JP2016088183A - Obstacle detection system and railway vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an obstacle detection system capable of obtaining image data having a correct value without the influence of weather or sunshine while dispensing with a switching operation for a searchlight irradiation direction.SOLUTION: An obstacle detection system comprises: a short-distance photographing unit 11 mounted in a vehicle that travels along a raceway, photographing a range from a first distance from the vehicle to a second distance farther from the vehicle than the first distance, and obtaining image information; a long-distance photographing unit 12 mounted in the vehicle, photographing a range from a third distance, which is between the first distance and the second distance, from the vehicle to a fourth distance farther from the vehicle than the second distance, and obtaining image information; a laser radar 13 mounted in the vehicle and radiating a laser beam to a range from a fifth distance, which is between the first distance and the third distance, from the vehicle to a sixth distance between the third distance and the second distance; and an obstacle detection unit 18 determining whether an obstacle is present in the clearance limit on the basis of the image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit and information from the laser radar, and outputting obstacle detection information when the obstacle is present.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an obstacle detection system and a railway vehicle that detect obstacles in a travel route in order to perform safe driving prior to traveling of a track traveling vehicle.

  The track traveling vehicle is a vehicle that travels on a track (rail) laid on the ground, and if there is an obstacle in the track, the vehicle is damaged or derailed. For this reason, there is known an obstacle detection system that runs before the vehicle starts running, checks whether there is an abnormality in the rail by automatic running, and automatically stops the vehicle if there is an obstacle within the building limits. Yes.

  The obstacle detection system described in Patent Document 1 captures the front in the running direction by an imaging unit provided in the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling, and the obstacle is within the building limit by the image processing unit from the obtained image information. In the image data, if there is an obstacle, the obstacle detection information is output to stop the vehicle.

  For example, Patent Documents 2 and 3 are known as conventional techniques of this type.

Japanese Patent No. 3448088 JP-A-7-10003 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-126955

  However, in the conventional obstacle detection system, one of the areas of 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m is spot-monitored by switching the irradiation direction of the searchlight using one imaging unit. For this reason, it has been difficult to switch the searchlight irradiation direction.

  In addition, since all images are processed using an imaging unit such as a camera, the image data is easily affected by the weather and sunlight, and the image data has an incorrect value.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an obstacle detection system and a railway vehicle that can obtain accurate image data without being affected by the weather or sunlight, without performing an operation of switching the direction of searchlight irradiation. .

  The present invention is mounted on a vehicle that travels along a track, and a short-distance photographing unit that obtains image information by photographing a range from the first distance to a second distance farther than the first distance from the vehicle; A long-distance photographing that is mounted on a vehicle and obtains image information by photographing a range from a third distance between the first distance and the second distance to a fourth distance that is farther than the second distance. And from the vehicle to a range from a fifth distance between the first distance and the third distance to a sixth distance between the third distance and the second distance. It is determined whether an obstacle exists within a building limit based on a laser radar that irradiates a laser, the image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit, and information from the laser radar, Obstacle detection unit that outputs obstacle detection information when there is an obstacle Characterized in that it comprises a.

  According to the present invention, since it is determined whether or not an obstacle exists within the building limits using the short-distance photographing unit, the long-distance photographing unit, and the laser radar, the searchlight irradiation direction switching operation is performed. Therefore, accurate image data can be obtained by the laser radar without being affected by the weather and sunlight.

1 is a configuration block diagram of an obstacle detection system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the mounting position to the vehicle of the short-distance camera, long-distance camera, and 3D laser radar which are provided in the obstacle detection system of embodiment. It is a figure which shows the imaging | photography range of the short distance camera of a obstacle detection system of embodiment, a long distance camera, and a three-dimensional laser radar. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the track | orbit detection part of the obstacle detection system of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the object detection part of the obstruction detection system of embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the integrated part of the obstacle detection system of embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the state estimator which has in the integrated part of the obstruction detection system of embodiment. It is a figure which shows a mode that the obstruction obstructs a judgment line in the obstruction detection system of embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an obstacle detection system and a railway vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  The obstacle detection system shown in FIG. 1 includes a short-distance photographing unit 11, a long-distance photographing unit 12, a three-dimensional laser radar (laser radar) 13, a counter processing unit 14, a conversion calculation unit 15, an image processing unit 16, and a mask processing unit. 17, an integrated processing unit 18, a driving support system 19, a parallel / input / output unit (P / I / O) 20, a monitor display unit 21, a camera switcher 22, a video recorder 23, and a mail transmission unit 24.

