Insect-vision inspired collision warning vision processor for automobiles

Abstract

FeatureDigital Object Identifier 10. 1109 /MCAS.2008 Vision is expected to play important roles for car safety enhancement. Imaging systems can be used to enlarging the vision field of the driver. For instance capturing and displaying views of hidden areas around the car which the driver can analyze for safer decision-making. Vision systems go a step further. They can autonomously analyze the visual information, identify dangerous situations and prompt the delivery of warning signals. For instance in case of road lane departure, if an overtaking car is in the blind spot, if an object is approaching within collision course, etc. Processing capabilities are also needed for applications viewing the car interior such as "intelligent airbag systems" that base deployment decisions on passenger features.On-line processing of visual information for car safety involves multiple sensors and views, huge amount of data per view and large frame rates. The associated computational load may be prohibitive for conventional processing architectures. Dedicated systems with embedded local processing capabilities may be needed to confront the challenges. This paper describes a dedicated sensory-processing architecture for collision warning which is inspired by insect vision. Particularly, the paper relies on the exploitation of the knowledge about the behavior of Locusta Migratoria to develop dedicated chips and systems which are integrated into model cars as well as into a commercial car (Volvo XC90) and tested to deliver collision warnings in real traffic scenarios.Authorized licensed use limited to: Newcastle University. Downloaded on March 16,2010 at 10:30:53 EDT from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Approaching object detector mouse retina circuit model analysis and implementation on cellular sensor‐processor array

“…Another technique was learned from Locusta Migratoria, where the speed and direction of the edge displacements in the projected image are measured, and if they exceed a certain threshold, the sensor detects the approaching object . The method was deeply analyzed and even a special purpose approaching object detector chip was designed , in the framework of the LOCUST European FP6 project . The chip could generate warning signals before 0.5 to 1 s before a collision in traffic circumstances .…”

“…Extensive neural studies showed that some of the largest neurons in the Locust brain are dedicated to the collision prediction task . After successful identification, measurement, modeling, characterization of this neural circuit, a technical team built and verified a visual sensor‐processor chip for automotive application to detect collision threat applying the same principles that the brain system of the Locust does.…”

Biological-Vision Inspired Dsa System for Uavs

“…The knowledge of the neural circuitry can be used here to construct artificial vision systems for DSA. (Cembrano, et al, 2008) Natural vision systems have been improved through millennia of evolution and are more robust and efficient than artificial counterparts. Many insects rely on vision to control its own movements and observe that of others around it.…”

Implementation and Validation of a Looming Object Detector Model Derived from Mammalian Retinal Circuit

“…As it turned out, some of the largest neurons in the Locust brain are dedicated to this task [1]. After successful identification, measurement, modeling, characterization of this neural circuit of the locust, a technical team built and verified a visual sensor-processor chip for automotive application, which could detect collision threat [2] applying the same principles what the brain system of the Locust does.…”

“…Other advantage of the looming sensor device is that it makes possible to predict the architecture of a higher level neural circuit, which evaluate the output of the modeled ganglion cells. In the future, the continuation of these studies may lead to a micro sensor devicessimilar to the mentioned Locust collision warning chip [2] -which can call the attention to approaching objects.…”