AU2016202050A1 - Distance measuring of vehicles - Google Patents

Distance measuring of vehicles Download PDF

Info

Publication number
AU2016202050A1
AU2016202050A1 AU2016202050A AU2016202050A AU2016202050A1 AU 2016202050 A1 AU2016202050 A1 AU 2016202050A1 AU 2016202050 A AU2016202050 A AU 2016202050A AU 2016202050 A AU2016202050 A AU 2016202050A AU 2016202050 A1 AU2016202050 A1 AU 2016202050A1
Authority
AU
Australia
Prior art keywords
vehicle
sequence
image
lane
camera
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
AU2016202050A
Inventor
Juri Schadlich
Frank Scherer
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Vitronic Dr Ing Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH
Original Assignee
Vitronic Dr Ing Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Vitronic Dr Ing Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH filed Critical Vitronic Dr Ing Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH
Publication of AU2016202050A1 publication Critical patent/AU2016202050A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
    • G08G1/01—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled
    • G08G1/04—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled using optical or ultrasonic detectors
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S11/00—Systems for determining distance or velocity not using reflection or reradiation
    • G01S11/12—Systems for determining distance or velocity not using reflection or reradiation using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/86—Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S17/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. lidar systems
    • G01S17/88—Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06V—IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING
    • G06V20/00—Scenes; Scene-specific elements
    • G06V20/50—Context or environment of the image
    • G06V20/52—Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects
    • G06V20/54—Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
    • G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
    • G08G1/01—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled
    • G08G1/052—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled with provision for determining speed or overspeed
    • G08G1/054—Detecting movement of traffic to be counted or controlled with provision for determining speed or overspeed photographing overspeeding vehicles
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
    • G01S13/86—Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder
    • G01S13/867—Combination of radar systems with cameras
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
    • G01S13/88—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S13/91—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications for traffic control
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S13/00—Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified
    • G01S13/88—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications
    • G01S13/91—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications for traffic control
    • G01S13/92—Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications for traffic control for velocity measurement

Abstract

Abstract Method and arrangement for determining a distance between a first vehicle moving along a lane, and a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle follows directly the first vehicle in the same lane, wherein with a light sensitive sensor, a sequence of image columns is recorded, wherein the sequence comprises at least one portion of the first vehicle and one portion of the second vehicle and wherein each image column of the sequence is assigned to a time. (Figure 1) Page 20 of 20 I j 6 -

