pesquisa de veículos autônomos vem se intensificando nos últimos anos. O principal objetivo dessa área é a condução segura e a redução de acidentes. No entanto, o alto custo dos veículos autônomos atuais ainda é uma grande barreira para a disseminação de seu uso. Visando atingir esse objetivo, trabalhos vem sendo desenvolvidos com a finalidade de reduzir o custo e aumentar a robustez e a eficiência. Considerando esses objetivos, esta pesquisa propõe um sistema de localização híbrido em ambiente simulado, para a fusão dos dados de sensores GPS, um sensor de bússola e também a saída de uma implementação de um Método de Localização Referenciado (MLR) processando sinais de um LIDAR. O método consiste inicialmente em utilizar um sistema de percepção com câmera e um sensor de distância para detectar objetos conhecidos do ambiente e consultar as suas respectivas coordenadas numa base de dados geográficos com o objetivo de assim estimar a localização do veículo. Finalmente, a implementação do filtro de Kalman para fundir os dados do MLR e dos sensores GPS e bússola. Para avaliar o desempenho do método, foi desenvolvida uma plataforma de simulação no ambiente CARLA com os dados dos sensores acessados pelo ROS. Todo o sistema simulado é executado em tempo real e seus resultados são muito consistentes com o ambiente realAbstract: Autonomous vehicle research has intensifyed in the recent years. The main objective of this area is safe driving and accident reduction. However, the high cost of current autonomous vehicles is still a major barrier to its disseminated use. In order to achieve these goals, research has been targeting to reduce cost and increase robustness and efficiency. Considering these objectives, this work proposes a hybrid localization system in a simulated environment, for the sensor fusion of GPS, a compass sensor and also the output of an implementation of a Referenced Location Method (RLM) processing LIDAR data. The method consists initially of using a perception system with a camera and a distance sensor, to detect known objects from the environment, and query the respective coordinates from a geographic database, in order to estimate the respective vehicle position. Finally, the implementation of a Kalman filter to fuse data from the RLM and the GPS and compass sensors. To assess the method performance, a simulation platform was developed in the CARLA environment with the data of the sensors accessed by ROS. The whole simulated system is executed in real time and its results are very consistent to a real environmentMestradoMecânica de Sólidos e Projeto MecânicoMestre em Engenharia Mecânic