  The short-distance camera 11 corresponds to the short-distance photographing unit of the present invention, and is mounted on a vehicle 1 that travels along a track as shown in FIG. 2, and as shown in FIG. Image information is obtained by photographing a range from (for example, 70 m) to a second distance (for example, 250 m) far from the first distance. The short-range camera 11 captures an image with a period of 33 ms, for example, and outputs it to the image processing unit 16 via the camera switcher 22 and the capture processing unit.

  Note that the contact bar 2 shown in FIG. 2 is attached to the outer frame of the vehicle 1, and the range of the contact bar 2 in the horizontal direction is the range of the horizontal direction within the construction limit L1.

  The long-distance camera 12 corresponds to the long-distance photographing unit of the present invention, and is mounted on a vehicle as shown in FIG. 2. From the vehicle 1, a first distance (for example, 70 m) and a second distance (for example, 250 m) are provided. A range from a third distance (for example, 200 m) to a fourth distance (for example, 450 m) farther than the second distance (for example, 250 m) is captured to obtain image information. For example, the long-distance camera 12 captures an image at a cycle of 33 ms and outputs the image to the image processing unit 16 via the camera switcher 22 and the capture processing unit.

  A three-dimensional laser radar (laser radar, 3DLR in FIG. 1) 13 is mounted on the vehicle 1, and from the vehicle 1, a fifth distance (for example, 70 m) and a third distance (for example, 200 m) (for example, 200 m). 180 m) to a sixth distance (eg, 220 m) between the third distance (eg, 200 m) and the second distance (eg, 250 m). For example, the three-dimensional laser radar 13 captures information at a cycle of 100 ms, and outputs the obtained information to the integration unit 181 via the capture processing unit.

  When the long-distance camera 12 first detects an obstacle on the rail and the vehicle 1 approaches the obstacle, the long-distance camera 12 and the three-dimensional laser radar 13 detect the obstacle, and the vehicle 1 approaches the obstacle. The three-dimensional laser radar 13 and the short-range camera 11 detect obstacles, and the short-range camera 11 detects the obstacles in the nearest vicinity.

  The short-range camera 11, the long-range camera 12, and the three-dimensional laser radar 13 are provided at the front and rear positions of the vehicle 1, as shown in FIG.

  The counter processing unit 14 counts the ground element signal from the ground element and the counter pulse from the encoder of the wheel of the vehicle 1 to obtain vehicle speed data, and counts the vehicle upper element pulse from the vehicle element to measure the kilometer. A distance (distance from the reference point) signal is acquired, and the obtained vehicle speed data and kilometer distance signal are output to the conversion calculation unit 15.

  The conversion calculation unit 15 inputs the ground element signal from the ground element, the track information including the rail gradient and the radius of curvature R of the rail, the vehicle speed data from the counter processing unit 14, and the kilometer signal. The conversion calculation unit 15 constitutes the position information detection unit of the present invention, calculates the current position (distance) of the vehicle based on the ground element signal from the ground element, the vehicle speed data, and the kilometer signal, and the calculated distance information Are output to the image processing unit 16 and the integration unit 181.

  The transformation calculation unit 15 calculates the center of the rail based on the trajectory information including the gradient of the rail and the radius of curvature R, and expresses information on the rail center in both the two-dimensional coordinates in the image coordinates and the three-dimensional coordinates in the rail coordinates, The rail center information is output to the image processing unit 16 and the integration unit 181. The conversion calculation unit 15 converts the three-dimensional coordinates into rail coordinates (two-dimensional coordinates) based on the camera installation height, lateral offset, installation angle, and lens focal position.