Description

Distance measuring of vehicles 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
Description
The invention relates to a method for determining a distance between a first vehicle, moving along a lane, and a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle follows the first vehicle in the same lane directly, wherein a sequence is recorded by a light sensitive sensor, wherein the sequence comprises at least one portion of the first vehicle and one portion of the second vehicle and wherein the recording of the sequence is synchronised concerning the time, as well as a corresponding arrangement for determining a distance between a first vehicle moving along a lane, and a second vehicle.
From the field of traffic technology, to prevent for example rear-end collisions in the road traffic, besides velocity measuring devices also measuring device for determining the distance between two vehicles, i.e. the distance between the rear portion of the front vehicle and the front portion of the rear vehicle, are known. These are used to check the observance, for example, of legal requirements, like a time delay of at least 1.8 seconds for passenger cars and a minimal spatial distance of 50 meters for automotive trucks and, if necessary, to document violations for the further prosecution. For this it can be prescribed to observe within a lane portion of for example 150 to 300 meters the distance of two vehicles, for example, by means of video recording, to proof that a traffic violation in form of a too small distance to the front vehicle is present. In traffic technology, bridge distance measuring methods are known, in which video cameras are mounted on bridges. The image data is, in this case, provided with a time code or the image data is synchronised with a clock, to be able to observe the vehicles in the lane portion of for example 300 meters. For the distance measuring a further camera is installed in a hanging manner and calibrated, for example by means of markings at or on the lane. The printed document GB 2 373 619 A discloses a comparable system. The data of each distance violation of
Page 1 of 20 vehicles are later, generally manually, evaluated. A disadvantage of the described systems is the high expenditure for the technology and for personnel because of the manual post-evaluation and the cumbersome installation and calibration. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
An object of the invention is, to propose a method for determining a distance of vehicles in the traffic, that allows a higher degree of automation in the data evaluation.
The object is met by a method and a device according to the independent claims. In the dependent claims, preferred embodiments and advantageous improvements are named.
The method according to the invention for determining a distance between a first vehicle, moving along a lane, and a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle is following the first vehicle in the lane, provides, that a sequence is recorded in a time synchronised manner by a light sensitive sensor, wherein the sequence comprises at least one portion of the first vehicle and one portion of the second vehicle. Generally, it is possible according to the method according to the invention, to measure the distance of two vehicles, between which a third vehicle moves along the lane. It is also possible, to determine the distance of two vehicles according to the method according to the invention, when these vehicles drive in different, adjacently extending lanes. However, the distance of two vehicles following one another directly in one lane are of interest for the monitoring of the traffic, because of which the further description only relates to this case, without limiting the spirit of the invention thereto. The term sequence is to be understood in the sense of the invention as an order in the sense of a time linear order. If the sequence comprises also at least one portion of the first vehicle and one portion of the second vehicle, the recording is started so early, that the first vehicle is still at least partially recorded and ends only, when already at least one portion of the following second vehicle is recorded by the recording. Preferably, the sequence is recorded such, that at least the second
Page 2 of 20 vehicle is completely captured. Especially preferably, the sequence is recorded such, that both vehicles are completely captured. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
According to the invention it is provided, that a camera is used as the light sensitive sensor, to record image columns, wherein the sequence is formed by the image columns and each image column of the sequence is assigned for the synchronisation of the recording to a time. Thus, the sequence consists of an order of discrete image columns. During the recording of the sequence of image columns, the camera is directed stationary onto the to be monitored lane, or to several lanes. The term camera is to be understood, in the sense of the invention, as a camera type, which allows a recording of at least one one-dimensional image column. As an example the camera can have a so-called line sensor, which is also designated as a line camera. Alternatively, in the sense of the invention also a two-dimensional sensor can be used, which however has a multitude of columns, of which however at each point of time only at least one image column is read or evaluated. The recording of exactly one image column is generally preferably provided. Possible is, however, also the simultaneous recording of several image columns, for example to capture colours. In this case, for each colour, for example red, green and blue, one image column is recorded, in this case therefore three image columns. It is, however, also possible, to record simultaneously respectively several image columns and to assign the same time to all. As sensors for the camera according to the invention, light or beam sensitive detectors, generally semi-conductor detectors, can be used, which consist of a one-dimensional or a two-dimensional field of photodetectors or other detector elements.
