Monocular vision for collision avoidance in vehicles

Abstract

An experimental study facilitated by Ford Global Technologies, Inc. on the potential substitution of stereovision systems in car automation with monocular vision systems. The monocular system pairs a camera and passive lens with an active lens. Most active lenses require linear actuating systems to adjust the optical parameters of the system but this experiment employed an Optotune focus tunable lens adjusted by a Lorentz actuator for a much more reliable system. Tests were conducted in a lab environment to capture images of environmental objects at different distances from the system, pass those images through an image processing algorithm operating a high-pass filter to separate in-focus aspects of the image from out-of focus ones. Although the system is in the early phases of testing, monocular vision shows the ability to replace stereovision system. However, additional testing must be done to acclimate the apparatus to environmental factors, minimize the processing speed, and redesign the system for portability.