  The image processing unit 16 performs processing on image information from the short-distance camera 11 and the long-distance camera 12, and includes trajectory detection units 161a and 161b and object detection units 162a and 162b.

  The mask processing unit 17 is information corresponding to the distance information, the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the route being traveled (for example, the front or rear of the traveling direction of the vehicle, the rail in the upward direction relative to Tokyo, or the downward direction) Are output to the integration unit 181.

(Orbit detection processing)
The trajectory detection unit 161a determines the image area of the image captured by the short-range camera 11 based on the rail center information from the conversion calculation unit 15, and the edge of the determined image area even when the change in luminance is small A rail is detected using a DoG (Difference of Gaussian) filter that can detect a region, and rail information is output to the object detection unit 162a.

  The trajectory detection unit 161b determines the image area of the image captured by the long-distance camera 12 based on the rail center information from the conversion calculation unit 15, and uses a DoG (Difference of Gaussian) filter in the determined image area. The rail is detected and the rail information is output to the object detection unit 162b.

  Detailed processing of the trajectory detectors 161a and 161b will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, gray scale conversion is performed as preprocessing (step S11).

  Next, a processing range is set from input images from the cameras 11 and 12 (step S12). In the case of the short-range camera 11, a rectangular area is set in a range including 100 m and 200 m (corresponding to the determination line). In the case of the long-distance camera 12, a rectangular area is set in a range including 200 m and 400 m (corresponding to the determination line).

  Next, edge extraction processing is performed (step S13). The edge extraction process includes two processes, an edge extraction filter and a binarization process. As the edge extraction filter, an edge is extracted within the processing range using a DoG (Difference of Gaussian) filter.

  Next, only the rail is extracted by performing binarization processing on the edge extraction processing image composed of shading with a threshold value.

  Next, the feature amount is determined for the extracted rail (step S14). The rail extraction area is narrowed down by the following three features. In the first feature, it is determined what percentage of the height of the outer rectangle, that is, the height of the processing range rectangle. In the second feature, it is assumed that the major axis angle when the ellipse is approximated, that is, the rail angle is substantially oriented in the Y-axis direction, and the major axis of the ellipse is within ± 90 degrees with respect to the X axis. Is determined. In the third feature, the rail region is approximated by a vertically long ellipse. The roundness is measured to determine whether the shape is vertically long.

  Next, the center point of the rail is calculated (step S15). From the extracted rail region, the X coordinate of the center point of the rail is obtained by the following process. The Y coordinate of the center point of the rail adopts track information obtained in advance.

  First, the rail region is distributed to the right and left with the X coordinate of the track information obtained in advance as the provisional flat center point. In each of the left rail region and the right rail region, the X coordinate average value of the centroid value of each object region is calculated. Finally, the result of adding the X coordinate average value of the left rail region and the X coordinate average value of the right rail region and dividing by 2 is defined as the final center point X coordinate.

  The center point X coordinate is the center of the rail, and is obtained in order to prevent the camera field of view from changing due to the vibration of the vehicle. The detection area is corrected by obtaining the center of the rail.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the number of processing frames is two or more (step S16). If the number of processing frames is two or more, the center point using the past frame is recalculated (step S17). For example, when there is a frame for which rail detection has failed, the center point of the rail may deviate greatly. For this reason, as a countermeasure, a value obtained by averaging the past frames is used as the center value of the rail. The number of past frames is set by the parameter file.

  When there is an image blur due to vibration, the center point of the rail by the trajectory detection units 161a and 161b is used. When the image is stable, rail center information by the conversion calculation unit 15 is used.

(Object detection processing)
The object detection unit 162a detects an object by performing dynamic binarization processing with a threshold on a region including the trajectory detected by the trajectory detection unit 161a, and outputs object detection information to the integration unit 181. The object detection unit 162b detects an object by performing dynamic binarization processing with a threshold on the region including the trajectory detected by the trajectory detection unit 161b, and outputs the object detection information to the integration unit 181.

  Detailed processing of the object detection units 162a and 162b will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, based on the rail center point obtained by rail detection, a detection area made up of a trapezoid of an object is set (step S21).