Furthermore, according to the invention, an evaluation of the sequence of the image columns is carried out, to identify a rear of the first vehicle and a front of the second vehicle. The identification in the sense of the invention has to be understood such, that the rear and the front have initially to be detected in the sequence of the image columns, which preferably is carried out by an automated evaluation of the sequence by means of an image detection software. The evaluation of the sequence of image
Page 3 of 20 columns for detecting the rear of the first vehicle and the front of the second vehicle in the sense of the invention is disclosed in the European Patent Application No. 14173551.4, to which reference is made herewith. The term rear is to be understood, in the sense of the invention, as a synonym for the rear end of the vehicle in driving direction. The term front is to be understood, in the sense of the invention, as a synonym for the front end of the vehicle in driving direction. The rear and the front are, thus, no spatially expanded vehicle parts, but mark one-dimensionally the front end and the rear end of the vehicle. Therefrom it results, that only exactly one image column of the sequence shows or contains the rear of the first vehicle and only exactly one other image column shows or contains the front of the second vehicle, insofar as only one individual image column is recorded at each point of time. When recording several image columns, all simultaneously recorded image columns show the rear or the front. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
Finally, it is provided according to the invention, that a time difference between a position of the image column with the rear of the first vehicle and a position of the image column with the front of the second vehicle within the sequence is determined by the assigned times of the image columns of the sequence.
An advantage of the invention is, that by means of the recording of image columns of the sequence, to each image column a time is assigned, and the interval between the image column capturing the rear of the first vehicle and the image column capturing the front of the second vehicle can be determined in an especially simple manner, such that for example, a difference of the time, assigned to the image column with the rear of the first vehicle, to the time, assigned to the image column with the front of the second vehicle, is calculated. Alternatively, also the possibility exists, to determine the number of image columns between the position of the image column with the rear of the first vehicle and the position of the image column with the front of the second vehicle and to divide this by a sampling rate of the camera, to obtain the interval of the vehicles.
Page 4 of 20 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
For the purpose of the evaluation, especially according to the European Patent Application no. 14173551.4, preferably, an image is constructed, which shows at least the rear of the first vehicle, the front of the second vehicle and the interspace between the two vehicles, by stringing together the consecutive image columns of the sequence, wherein the camera operates with a predetermined, if necessary also adaptable, sampling rate. This use of a camera has the advantage, that the distance of the recorded part of the respective vehicle to the camera remains essentially constant, so that neither a perspective distortion in the direction of the strung together recordings, nor a different light efficiency occurs because of the distance between the vehicle and the camera. Because of this, it is especially advantageous, to use a camera for the arrangement laterally next to the lane. The position laterally next to the lane allows an especially effective determination of specific features of the first and of the second vehicle in the sequence of image columns, like especially the rear of the first vehicle and the front of the second vehicle. Furthermore, however also for example, their length, number of axles, characteristic form or lateral labelling, which can be helpful for an identification, are recognizable by an evaluation of the sequence of image columns, especially, when these show the complete first vehicle and/or the complete second vehicle. Many of the named features are not detectable from a position above the lane. A further advantage of the invention is achieved from the fact, that besides the time interval of two vehicles, which is directly derived from the evaluation of the sequence of image columns, also a spatial distance is determinable solely by evaluating the sequence.
Preferably, it is provided, that the camera is arranged laterally next to the lane. Laterally next to the lane is to be understood, in the sense of the invention, that the camera is not arranged vertically above the generally horizontally extending lane. Flowever, the camera can obviously be arranged next to the lane at a specific height
