Cameras Roll for Comfort and Safety
Bosch researchers are using video sensors to bring increased safety and comfort to vehicles. The cameras monitor the vehicle interior and keep an eye on what’s happening in the traffic. Image processing is used to enhance occupants’ safety with air bags a
Although the functions and applications of cameras in vehicles or building security systems are quite different, they share the same technological basis. That’s certainly true of their hardware. For cameras, the researchers rely on the CCD or CMOS sensors that are widely used in camcorders, appropriately adapted to the tough automotive environment. And then there’s the software. Different applications use many of the same algorithms. Detecting and tracking a person in a vehicle’s surroundings has many similarities with the task of screening unauthorized visitors trying to enter a factory. That’s why work at Bosch on the interdisciplinary task of image processing is concentrated in a specially designed Image Processing Systems competence center in Hildesheim.
Among environment sensors (radar, infrared and ultrasound, for example), the video sensor offers the greatest potential for use in the driver-assistance and safety systems of the future.
In the medium term, for example, video cameras will be applied for assistance functions that support parking, night vision, lane keeping, maintaining the distance to the preceding vehicle and recognizing road signs. Eventually a camera will also monitor an auto’s interior. Which seats are occupied? Are the passengers correctly seated, or are their feet resting on the dashboard? Is someone’s head too close to an air bag module? This last example is particularly important for the proper activation of an air bag in the event of an accident.
Recessed in the vehicle’s roof near the rearview mirror, a stereo camera constantly monitors the interior and delivers data on the spatial depth of the objects. Software traces characteristic shapes – especially head shapes – and determines the position of the occupants’ heads. Even the attentiveness of the driver and the direction in which he or she is looking can be captured.
The Bosch researchers in Hildesheim are also working on the challenge of data fusion for image processing. This calls for combining data not only from video sensors, but also from additional sensors (for example radar) or information sources such as the digital map that is used for navigation systems. This combination makes it possible to register surroundings with greater reliability and to create sophisticated comfort and safety systems.
Among environment sensors (radar, infrared and ultrasound, for example), the video sensor offers the greatest potential for use in the driver-assistance and safety systems of the future.
In the medium term, for example, video cameras will be applied for assistance functions that support parking, night vision, lane keeping, maintaining the distance to the preceding vehicle and recognizing road signs. Eventually a camera will also monitor an auto’s interior. Which seats are occupied? Are the passengers correctly seated, or are their feet resting on the dashboard? Is someone’s head too close to an air bag module? This last example is particularly important for the proper activation of an air bag in the event of an accident.
Recessed in the vehicle’s roof near the rearview mirror, a stereo camera constantly monitors the interior and delivers data on the spatial depth of the objects. Software traces characteristic shapes – especially head shapes – and determines the position of the occupants’ heads. Even the attentiveness of the driver and the direction in which he or she is looking can be captured.
The Bosch researchers in Hildesheim are also working on the challenge of data fusion for image processing. This calls for combining data not only from video sensors, but also from additional sensors (for example radar) or information sources such as the digital map that is used for navigation systems. This combination makes it possible to register surroundings with greater reliability and to create sophisticated comfort and safety systems.
Cameras register seating occupancy and posture, “arming” the safety systems when necessary.
