Vision based road profile estimation for preview-controlled vehicle suspension systems

In this paper, a vision-based road profile estimation method was studied for the control of semi-active and active suspension systems. For the purpose, a monocular camera was used to collect data from the road tests to develop a logic to convert the camera measurements into the road profile data. For the generation of the road profile, alignment of the different sets of camera measurements and their coherence were expressed. Importance of the sensor and process noise removal were shown in recognition of the high frequency content of the road profile, which was a particular interest of the study. Additionally, a density-based clustering algorithm was taken into account to cluster the measured points vertically, to remove the process and sensor noise. The density-based clustering method reduced the noises and allowed detection of the high and low frequency contents of the road.