Page 5 of 20 above the level of the lane. If the camera is arranged laterally next to the lane, it is preferably provided, to arrange the same at a height of approximately three to four meters above a level of the lane or of the lanes. Alternatively, it can also be provided, to arrange the camera above the lane or several lanes, for example on a bridge or gantry. The higher arrangement has in both cases the advantage, that in a multitude of lanes, the vehicles can be assigned to one of the lanes. In this case, the camera can be aligned approximately at a right angle to the lane, i.e. to a driving direction of the vehicles in the lane. In this case, the detection of the rear of the first vehicle and the front of the second vehicle is especially simple to carry out. Alternatively, the camera can also be transversely aligned to the lane, either in direction of the towards coming traffic, i.e. against the driving direction of the vehicles in the lane, or in direction of the going away traffic, i.e. in the driving direction of the vehicles in the lane. In this case, the camera is rotated, relative to the arrangement at a right angle to the lane, by approximately 30 to 60 degrees against the driving direction or in driving direction. An advantage of the transverse arrangement of the camera is, that the front of the vehicle in the towards coming traffic or the rear of the vehicle in the going away traffic is recorded in the sequence of the image columns, so that these vehicle portions can be used by the image evaluation for the identification, especially by the evaluation of the registration plates arranged at the rear or the front. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
The alignment of the camera in the sense of the invention does not refer to the alignment of the at least one one-dimensional column of the sensor, which generally is arranged vertically, i.e. essentially at a right angle to a plane formed by the lane.
According to a preferred embodiment it is provided, that the recorded sequence is stored if the time difference is if below a threshold. Thus, advantageously a so-called automated case generation can be realised. Recorded sequences of image columns, in which the threshold for the time difference is not undershot, are preferably deleted or overwritten by following recordings.
Page 6 of 20 2016202050 01 Apr 2016 A recording of the sequence of image columns can preferably be started by a signal and, after a predetermined time has passed, is stopped. Thus, it is advantageously possible, to prevent a continuous recording. Alternatively, the sequence of image columns is recorded as a recording loop and is deleted after the predetermined time has passed, or is overwritten by the following recordings.
According to a further preferred embodiment it is provided, that an independent second distance measuring is carried out. Especially preferably, a velocity measuring device, especially a LiDAR is used for this. The independent second distance measuring can be used advantageously, when it is measured against the towards coming traffic, to generate a signal, which starts the recording and preferably also the storing of the sequence of image columns in case, that the second distance measuring results in a distance of two vehicles below a threshold. With going away traffic the independent second distance measuring allows, during the detection of a distance of two vehicles below a threshold, to generate a signal, which starts the storing of the last recorded sequence of image columns for the case. The distance of the two vehicles is preferably measured as a time difference to a specific position.
In the second distance measuring, preferably a special time difference between a front of the first vehicle and a front of the second vehicle with going away traffic or between a rear of the first vehicle and a rear of the second vehicle with towards coming traffic is measured and, in the first case, a length of the first vehicle or, in the second case, a length of the second vehicle is deducted, wherein the length of the respective vehicle is especially converted to a time duration. Especially preferably, the length of the first vehicle or the length of the second vehicle is determined by the evaluation of the sequence of image columns, wherein the sequence comprises one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle, entirely.
Page 7 of 20
According to a further preferred embodiment it is provided, that a velocity of the first vehicle is measured and that a velocity of the second vehicle is measured. Especially preferably, a velocity measuring device, especially a LiDAR, is used for this. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
According to a further preferred embodiment it is provided, that a video recording of the lane with the first vehicle and the second vehicle as well as, if necessary, of further lanes is made, wherein the video recording is synchronised with the sequence of the image columns of the camera.
The invention relates to a further, subject which accomplishes the objective, i.e. an arrangement for determining a distance between a first vehicle moving along a lane, and a second vehicle, wherein the second vehicle is following the first vehicle in the lane, comprising at least one light sensitive sensor for recording a sequence of the lane with at least one portion of the first vehicle and one portion of the second vehicle and a time measuring device for synchronising the recorded sequence.
According to the invention it is provided, that a camera as the light sensitive sensor records image columns, wherein the image columns form the sequence and that the time measuring device is provided to assign a time index to each image column of the sequence. An evaluation device is provided, to identify in the sequence of image columns, a rear of the first vehicle and a front of the second vehicle and to determine a time difference between a position of the image column with the rear of the first vehicle and a position of the image column with the front of the second vehicle within the sequence, by means of the assigned times of the image columns of the sequence.
Page 8 of 20
The arrangement according to the invention is especially provided for carrying out the above described method according to the invention. All physical features emerging from the embodiments of the methods are also to be understood as preferred embodiments of the arrangement. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