  Next, a binarization process using a dynamic threshold is performed on the set detection area (step S22). Specifically, image smoothing processing is performed on the set detection region, a difference image between the obtained smoothed image and the original image is obtained, and binarization processing is performed on the difference image. . By this processing, binarization processing using locally different threshold values becomes possible.

  Next, an opening process is performed (step S23). In other words, isolated points are removed by performing shrinkage and expansion processing on the binarized image.

  Next, a labeling process is performed on the obtained image (step S24). That is, labeling is performed to distinguish connected objects and to remove small objects with a small pixel area.

  Next, in each region from which the connected object and the small object are removed, a feature amount of area (number of pixels in the object region) and brightness (average luminance value in the object region) is calculated (step S25). .

  Next, it is determined whether or not the pixel area of the detected object is greater than or equal to the first threshold, and an obstacle is detected by determining whether or not the average luminance value of the detected object is greater than or equal to the second threshold (step S26). The first threshold value and the second threshold value are determined according to the required specifications of the obstacle to be found.

  Further, the likelihood of the camera determined by the brightness and area (size) of the detected object is calculated (step S27). For example, the likelihood is 1 when it is bright and 0 when it is dark. When the likelihood is small, the probability of being an object is small, and when the likelihood is large, the probability of being an object is large.

  The integration processing unit 18 includes an integration unit 181 and a system processing unit 182. The integration unit 181 corresponds to the obstacle detection unit of the present invention, and trajectory information and object information in three-dimensional coordinates from the short-distance camera 11 and the long-distance camera 12 and information from the three-dimensional laser radar 13 and a conversion calculation unit. The rail center information in three-dimensional coordinates from 15 is integrated, and based on these information, it is determined whether or not an obstacle exists within the building limit L1, and if there is an obstacle, the obstacle detection information Is output.

  Specifically, the integration unit 181 includes a number when a plurality of obstacles are detected from the short distance camera 11 and the long distance camera 12, a sensor ID (far distance = 0 / short distance = 1), an observation time, Address to image itself, position of obstacle (x, y) in image coordinate system, position of obstacle (x, y) in vehicle coordinate system, likelihood of camera, (x, y in image coordinate system) ) Direction blur amount, rail center (x, y) position 100 m ahead in image coordinate system, detection rate of rail 100 m ahead, rail center (x, y) position 200 m ahead in image coordinate system, 200 m ahead Information such as a rail detection rate, a rail center (x, y) position 400 m ahead in the image coordinate system, and a rail detection rate 400 m ahead is input.

  Further, the integration unit 181 includes a number when a plurality of obstacles are detected from the three-dimensional laser radar 13 (3DLR), a sensor ID (3DLR = 2), an observation time, an address to a point cloud of 3DLR, vehicle coordinates. Information such as the position of the obstacle (x, y) in the system, the obstacle (x, y) direction speed in the vehicle coordinate system, the likelihood of 3DLR, and the width and height of the obstacle are input.

  Further, information such as the observation time, the vehicle position from the wheel encoder, the vehicle speed, the post ID, and the kilometer (absolute position) is input to the integration unit 181 as the state quantity of the own vehicle position.

  Further, the integration unit 181 constitutes an obstacle determination unit, and can monitor the track information including the gradient of the rail, the curvature radius R of the rail, the vehicle position information, the range within the building limit L1, the mask information, the monitoring command distance, and the like. Based on the distance or the like, a determination line (100 m, 200 m) is set between the first distance (for example, 70 m) and the second distance (for example, 250 m) from the vehicle 1, and the object detected by the object detection unit 162a is a short distance. It is determined whether or not the camera decision lines (100 m, 200 m) are crossed. If the object crosses the determination line, the object is determined to be an obstacle. The judgment line corresponds to the judgment area of the present invention.

  Further, the integration unit 181 invalidates the detection result obtained by the image processing unit 16 and the laser laser 13 by using the mask information obtained from the mask processing unit 17 according to the distance, the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the traveling route. A mask process is performed.

