Phase a) PROMETHEUS 1993 – 1995
H.1.2 Integrated Transputer Systems
Standard Mercedes 500 SEL (1992, W-140):
- Dimensions L, W, H: 5.21 m, 1.89 m, 1.5 m
- Axle distance a: 3.14 m
- vehicle mass: ~ 2490 kg
- engine power: 240 KW
- max. speed: 250 km/h
- el. power generator: 12 V, 1.4 KW (main engine)
- addit. power generator: 24 V, ~ 2 KW (main engine).
Installations for autonomous operation:
Modified. hydraulic brake force amplification: ~ 100 bar;
brushless torque motor for steer actuation, on axle of steering wheel;
2 gaze control platforms with 2 finger-cameras.
Personnel required:
- front left: safety driver (always in charge)
- rear left: computer system operator
- Front right seat available for a guest.
The computer system encompassed up to 60 transputers plus 1 PC as human interface.
a. Cockpit with front cameras in front of rear-view mirror (center top of windscreen); monitor and keyboard in front of right seat.
b. Rear view of items 6 and 7 above (in trunk)
c. work station of computer system operator.
Phase b) CLEOPATRA-project 1994 – 1996
- Expernal appearance unchanged
-
Radar sensor added for redundant object detection & tracking in ‘Hybrid Adaptive Cruise Control’ (HACC)
- Only front camera set active with Power-PC components.
- Transputers for image sequence processing replaced by Power-PC components (601)
- Image evaluation rate doubled to 25 Hz.
For results see A.3.8 LongDistanceDrive VaMP 1995
Phase c) EMS – vision 1997 – 2004
Radar sensor added for redundant object detection & tracking in ‘Hybrid Adaptive Cruise Control’ (HACC)
Fusion of radar & higher-resolution image evaluation:
- Radar sensor (77 GHz), all-weather capability, range from 2 up to 130 m; relatively many false alarms and poor lateral resolution.
- Cameras with 1 mrad / pixel and 0.25 mrad / pixel lateral resolution yield at L = 100 m look-ahead range: 10 resp. 2.5 cm lateral extension per pixel.
- Dual-Pentium COTS-PC for joint interpretation.
References
Behringer R (1994). Road Recognition from Multifocal Vision. In Masaki (ed.): Proc. of Int. Symp. on Intell. Veh. ’94, Paris, pp 302-7
v Holt V (1994). Tracking and Classification of Overtaking Vehicles on Autobahnen. Proc. of Int. Symp. on Intelligent Vehicles ’94, Paris, pp 314-319
Maurer M, Behringer R, Dickmanns D, Hildebrandt T, Thomanek F, Schiehlen J, Dickmanns ED (1994). VaMoRs-P An Advanced Platform for Visual Autonomous Road Vehicle Guidance. SPIE Conference ‚Mobile Robots IX‘, pp 239-248
Thomanek F, Dickmanns ED, Dickmanns D (1994). Multiple Object Recognition and Scene Interpretation for Autonomous Road Vehicle Guidance. In Masaki (ed): Proc. of Int. Symp. on Intelligent Vehicles ’94, Paris, pp 231-236 Abstract
Thomanek F, Dickmanns ED (1995). Autonomous Road Vehicle Guidance in Normal Traffic. Proc. ACCV ’95, Singapore
Thomanek F (1996). Visuelle Erkennung und Zustandsschätzung von mehreren Straßenfahrzeugen zur autonomen Fahrzeugführung. Dissertation, UniBwM / LRT. Kurzfassung
Hofmann U, Rieder A, Dickmanns ED (2000). EMS-Vision: Application to Hybrid Adaptive Cruise Control. Proc. Int. Symp. on Intelligent Vehicles (IV’2000), Dearborn (MI) pdf
Dickmanns ED (2007). Dynamic Vision for Perception and Control of Motion. Springer-Verlag, (Sections 9.2 and 11.3) Content