According to a preferred embodiment of the arrangement an illumination device is provided. For the illumination, a visible light as well as an infra-red light is suitable.
In the following, the invention is described in more detail using an embodiment referring to the attached drawings. The explanations relate to the method according to the invention as well as to the corresponding arrangement. They are only exemplary and do not limit the general inventive idea.
It shows
Fig. 1 a schematical representation for carrying out the method according to the invention according to an embodiment with the ongoing traffic;
Fig. 2 a schematical representation for carrying out the method according to the invention according to an embodiment against the flow of traffic;
Fig. 3 a schematical representation for carrying out the method according to the invention according to a further embodiment;
Fig. 4 an example of a sequence of image columns recorded according to the method according to the invention.
Page 9 of 20 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
In Figures 1 to 3 respectively an arrangement 6 according to the invention for determining a distance between a first vehicle 21 moving along a lane 1, and a second vehicle 22, is shown, wherein the second vehicle 22 follows the first vehicle 21 in the lane 1 in direction of an arrow P showing the driving direction of the vehicles 21, 22. According to the invention it is provided, that a camera 4 is used as a light sensitive sensor, to record a sequence of image columns of the lane 1 with at least one portion of the first vehicle 21 and one portion of the second vehicle 22. A time index is assigned to each image column of the sequence by means of a time measuring device 9. An evaluation device 2 is provided, to identify in the sequence of image columns, a rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and a front 24 of the second vehicle 22. After the identification of the rear 23 as a rear ending of the first vehicle 21 in driving direction P and the front 24 as the front end of the second vehicle 22 in driving direction, that image column is determined, which shows the rear 23, and that image column, which shows the front 24. Afterwards, a time difference is determined between a position of the image column with the rear 23 and a position of the image column with the front 24 within the sequence, which corresponds to a time difference between a recording of the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and a recording of the front 24 of the second vehicle 22 in the recording of the sequence of image columns. The time difference is for example determined by forming the difference of the assigned times of the image column with the rear 23 and the image column with the front 24. Alternatively, also the number of image columns of the sequence recorded between the image column with the rear 23 and the image column with the front 24, may be determined. The time difference can then be calculated, such that the number is divided by the generally known sampling rate of the camera. The arrangement according to the invention is provided for carrying out the method according to the invention, wherein all features relating to the embodiments of the method are also to be seen as preferred embodiments for the arrangement and vice versa.
The method according to the invention for determining the distance between the first vehicle 21, moving along the lane 1, and the second vehicle 22, following the first
Page 10 of 20 vehicle 21 in the lane 1, provides, that a sequence of image columns is recorded by the camera 5, wherein the sequence comprises at least one portion of the first vehicle 21 and one portion of the second vehicle 22 and wherein a time is assigned to each image columns of the sequence. Preferably, the sequence is recorded such, that at least the second vehicle 22 is completely captured, especially preferably the sequence is recorded such, that both vehicles 21, 22 are completely captured. Furthermore, according to the invention an evaluation of the sequence of the image columns is carried out, to identify the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and a front 24 of the second vehicle 22, as well as to determine a time difference between a position of the image column with the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and a position of the image column with the front 24 of the second vehicle 22 within the sequence by means of the times assigned to the image columns. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
Followingly, the different embodiments of the arrangement 6 according to the invention and shown in Figures 1 to 3 are described in more detail, which is arranged next to the lane 1 and has in each case a camera 5, preferably with illumination (not shown), which records the distance between the two vehicles 21, 22 as described above. In the shown embodiments, respectively, a video camera 4 is provided, which for example, documents a lane portion of 300 meters length of the lane 1 and if necessary further lanes. The alignment of the camera 5 relative to the lane 1 can, in this case, be selected transversally or rectangularly, in Figures 1 to 3 respectively a, rectangularly alignment of the camera 5 relative to the lane 1 is provided and is represented by a schematically shown beam path 7. Furthermore, the velocity measuring device 3, for example a radar or LiDAR measuring device, can be used, a beam path or beam sector of which is schematically indicated by lines 8. The radar or LiDAR-device 3 can also be used for a second, independent distance measuring, which is also designated as secondary distance measuring. The arrangement 6 can be provided as a compact arrangement within only one housing. Instead, all components can also be used individually and spatially separated, for functional reasons. Furthermore, the picture evaluation can be carried out by means of the evaluation device 2, at least partially, depending on the embodiment, time-delayed.
