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EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems
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Embedded Vehicle Speed Estimation System Using an Asynchronous Temporal Contrast Vision Sensor

EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systemsvolume 2007, Article number: 082174 (2007) | Download Citation

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Abstract

This article presents an embedded multilane traffic data acquisition system based on an asynchronous temporal contrast vision sensor, and algorithms for vehicle speed estimation developed to make efficient use of the asynchronous high-precision timing information delivered by this sensor. The vision sensor features high temporal resolution with a latency of less than 100 μ s, wide dynamic range of 120 dB of illumination, and zero-redundancy, asynchronous data output. For data collection, processing and interfacing, a low-cost digital signal processor is used. The speed of the detected vehicles is calculated from the vision sensor's asynchronous temporal contrast event data. We present three different algorithms for velocity estimation and evaluate their accuracy by means of calibrated reference measurements. The error of the speed estimation of all algorithms is near zero mean and has a standard deviation better than 3% for both traffic flow directions. The results and the accuracy limitations as well as the combined use of the algorithms in the system are discussed.

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Affiliations

  1. Austrian Research Centers GmbH - ARC, Vienna, 1220, Austria

    • D Bauer
    • , AN Belbachir
    • , N Donath
    • , G Gritsch
    • , B Kohn
    • , M Litzenberger
    • , C Posch
    • , P Schön
    •  & S Schraml

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D Bauer.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Keywords

  • Temporal Resolution
  • Traffic Flow
  • Contrast Event
  • Electronic Circuit
  • High Temporal Resolution