  The integration unit 181 determines a determination line (400 m) between the third distance (for example, 200 m) and the fourth distance (for example, 450 m) from the vehicle 1 based on the track information, the position information of the vehicle, and the range within the construction limit L1. Is determined, and it is determined whether the object detected by the object detection unit 162b crosses the determination line (400m) for the long-distance camera. If the object crosses the determination line, the object is determined to be an obstacle. to decide. Furthermore, the integration unit 181 includes a confirmation button for invalidating the determined obstacle after the obstacle is determined by the obstacle determination unit.

  The integration unit includes a state estimator 1811, an intersection determination unit (determination unit) 1812, and the like as illustrated in FIG. The state estimator 1811 includes time-series detection information of the image information of the short-distance camera 11 and the long-distance camera 12 from the image processing unit 16 and information from the laser radar 13, wheel counter information, and an arithmetic conversion unit 15. The state quantity of obstacle movement is estimated based on the trajectory information. For example, a Kalman filter is used to estimate the state of motion of the obstacle. The Kalman filter estimates the position and velocity of an object that changes over time from observations with discrete errors.

  The processing of the state estimator 1811 will be described with reference to FIG. First, initialization of numerical values necessary for a series of processes is performed (step S31).

  Next, a loop start process (step S32) is performed. This is an operation of storing the state quantity of the obstacle that changes from moment to moment before newly calculating it, obtaining the current time, and the like.

  Thereafter, data is received from the image processing unit 16 and the three-dimensional laser radar 13 (step S33). At this time, a communication delay occurs due to the connection type of the device, communication / processing load, and the like. Therefore, the distance from the vehicle is determined based on the work of rearranging the received data in time series or the vehicle position information from the counter processing unit 14. Preprocessing such as conversion to a relative position is performed (step S34).

  Further, the time is updated (step S35). In other words, as the vehicle advances forward with time, the position of the object relatively approaches the vehicle. For this reason, the state quantity and the variance covariance of the object at that time are updated using the following equation. However, x is a state quantity, u is an input, f is a state equation, P is a variance-covariance matrix, Q is a process noise, k is a time, and time and updated x and P are represented by-(bar).

このとき、遠い物体と近い物体ではセンサの特性により見え方が異なるために、計測地点により誤差の大きさが異なる。そのため、Ｐの初期値やＱ（さらに後述のＲ）は、センサの分解能を考慮し、計測地点に合わせて値を再計算する（図６の計測誤差計算ブロック）。

At this time, since the appearance differs depending on the sensor characteristics, the magnitude of the error differs depending on the measurement point. Therefore, the initial value and Q of P (and R to be described later) are recalculated according to the measurement point in consideration of the resolution of the sensor (measurement error calculation block in FIG. 6).

  Next, a match determination is performed (step S36). That is, it is determined which of the objects in the estimated state updated by the time matches the image processing result processed by the image processing unit 16 and the result processed by the laser radar processing unit. The determination is performed using a method such as chi-square test or likelihood determination, and the test results are matched in order from the smallest or largest value. In this case, in the case of a test result that is larger (or smaller) than a certain threshold, a method is also used in which the observation result and the obstacle are not matched.

  For example, in the case of a test using the Mahalanobis distance, the following method is used. Let μ denote the difference (observation residual) between the observed amount z of an obstacle and the amount h (\ bar {x}) of the projected obstacle state quantity projected onto the observation state space.

ただし、hは観測方程式である。このとき、観測残差に対する分散共分散行列Skは、以下の式で求められる。ただし、Rは観測ノイズである。

Where h is an observation equation. At this time, the variance-covariance matrix Sk for the observation residual is obtained by the following equation. Where R is observation noise.

このとき、カメラで撮影された画像から検出された支障物の位置を、観測状態空間へ変換するための変換を画角や焦点距離などを踏まえて変換を行う（図６の画像座標⇔距離変換ブロック）。

At this time, the conversion for converting the position of the obstacle detected from the image captured by the camera into the observation state space is performed based on the angle of view, the focal length, and the like (image coordinate-distance conversion in FIG. 6). block).