Page 11 of 20
In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the arrangement 6 according to the invention comprises, besides the video camera 4 for recording the lane portion of 300 meters of the lane 1 and the camera 5 for the distance measuring according to the invention by means of the time measuring device 9 and the evaluation device 2, also a LiDAR measuring device 3 for measuring velocity and distance. The secondary distance measuring is carried out, in this case, by the LiDAR measuring device 3 between a front 20 of the first vehicle 21 to the front 24 of the second vehicle 22 as a variant for the ongoing traffic. Preferably, a time difference of the vehicles 21, 22 to a stationary point of the lane 1 is in this case determined. A laser of the LiDAR 2 serves, in this case, advantageously as a trigger for producing a signal for the recording, when the first vehicle 21 enters the laser sector 8. This means, only when the signal of the laser 3 triggers the recording, the camera 5 records for a predetermined time range of, for example, two seconds and the recorded sequence of image columns is stored. Additionally, the respective recording of the video camera 3 is started and followingly stored. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
During the distance measuring by means of the LiDAR 3 the second independent distance measuring of the vehicles 21, 22 is carried out during the flowing away traffic of the front 20 to the front 24. Followingly, the distance between the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and the front 24 of the second vehicle 22 is determined, such that the vehicle length of the first vehicle 21 is deducted from the measuring result. Preferably, a time duration of the first vehicle 21 is deducted from the measured time duration of the vehicles 21, 22. The length of the first vehicle 21 is determined by means of a profile detection using the sequence of image columns recorded by the camera 5, which can be carried out by means of the evaluation device 2. The profile detection is described in the European Patent Application No. 14173551.4, to which reference is made by this application. The time duration equivalent of the length of the vehicle 21 results from the times assigned to the respective image columns, which show a side face of the vehicle 21.
Page 12 of 20
In the embodiment of the arrangement according to the invention shown in Fig. 2, also a LiDAR measuring device 3 is provided for the velocity and distance measurement. The secondary distance measurement by the LiDAR measuring device 3 is carried out, in this case, from the rear 22 to the rear 25 of the two vehicles 21, 22 as a variant for the going away traffic. The camera 4 records, in this case, a continuous loop of, for example, 10 seconds length. If a violation, for example in form of a too low distance of the vehicles 21, 22 is detected by the laser 3, a saving of a time portion of, for example, two second length of the recorded sequence of image columns of the camera 5 and of the corresponding video material of the video camera 4 takes place. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
In the oncoming traffic, the secondary distance measurement is carried out from the rear 22 of the first vehicle 21 to a rear 25 of the second vehicle 22. Afterwards the distance between the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and the front 24 of the second vehicle 22 is determined, such that the vehicle length of the second vehicle 22 is deducted from the measuring result. The length of the second vehicle 22 is determined by means of a profile detection using the sequence of image columns recorded by the camera 5, which can be carried out by the evaluation device 2, as described above in relation to Fig. 1.
In the embodiment of the arrangement 6 according to the invention and shown in Fig. 3, only the video camera 4 and the camera 5 are provided, without a radar or laser device for the secondary distance measurement. The recording of the cameras 4, 5 takes place, in this case, in a continuous loop, of for example, 10 seconds length. If a violation is detected, a saving of the respective time portion of, for example, two seconds length of the recorded sequence of image columns of the camera 5 and the recording of the video camera 4 is carried out.
In Fig. 4 an example of a sequence of image columns of the camera 5 is shown, which comprises an image of the first vehicle 21 and of the second vehicle 22 in lane
Page 13 of 20 1. The automatic time difference measurement of the two vehicles 21, 22 with the camera 5 is carried out by the evaluation of the sequence, which comprises an outline figure detection of the vehicles 21, 22 for a vehicle segmentation, as well as a detection of the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and the front 24 of the second vehicle 22. Furthermore, it is preferably provided, to detect a number of time synchronised image columns of the camera 5, in this case, the vertical columns in the image, between the rear 23 of the first vehicle 21 and the front 24 of the second vehicle 22, which are marked by the double arrow D. In the shown representation, the distance is 1365 image columns, which, with an exemplary sampling rate of the camera 5 of 3000 Hertz, corresponds to a time difference of 0.455 seconds. 2016202050 01 Apr 2016
Page 14 of 20
Reference numerals list 2016202050 01 Apr 2016 1 lane 2 evaluation device 3 velocity and/or distance measuring device 4 video camera 5 camera 6 arrangement for measuring the distance 7 schematic beam path of the camera
8 schematic beam path of the LiDAR 9 time measuring device 20 front of the first vehicle 21 first vehicle 22 second vehicle 23 rear of the first vehicle 24 front of the second vehicle 25 rear of the second vehicle P arrow, driving direction D double arrow, distance
Page 15 of 20

