Intelligent Transportation Systems Ieee Its Society Newsletter Electronic Newsletter Subscription Itss Newsletter Editorial Board Information for Contributors the Ieee Intelligent Transportation Systems Society Society News from the Editor

Early detection of overtaking vehicles is an important task for vision-based driver assistance systems. Techniques utilizing image motion are likely to suffer from spurious image structures caused by shadows and illumination changes, let alone the aperture problem. To achieve reliable detection of overtaking vehicles, we have developed a robust detection method which integrates dynamic scene modeling, hypothesis testing and robust information fusion. A robust fusion algorithm based on variable bandwidth density fusion and multiscale mean shift is introduced to obtain reliable motion estimation against various image noise. To further reduce detection error, we model the dynamics of road scenes and exploit useful constraints induced by the temporal coherency in vehicle overtaking. The proposed solution is integrated into an on-board monocular vision system for obstacle detection. Test results have shown superior performance achieved by the new method. Page(s): 401-414 Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TITS.2006.883936 AbstractPlus — Full Text: PDF (845 KB) Rights and Permissions • DGPS-based Cooperative Collision Warning – Feasibility Framework with an Example, by Jihua Huang and Han-Shue Tan Abstract: The vehicle collision warning system is an important research and application subject for vehicle safety. Most of this topic’s research focuses on autonomous collision warning systems where each vehicle detects potential collisions based entirely on the information measured by itself. Recently, an alternative scenario has arisen. This scenario is known as cooperative driving, where either the vehicle or the infrastructure can communicate its location, intention or other information to surrounding vehicles or nearby infrastructure. Since installing a low-cost Global Positioning System (GPS) unit is becoming a common practice in vehicle applications, its implications in cooperative driving and vehicle safety deserve a closer investigation. Furthermore, future trajectory prediction may lead to a straightforward approach to detect potential collisions, yet its effectiveness has not been studied. This paper explores the engineering feasibility of a future-trajectory-prediction based cooperative collision warning system (CWS), when vehicles are equipped with a relatively simple differential GPS (DGPS) unit, and relatively basic motion sensors. The goals of the paper are twofold: providing an engineering argument of possible functional architectures of such systems; and presenting a plausible example of the proposed future-trajectory-based design, which estimates and communicates vehicle positions, and predicts and processes future trajectories for collision decision making. In this paper, common GPS problems such as blockage and multi-path, as well as common communication problems such as dropout and delays are assumed. However, specific choices of GPS devices and communication protocol or systems are not the focus of this paper. The vehicle collision warning system is an important research and application subject for vehicle safety. Most of this topic’s research focuses on autonomous collision warning systems where each vehicle detects potential collisions based entirely on the information measured by itself. Recently, an alternative scenario has arisen. This scenario is known as cooperative driving, where either the vehicle or the infrastructure can communicate its location, intention or other information to surrounding vehicles or nearby infrastructure. Since installing a low-cost Global Positioning System (GPS) unit is becoming a common practice in vehicle applications, its implications in cooperative driving and vehicle safety deserve a closer investigation. Furthermore, future trajectory prediction may lead to a straightforward approach to detect potential collisions, yet its effectiveness has not been studied. This paper explores the engineering feasibility of a future-trajectory-prediction based cooperative collision warning system (CWS), when vehicles are equipped with a relatively simple differential GPS (DGPS) unit, and relatively basic motion sensors. The goals of the paper are twofold: providing an engineering argument of possible functional architectures of such systems; and presenting a plausible example of the proposed future-trajectory-based design, which estimates and communicates vehicle positions, and predicts and processes future trajectories for collision decision making. In this paper, common GPS problems such as blockage and multi-path, as well as common communication problems such as dropout and delays are assumed. However, specific choices of GPS devices and communication protocol or systems are not the focus of this paper.