  By linearly transforming the observation residual μ space using the variance-covariance matrix Sk, the Mahalanobis distance L is calculated by the following formula between the observed quantity that meets all or arbitrary conditions and the known obstacle, and this Consider the observed obstacle and the known obstacle that match from a small combination of values (the closer of the two states in the linearly transformed space).

ただし、ここの閾値Ｌについては、限定的な環境では一定値を与えることも可能であり、場合によっては、距離による誤差を考慮して、Ｐ，Ｑ，Ｒと同様に距離の関数となるように計測誤差計算ブロックを用いて定める。

However, the threshold value L can be given a constant value in a limited environment. In some cases, the threshold value L can be a function of distance in the same manner as P, Q, and R in consideration of errors due to distance. Is determined using a measurement error calculation block.

  Thereafter, in the post-update (step S37), the estimation information is updated using the matching result. First, the weight for updating the state quantity of the obstacle is obtained from the information such as the observation residual and the variance-covariance matrix S using the measurement result. This is obtained, for example, as the optimum Kalman gain K.

Kと観測値zを使って現在時刻の推定へと更新し、ここで得られたxとPが次の時刻の推定された状態量と分散となる。ただし、Hは非線形関数hを一次近似して線形化した係数行列である。

The current time is estimated using K and the observed value z, and x and P obtained here are the estimated state quantity and variance at the next time. Here, H is a coefficient matrix obtained by linearly approximating the nonlinear function h.

トラッキング結果に対して有用性を高めるために後処理（ステップＳ３８）を行う。即ち、まずは予め読み込んでおいたマスクテーブルと照らしあわせて、不要な支障物をトラッキングしつつもキャンセル物体であるような属性を付与するマスク処理を行う（図６のマスク処理ブロック）。

Post-processing (step S38) is performed to increase the usefulness of the tracking result. That is, first, a mask process is performed in which an attribute such as a canceled object is given while tracking an unnecessary obstacle while checking against a previously read mask table (mask process block in FIG. 6).

  Delete it when it is outside the processing range. For example, when an obstacle passes through the vehicle, it is not physically detected after that and is deleted from the memory.

  When the number of obstacles is larger than the specified number of elements, the number of obstacles is deleted until the specified number of elements is reached from the smaller or larger detection rate in order to reduce the impossibility of calculation. For example, the detection rate is likelihood, detection probability, detection frequency, or the like.

  The intersection determination unit 1812 determines the intersection between the obstacle estimated by the state estimator 1811 and the determination line. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the rail R is displayed, and the determination line L (width is 3400 mm) is set 400 m ahead of the vehicle and displayed in green. Further, at the construction limit (image processing range), the obstacle A1 approaches A2 and the equipment B1 approaches B2 as the vehicle moves forward, and approaches the judgment line L. Further, it is regarded as an area where obstacles are detected in a range wider than the building limit range, and it is determined whether the obstacle exists inside or outside the area (detection area determination in FIG. 6). For this determination, for example, calculation can be easily performed by using projective transformation using a homography matrix.

  When the estimated obstacle A3 interferes with the determination line L, an alarm is output. That is, the estimated obstacle A3 can be determined as an obstacle. On the other hand, since the facility B3 does not interfere with the judgment line L, it is not an obstacle and no alarm is output. In addition to the output from the P / I / O 20, the alarm may be, for example, a change in the color of the judgment line from green to red, frame information superimposed on an obstacle on the image, or an output from the P / I / O 20 It is done. It is also possible to expand the warning to sound by using equipment that can produce sound.

  Then, after detecting the obstacle, 30 images before and after the detection are transmitted to the vehicle side as the obstacle detection information 30 seconds later. If the confirmation button is not pressed within 30 seconds after transmitting the obstacle detection information to the vehicle side, an image is output. However, when the confirmation button input for judging that the object currently being tracked from the driver side is not an obstacle is within 30 seconds, the attribute of the canceled object is also given while continuing the tracking. As a result, transmission of the obstacle is canceled. Therefore, even when an obstacle is erroneously detected by image processing, the obstacle can be invalidated by the confirmation button.

  Finally, the result is transmitted to the system processing unit 182 when the obstacle likelihood is greater than a certain value (step S39).

