Drivers of heavy goods vehicles are not able to survey the whole surrounding area of their vehicle due to large blind spot regions. This paper shows how catadioptric cameras-a combination of cameras and mirrors-can be used to survey the surrounding area of vehicles. Four such cameras were mounted on a truck-trailer combination, and the images are combined such that obstacles are visible in an image presented to the driver. This image is a bird's eye view of the vehicle. Additionally, corridors indicating the path of motion of the vehicle are overlaid to the resulting image. To compute those corridors, a mathematical description of the path of motion is derived. Such a system does not only support the driver during maneuvering tasks but also increases safety of driving large vehicles.Index Terms-Automotive vision, catadioptric cameras, omnidirectional vision, panoramic vision, single-track model.
Omnidirectional cameras are leaving the scientific labs to be used in market applications. Many such application areas like robotics and automotive need very accurate models of the image formation. When a car or robot motion is controlled by an omnidirectional camera system, the exact control of action depends on a reliable calibration. An unprecise calibration can cause costly or hazardous consequences for man and machine. Therefore, we developed an omnidirectional camera model that can deal with parabolic and hyperbolic mirrors in combination with distorting lenses. It has the adequate complexity to allow both, precision and robustness of the calibration process. We successfully applied this model to our driver assistance systems of future light and heavy trucks.
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