무인자율주행을 위한 도로 지도 생성 및 측위

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 전기·컴퓨터공학부, 2016. 2. 서승우.This dissertation aims to present precise and cost-efficient mapping and localization algorithms for autonomous vehicles. Mapping and localization are ones of the key components in autonomous vehicles. The major concern for mapping and localization research is maximizing the accuracy and precision of the systems while minimizing the cost. For this goal, this dissertation proposes a road map generation system to create a precise and efficient lane-level road map, and a localization system based on the proposed road map and affordable sensors. In chapter 2, the road map generation system is presented. The road map generation system integrates a 3D LIDAR data and high-precision vehicle positioning system to acquire accurate road geometry data. Acquired road geometry data is represented as sets of piecewise polynomial curves in order to increase the storage efficiency and the usability. From extensive experiments using a real urban and highway road data, it is verified that the proposed road map generation system generates a road map that is accurate and more efficient than previous road maps in terms of the storage efficiency and usability. In chapter 3, the localization system is presented. The localization system targets an environment that the localization is difficult due to the lack of feature information for localization. The proposed system integrates the lane-level road map presented in chapter 2, and various low-cost sensors for accurate and cost-effective vehicle localization. A measurement ambiguity problem due to the use of low-cost sensors and poor feature information was presented, and a probabilistic measurement association-based particle filter is proposed to resolve the measurement ambiguity problem. Experimental results using a real highway road data is presented to verify the accuracy and reliability of the localization system. In chapter 4, an application of the accurate vehicle localization system is presented. It is demonstrated that sharing of accurate position information among vehicles can improve the traffic flow and suppress the traffic jam effectively. The effect of the position information sharing is evaluated based on numerical experiments. For this, a traffic model is proposed by extending conventional SOV traffic model. The numerical experiments show that the traffic flow is increased based on accurate vehicle localization and information sharing among vehicles.Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background andMotivations 1 1.2 Contributions and Outline of the Dissertation 3 1.2.1 Generation of a Precise and Efficient Lane-Level Road Map 3 1.2.2 Accurate and Cost-Effective Vehicle Localization in Featureless Environments 4 1.2.3 An Application of Precise Vehicle Localization: Traffic Flow Enhancement Through the Sharing of Accurate Position Information Among Vehicles 4 Chapter 2 Generation of a Precise and Efficient Lane-Level Road Map 6 2.1 RelatedWorks 9 2.1.1 Acquisition of Road Geometry 11 2.1.2 Modeling of Road Geometry 13 2.2 Overall System Architecture 15 2.3 Road Geometry Data Acquisition and Processing 17 2.3.1 Data Acquisition 18 2.3.2 Data Processing 18 2.3.3 Outlier Problem 26 2.4 RoadModeling 27 2.4.1 Overview of the sequential approximation algorithm 29 2.4.2 Approximation Process 30 2.4.3 Curve Transition 35 2.4.4 Arc length parameterization 38 2.5 Experimental Validation 39 2.5.1 Experimental Setup 39 2.5.2 Data Acquisition and Processing 40 2.5.3 RoadModeling 42 2.6 Summary 49 Chapter 3 Accurate and Cost-Effective Vehicle Localization in Featureless Environments 51 3.1 RelatedWorks 53 3.2 SystemOverview 57 3.2.1 Test Vehicle and Sensor Configuration 57 3.2.2 Augmented RoadMap Data 57 3.2.3 Vehicle Localization SystemArchitecture 61 3.2.4 ProblemStatement 62 3.3 Particle filter-based Vehicle Localization Algorithm 63 3.3.1 Initialization 65 3.3.2 Time Update 66 3.3.3 Measurement Update 66 3.3.4 Integration 68 3.3.5 State Estimation 68 3.3.6 Resampling 69 3.4 Map-Image Measurement Update with Probabilistic Data Association 69 3.4.1 Lane Marking Extraction and Measurement Error Model 70 3.5 Experimental Validation 76 3.5.1 Experimental Environments 76 3.5.2 Localization Accuracy 77 3.5.3 Effect of the Probabilistic Measurement Association 79 3.5.4 Effect of theMeasurement ErrorModel 80 3.6 Summary 80 Chapter 4 An Application of Precise Vehicle Localization: Traffic Flow Enhancement Through the Sharing of Accurate Position Information Among Vehicles 82 4.1 Extended SOVModel 84 4.1.1 SOVModel 85 4.1.2 Extended SOVModel 89 4.2 Results and Discussions 91 4.3 Summary 93 Chapter 5 Conclusion 95 Bibliography 97 국문 초록 108Docto

Environmental maps generation using LIDAR - 3D perception system

Orientador: Pablo Siqueira MeirellesTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia MecânicaResumo: Este trabalho apresenta o estudo e desenvolvimento de um Sistema de Percepção baseado na utilização de sensores telemétricos tipo LIDAR. Uma plataforma de escaneamento a laser em três dimensões LMS-3D é construída a fim da navegação autônoma de robôs. A área navegável é obtida a partir de mapas telemétricos, caracterizados com algoritmos de grades de ocupação (GO) (em duas dimensões com a terceira colorida e 3D) e com o cálculo de gradientes vetoriais. Dois tipos de áreas navegáveis são caracterizadas: (i) área de navegação primária representada por uma área livre dentro da GO; e (ii) área de navegação continua representada pela soma das áreas continuas e gradientes classificados com um determinado limiar. Este limiar indica se uma área é passível de navegação considerando as características do robô. A proposta foi avaliada experimentalmente em ambiente real, contemplou a detecção de obstáculos e a identificação de descontinuidadesAbstract: This thesis was proposed to demonstrate the study and development of a Perception System based on the utilization of a LIDAR telemetric sensors. It was proposed to create a LMS-3D three dimension laser scanning platform, in an attempt to promote the Autonomous Robot Navigation. The scanned area was obtained based on telemetric maps, which was characterized with Occupancy Grid algorithms (OG) (in two dimensions with the third colored and 3D) and Vector Gradients calculation. Two different navigation areas were characterized: (i) primary area of navigation, that represents the free area inside a OG, and (ii) continuous navigation area, that represents the navigated area composed by the sum of continuous areas and the gradients classified by a determined threshold, which indicates the possible navigated area, based on the robot characteristics. The proposition of this thesis was evaluated in a real environment and was able to identify the obstacles detection and also the discontinuanceDoutoradoMecanica dos Sólidos e Projeto MecanicoDoutor em Engenharia Mecânic

Road terrain detection for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

Kühnl T. Road terrain detection for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. Bielefeld: Bielefeld University; 2013