  The system processing unit 182 receives an estimated obstacle position (x, y) on the image from the integration unit 181, attributes (obstacle candidate = blue: 0, obstacle = red: 1, canceled object = white: −1), image coordinates. Rail center (x, y) position 100 m ahead in the system, rail center (x, y) position 200 m ahead in the image coordinate system, rail center (x, y) position 400 m ahead in the image coordinate system, etc. Enter information.

  The driving support system 19 calculates the current position of the vehicle based on the GPS signal from the GPS antenna, the ground element signal from the ground element antenna, and the vehicle speed data from the rotary encoder, and sends the current position information of the vehicle to the system processing unit 152. Output.

  The monitor display unit 21 displays the state of the driving support system 19 and information from the system processing unit 182. The monitor display unit 21 displays image information from the short-distance camera 11 and the long-distance camera 12, information from the three-dimensional laser radar 13, the detection status of the orbit, the detection status of the obstacle, and the determination line L1.

  The camera switcher 22 includes a short-distance camera 11, a long-distance camera 12, and a three-dimensional laser radar 13 disposed in the front position, and a short-distance camera 11, a long-distance camera 12, and a three-dimensional laser radar 13 disposed in the rear position. Switch to operate. The switcher control signal output from the system processing unit is received.

  The video recorder 23 records the content displayed on the monitor display unit 21.

  The mail transmission unit 24 transmits obstacle detection information and the like processed by the system processing unit 182 to the vehicle side. The P / I / O 20 inputs an operation command from the vehicle, a monitoring command for determining which of 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m intersects the obstacle and an input signal of the confirmation button to the system processing unit 182. The object presence information from the system processing unit 182 is output to the vehicle side.

  As described above, according to the obstacle detection system of the embodiment, it is determined whether or not the obstacle exists within the building limits by using the short-range camera 11, the long-range camera 12, and the three-dimensional laser radar 13. Therefore, accurate image data can be obtained by the laser radar without being affected by the weather and sunlight without switching the searchlight irradiation direction.

  Moreover, since a judgment line is set based on the position information of the vehicle, the track information, and the range of the building limit, and an object that interferes with the judgment line is determined as an obstacle, the obstacle can be easily detected.

  Further, the state quantity of the obstacle movement based on the time-series detection information of the image information from the short distance camera 11 and the long distance camera 12 and the information from the three-dimensional laser radar 13, the counter information of the wheel, and the trajectory information. Therefore, even if the object is temporarily lost, the motion is estimated, so that the intersection between the judgment line and the obstacle can be determined.

  Further, the trajectory detection units 161a and 161b detect the trajectory by performing edge region detection processing on the image information from the short-distance camera 11 and the long-distance camera 12, and the object is detected for a predetermined region including the detected trajectory. Since the detection unit 162a162b detects an object by performing dynamic binarization processing using a threshold value, it is possible to accurately detect an object around the trajectory. In addition, since the DoG filter is used, the edge region can be easily detected even when the luminance change is small. In addition, since dynamic binarization processing with blurred brightness is used, an object brighter than the surroundings can be determined as an obstacle without having background information in advance.

  Further, the obstacle detection system according to the embodiment is provided with a short-distance camera 11, a long-distance camera 12, and a three-dimensional laser radar 13 at the front and rear positions of the vehicle, respectively. A diagnosis unit 30 is provided for diagnosing whether the distance camera 11, the distance camera 12, and the three-dimensional laser radar 13 are normal.

  The integration unit 181 indicates that the front short-range camera 11, far-distance camera 12, and three-dimensional laser radar 13 or the rear short-range camera 11, long-distance camera 12, and three-dimensional laser radar 13 are normal by the diagnosis unit. If determined, obstacle detection is performed.

