JPH09113635A - Device for automatically discriminating natural state change of land surface - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically judge and discriminate the natural state change of the ground surface with a computer by directly catching the change from the picture of the surface taken with a camera and processing and analyzing the picture. SOLUTION: The picture of the ground surface in an area of about 1-m square is taken with a camera 1 fixed at a height of 3-6m from the ground surface at regular time intervals of several tens of seconds to several minutes and sent to a picture processor and the processor prepares a histogram. Then a histogram which is resemble to the newly prepared histogram by a fixed value or more is selected by comparing the new histogram with the histograms of various standard pictures of the ground surface taken and stored in advance when the ground surface is dried, wet, covered with snow, frozen, covered with sherbet-like snow, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Industrial application] The image of the ground surface captured by a camera is analyzed by an image processing / analyzing device and compared / classified / judged / identified using a computer. We identify the changing state such as "wet, snowfall, freezing, sherbet-like snowfall", and output it as an electrical signal as image identification information that is close to the results seen by human eyes. All the above operations will be executed automatically. With this automatically obtained identification signal, road managers, railway managers, airport managers, river managers, forest managers, dam managers, and port managers will be able to perform patrols, snow plow dispatches, chemical spraying, and water spraying. Snow facilities, automatic driving of road heating, monitoring at remote offices, storage of information, prediction of freezing and snow in the very near future, prediction of avalanche in mountainous areas, prediction of landslides, etc. Is available.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a modulated light ray such as infrared rays is irradiated onto the ground surface from 2 to 6 m above the ground, and the reflectance of the light ray reflected on the ground surface is measured to obtain the road surface temperature, temperature, and road surface. It was intended to collect factors such as water content as a criterion and combine indirect factors to estimate "dryness, wetness, freezing, snowfall," etc. While the present invention identifies the actual ground surface by capturing it with an image, it is a speculative determination that the result will be like this until now by combining indirect elements. It did not match the condition of the ground surface and was not practical.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Although it is attempted to discriminate a change in the ground surface due to a natural phenomenon by a combination of indirect elements, the reality is that there is too much discrepancy between theory and reality due to the natural phenomenon.

[0004]

[Means for solving the problem] Using the camera, the changes in the ground surface due to natural phenomena are directly captured by image processing and analysis, and the computer automatically determines and identifies.

[0005]

[Operation] With a camera fixed at 3 to 6 m above the ground surface, an image of about 1 m square on the ground surface is captured by an image capturing device at intervals of several tens of seconds to several minutes, and various images are processed by an image processing device. Processing is performed, and a gradation analysis of 256 gradations of white to black is performed,
Make a histogram. Histograms of various standard images such as "dry, wet, snowfall, freezing, sherbet-like snowfall" on the ground surface, which were captured in advance and stored in the computer's storage device, and a histogram of the newly captured image. , By calculating each, and selecting a histogram that is similar to a certain value or more, it is automatically judged and identified as "dry, wet, snowfall, freezing, sherbet-like snowfall", etc., and output. The camera is equipped with an auto iris (electronic iris) mechanism that responds sensitively to changes in brightness and automatically performs iris operation to capture images of constant brightness. At night, the illuminance meter automatically turns on the light, and at the same time, the standard image for night is switched. A sensor is fixed next to the camera, and if a person or car invades the measurement area, it will detect this and stop capturing the image. This makes it possible to capture only the image of the ground surface.

[0006]

[First Embodiment] First, using a camera, an image capturing device, an image processing / analyzing device, and a computer, a standard image for daytime "dry / wet / snow / freezing / sherbet-like snow" and a similar image for nighttime Is stored in the storage device of the computer. Next, create the histograms of the standard images above and store them in the computer's storage device as histograms corresponding to various states.
Then, the newly captured image is applied to an image processing / analysis device to create a histogram. If it is daytime, five types of histograms for daytime are called from the storage device, compared with the newly created histogram one by one, the most similar histogram is selected, and the determination / identification signal is output. Take out. However, it is impossible that the same histogram is created due to relations such as time difference.
% -80% level, and if they are similar to each other by a certain value or more, they are judged as the same state and judged / identified.
It gives a signal such as "wet ...". This series of operations
It runs automatically every second to a few minutes. At night, exactly the same thing happens except the lights are on. When taking a picture of the ground surface with a camera, at the same time, the temperature of the ground surface is measured with a radiation thermometer and stored in a computer storage device. At the same time, the current ground surface temperature is displayed and output. In addition, when a person, automobile, etc. is invading / passing through the measurement target area, the sensor attached next to the camera
Stop capturing the image and start capturing the image when there are no intruders. If an intruder stays in the measurement area and a certain time (10 to 20 minutes) elapses, "abnormal"
It emits a signal and reminds intruders with a rotating light. When the intruder is no longer detected, the image is taken again and a series of operations is repeated. The signal output by the above series of operations is sent to the manned office by the transmission device, and "dry / wet ..." is displayed on the lamp, and at the same time, the buzzer sounds when the state changes. I nod. It is also possible to store and store this signal in an optical disk device etc. and use it as a reference material at a later date. In addition to this, with a still image transmission device, you can monitor on the monitor display of the office and store / save the image. In addition, at the site, we will automatically operate the sprinkler snow melting facility and the road heating facility, and start watering and road heating after the snow starts on the ground surface,
If there is no snow on the ground surface due to water spraying or road heating, this will be stopped at 1 o'clock, and effective intermittent snow sprinkling and automatic operation of intermittent road heating will be possible, which is effective for resource saving.

[0007]

As described above, the image captured and taken by the camera is analyzed by the image processing / analyzing device for the gray scale of 256 gradations of white to black, and the comparison and classification with the histogram of the standard image is carried out to the computer. Since it is judged and identified by, very accurate results can be obtained. In addition, this series of operations are all executed automatically.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Is a camera 2. Is an image capturing device 3. Is an image processing and analysis device 4. Is a storage device for storing images and histograms. Is the computer 6. Input / output interface device 7. Is an illuminometer 8. Is a radiation thermometer 9. Is a foreign matter intrusion sensor 10. Is a signal output device 11. Is the ground surface

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A surface image of a ground surface is captured by using a camera, image processing and analysis is performed by an image processing device, and comparison, classification, judgment and identification are performed by a computer, and the surface of the ground surface is observed by a natural phenomenon. Identify the change in state and output the result. All the above operations are performed automatically.