Claims (13)

  1. Claims
    1. Method for determining a distance between a first vehicle (21), moving along a lane (1), and a second vehicle (22), wherein the second vehicle follows the first vehicle in the lane, wherein a light sensitive sensor (5) records a sequence, wherein the sequence comprises at least a portion of the first vehicle and a portion of the second vehicle and wherein the recording of the sequence is synchronised concerning the time, characterised in that a camera (5) is used as the light sensitive sensor, to record image columns, wherein the image columns form the sequence and each image column of the sequence is assigned to a time, wherein an evaluation of the sequence is carried out, to identify a rear (23) of the first vehicle (21) and a front (24) of the second vehicle (22), and wherein a time difference between a position of the image column comprising the rear of the first vehicle and a position of the image column comprising the front of the second vehicle within the sequence is determined by means of the assigned times of the image columns of the sequence.
  2. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the sequence is recorded such, that at time intervals respectively at least one one-dimensional image column is recorded.
  3. 3. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that if the determined time difference of a sequence is below a threshold, the recorded sequence is stored.
  4. 4. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a recording of the sequence of image columns is started by a signal and stopped after a predetermined time has passed.
  5. 5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the sequence of image columns is recorded as a recording loop wherein the sequence is overwritten after a predetermined time has passed.
  6. 6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the camera (5) is aligned approximately at a right angle to the lane (1).
  7. 7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the camera (5) is arranged laterally next to the lane (1).
  8. 8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that an independent second distance measuring is carried out.
  9. 9. Method according to claim 8, characterised in that in the second distance measuring a distance between a front (20) of the first vehicle (21) and the front (24) of the second vehicle (22) or between the rear (23) of the first vehicle and a rear (25) of the second vehicle is measured and that a length of the first vehicle or a length of the second vehicle is deducted.
  10. 10. Method according to claim 9, characterised in that the length of the first vehicle (21) or the length of the second vehicle (22) is determined by an evaluation of the sequence of image columns, wherein one of the first vehicle or the second vehicle is recorded in the sequence entirely.
  11. 11. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a velocity of the first vehicle (21) is measured and that a velocity of the second vehicle (22) is measured.
  12. 12. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a video recording of the lane (1) with the first vehicle (21) and the second vehicle (22) is made, wherein the video recording is synchronised with the sequence of image columns of the camera (5).
  13. 13. Arrangement (6) for determining a distance between a first vehicle (21), moving along a lane (1), and a second vehicle (22), wherein the second vehicle follows the first vehicle in the lane, comprising - a light sensitive sensor (5) for recording a sequence of images of the lane with at least one portion of the first vehicle and one portion of the second vehicle and - a time measuring device (9) for assigning a time index to each image of the sequence, characterised in that a camera (5) is provided as the light sensitive sensor to record image columns, wherein the image columns form the sequence and the time measuring device (9) is provided to assign a time index to each image column of the sequence and wherein an evaluation device (2) is provided, to identify a rear (23) of the first vehicle (21) and a front (24) of the second vehicle (22) in the sequence of image columns, and to determine a time difference between a position of the image column with the rear of the first vehicle and a position of the image column with the front of the second vehicle within the sequence by means of the assigned times of the image columns of the sequence.
AU2016202050A 2015-04-15 2016-04-01 Distance measuring of vehicles Abandoned AU2016202050A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP15163770.9A EP3082119B1 (en) 2015-04-15 2015-04-15 Distance measurement of vehicles
EP15163770.9 2015-04-15

