OpenCV based road sign recognition on Zynq

Abstract

Road sign recognition is a key component in autonomous vehicles and also has applications in driver assistance systems and road sign maintenance. Here an algorithm is presented using the Xilinx Zynq-7020 chip on a Zedboard to scan 1920×1080 images taken by an ON Semiconductor VITA-2000 sensor attached via the FMC slot. The PL section of the Zynq is used to perform essential image pre-processing functions and color based filtering of the image. Software classifies the shapes in the filtered image, and OpenCV's template matching function is used to identify the signs from a database of UK road signs. The system was designed in six weeks, and can process one frame in approximately 5 seconds. This is a promising start for a real-time System on Chip based approach to the problem of road sign recognition and also for using the Zynq platform for rapid deployment of these types of applications.