  Further, the monitoring distance may be adjusted by controlling the short-range camera 11, the long-range camera 12, and the three-dimensional laser radar 13 based on the track information including the curve radius and gradient information of each section of the rail. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Contact bar 11 Short-distance camera 12 Long-distance camera 13 Three-dimensional laser radar 14 Counter processing part 15 Conversion arithmetic part 16 Image processing part 17 Mask processing part 18 Integrated processing part 19 Driving support system 20 P / I / O part 21 Monitor display unit 22 Camera switcher 23 Video recorder 24 Mail transmission unit 181 Integration unit 182 System processing unit 1811 State estimator 1812 Intersection determination unit R Rail L Judgment lines A1 to A3 Obstacles B1 to B3 Equipment L1 Within construction limits

Claims (10)

A short-distance photographing unit that is mounted on a vehicle traveling along a track, and obtains image information by photographing a range from the first distance to a second distance farther than the first distance from the vehicle;
A long distance mounted on the vehicle to obtain image information by photographing a range from a third distance between the first distance and the second distance to a fourth distance farther than the second distance. A shooting section;
The laser is mounted on the vehicle and radiates a laser beam from the vehicle to a range from a fifth distance between the first distance and the third distance to a sixth distance between the third distance and the second distance. Laser radar to
Based on the image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit and information from the laser radar, it is determined whether or not an obstacle exists within a building limit. An obstacle detection unit that outputs object detection information;
An obstacle detection system comprising: The obstacle detection unit is
A position information detector for detecting a current position of the vehicle;
A determination area is set based on the position information from the position information detection unit, the rail gradient, the track information including the radius of curvature, the range of the building limit, the mask information, the monitoring command distance, and the monitorable distance, and the determination area is obstructed. An obstacle determination unit for determining the obstructed object as the obstacle;
After the obstacle is determined to be an obstacle by the obstacle determination unit, a confirmation button for invalidating the determined obstacle,
The obstacle detection system according to claim 1, further comprising: The obstacle determination unit is based on the time-series detection information of the image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit and the information from the laser radar, wheel counter information, and the trajectory information. A state estimator for estimating the amount of motion of the obstacle;
A determination unit that performs various determinations related to the obstacle estimated by the state estimator;
The obstacle detection system according to claim 2, further comprising: A trajectory detection unit that detects a trajectory by performing an edge region detection process on the image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit;
An object that is detected by performing dynamic binarization processing with a threshold on a predetermined region including the trajectory detected by the trajectory detection unit, and the detected object is output to the obstacle detection unit as an obstacle candidate A detection unit;
The obstacle detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:   The center of the trajectory is calculated based on the trajectory information including the trajectory gradient and the radius of curvature, the two-dimensional coordinates of the trajectory are converted into three-dimensional coordinates, and the center information of the trajectory in the three-dimensional coordinates is output to the obstacle detection unit. The obstacle detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a conversion calculation unit. Providing the short-distance photographing unit, the long-distance photographing unit, and the laser radar in each of the front and rear of the vehicle;
A diagnostic unit for diagnosing whether the near-field imaging unit, the long-distance imaging unit, and the laser radar of each of the front and rear positions are normal,
The obstacle detection unit is configured such that the front-side short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit and the laser radar or the rear-end short-distance photographing unit, the long-distance photographing unit, and the laser radar are the diagnostic unit. The obstacle detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein obstacle detection is performed when it is determined that the condition is normal.   3. A display unit for displaying image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit, information from the laser radar, trajectory detection, obstacle detection status, and the judgment area. The obstacle detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   The obstacle detection system according to claim 7, further comprising a recording unit that records contents displayed on the display unit.   The obstacle detection system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising: a transmission unit that transmits image information when the obstacle is detected to a monitoring device. A railway vehicle that travels along a track,
A short-distance photographing unit that obtains image information by photographing a range from the first distance to a second distance farther than the first distance from the vehicle;
A long-distance photographing unit that obtains image information by photographing a range from a third distance between the first distance and the second distance to a fourth distance farther than the second distance from the vehicle;
A laser radar for irradiating a laser from the vehicle to a range from a fifth distance between the first distance and the third distance to a sixth distance between the third distance and the second distance;
Based on the image information from the short-distance photographing unit and the long-distance photographing unit and information from the laser radar, it is determined whether or not an obstacle exists within a building limit. An obstacle detection unit that outputs object detection information;
A railway vehicle comprising:

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