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
AU2016202050A1 true AU2016202050A1 (en) 2016-11-03

Family

ID=53039712

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
AU2016202050A Abandoned AU2016202050A1 (en) 2015-04-15 2016-04-01 Distance measuring of vehicles

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP3082119B1 (en)
AU (1) AU2016202050A1 (en)
DK (1) DK3082119T3 (en)
PL (1) PL3082119T3 (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN113574576A (en) * 2019-03-21 2021-10-29 业纳遥控设备有限公司 Method and device for detecting traffic violations by falling below an allowable distance between a rear vehicle and a front vehicle

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN111223302B (en) * 2018-11-23 2021-12-03 明创能源股份有限公司 External coordinate real-time three-dimensional road condition auxiliary device for mobile carrier and system
IL264051A (en) * 2019-01-01 2020-07-30 Elta Systems Ltd System, method and computer program product for speeding detection

Family Cites Families (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE2728946A1 (en) * 1977-06-27 1979-01-18 Leitz Ernst Gmbh Photographic monitoring of distance between two motor vehicles - uses two photographs taken at specified time interval and has motor to drive film and shutter mechanism
IL86202A (en) * 1988-04-27 1992-01-15 Driver Safety Systems Ltd Traffic safety monitoring apparatus
US5296852A (en) * 1991-02-27 1994-03-22 Rathi Rajendra P Method and apparatus for monitoring traffic flow
SG41948A1 (en) * 1993-02-19 1997-08-15 Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Ltd Vehicle detecting system
EP0804779B1 (en) * 1995-01-17 2006-03-29 Sarnoff Corporation Method and apparatus for detecting object movement within an image sequence
GB2373619A (en) 2001-03-23 2002-09-25 Golden River Traffic Ltd Measurement of traffic density
AT502315B1 (en) * 2004-01-19 2007-10-15 Siemens Ag Oesterreich MOBILE, CAMERA-BASED SPACER AND SPEED GAUGE
ATE483220T1 (en) * 2006-11-15 2010-10-15 Aitek S P A METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO VEHICLES DRIVING ON A ROAD OR A SECTION OF MOTORWAY, PARTICULARLY IN A TUNNEL
SI2306428T1 (en) * 2009-10-01 2012-03-30 Kapsch Trafficcom Ag Device and method for determining the direction, speed and/or distance of vehicles
CA2998175C (en) * 2012-03-02 2020-11-10 Leddartech Inc. System and method for multipurpose traffic detection and characterization
CN103310642A (en) * 2012-03-16 2013-09-18 捷达世软件（深圳）有限公司 Road condition early warning system and road condition early warning method

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN113574576A (en) * 2019-03-21 2021-10-29 业纳遥控设备有限公司 Method and device for detecting traffic violations by falling below an allowable distance between a rear vehicle and a front vehicle

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
PL3082119T3 (en) 2023-03-20
EP3082119B1 (en) 2022-11-23
DK3082119T3 (en) 2023-02-06
EP3082119A1 (en) 2016-10-19

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
CA1092701A (en) Method and device for supervising the speed of an object
US20110080306A1 (en) Device and method for determining the direction, speed and/or distance of vehicles
US20100231720A1 (en) Traffic Monitoring
US20100283856A1 (en) Method For Calibrating The Image Of A Camera
KR20160100788A (en) Apparatus and method for measuring speed of moving object
MX2015006111A (en) Dynamic method and device for measuring the luminance and back-reflection of road markings and signs and obtaining the shape, position and dimensions thereof.
AU2016202050A1 (en) Distance measuring of vehicles
JP3711518B2 (en) Traffic signal ignoring vehicle automatic recording apparatus and method
RU2493604C1 (en) Method of detecting violations of road traffic rules
US20140320645A1 (en) Method for Detecting and Documenting the Speeds of a Plurality of Vehicles in an Image Document
US10515544B2 (en) Determination of at least one feature of a vehicle
CN106643517B (en) A kind of measurement that height of car transfinites and method for warming
KR20160116686A (en) Multi-lane over-speed enforcement system based on FPGA, using radar speed sensor and low resolution image camera
JP2003228793A (en) Reader for front and rear license plates
US10523858B1 (en) Apparatus and method to capture continuous high resolution images of a moving train undercarriage
US20220309793A1 (en) System for determining the position of movable dummy elements
KR102390947B1 (en) Vehicle detection system
CN102881172A (en) Device and method for measuring speed of road motor vehicle
RU2442218C1 (en) Vehicle speed measurement method
KR101486804B1 (en) Speed measuring method without loop
DE102010056406A1 (en) Method for the secure identification of a vehicle detected by a radiation sensor in an image recording
AU2008264155B2 (en) Method of detecting and documenting traffic violations, such as red light violations or speeding violations
CN109767629A (en) A kind of camera system and its speed-measuring method of integrated speed measuring function
JPH11328577A (en) Method for measuring traffic state by speed of vehicle group
US20180038735A1 (en) Method of detecting temperature change with infrared and method of detecting moving vehicle with infrared

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
NBA Allowances - extensions of time- section 223(1)

Free format text: IN WHICH TO GAIN ACCEPTANCE HAS BEEN FILED 29 APR 2018

MK5 Application lapsed section 142(2)(e) - patent request and compl. specification not accepted