An obstacle detection system using a light stripe identification based method

Abstract

A light stripe tracking and identification method is proposed for a structured light based obstacle detection system operating in an outdoor environment. The method makes the structured light based detection system more robust and applicable to use outdoors as aid for navigation. The method differentiates between the structured light produced by a light stripe projector and the light stripe kind patterns caused by ambient illumination. The centre of gravity of the segmented light stripe is tracked by using a Kalman filter. The position information together with the other properties of the stripe segment, including intensity, length and orientation are used to identify the same light stripe segment in adjacent images. By using a pulsed light source it is possible to differentiate between true and false light stripes depending on their time of appearance. During the project, a working obstacle detection system for a partly structured outdoor environment was implemented.