Automotive Lighting System Synchronization for Lane Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) struggle to accurately differentiate between road lanes marked on the ground and projected road markings, leading to safety issues due to confusion in image recognition, especially in low-light conditions.
Innovation Solution
A lighting system that synchronizes the operation of an image capture device and a lighting module using a pulse light beam, allowing the image processing unit to differentiate between lanes marked on the road and projected road markings by filtering pulsed light zones and non-pulsed zones, ensuring accurate lane detection and control commands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If the lighting module projects road markings on the road continuously, then the driver can see lane guidance information, but the image capture device cannot differentiate between projected lines and actual road lanes
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting module emits light in periodic pulses rather than continuously. The image capture device is synchronized to capture images during the intervals between pulses. This temporal separation allows the system to distinguish between projected markings (present only during pulse emission) and actual road lanes (always present), resolving the contradiction between visibility and detection accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary synchronization between the lighting module and image capture device before actual operation. The control unit pre-configures the timing so that the image capture device knows when to activate based on the pulse timing signals from the lighting module. This ensures that images are captured at the correct moments when projected markings are absent, maintaining both visibility and detection precision
2Productivity
If the image capture device operates continuously to capture road images, then lane detection can be performed, but the projected road markings cannot be differentiated from actual lanes
Solution Approach 1:
The image capture device operates periodically rather than continuously, synchronized with the pulse timing of the lighting module. Images are captured during intervals when the lighting module is not emitting pulses, ensuring that only actual road lanes are visible in the captured images. This maintains continuous lane detection capability while preventing information confusion
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit receives timing signals from the lighting module and uses this feedback to synchronize the image capture device operation. This closed-loop synchronization ensures that the image capture device always operates at the correct moments when projected markings are absent, maintaining detection accuracy without continuous operation
3Measurement precision
If the lighting module uses pulse light beam to project road markings, then projected markings can be differentiated from road lanes, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit integrates multiple functions: it controls the lighting module pulse emission, generates timing signals, synchronizes the image capture device, and processes image data. By merging these functions into a single control unit, the system achieves precise differentiation between projected markings and road lanes while minimizing the increase in overall system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a lighting system 200 of an automotive vehicle comprising: —an image capture device (205) configured to acquire an image (I) of a road (R) of travel of the vehicle, said road (R) comprising lanes marked on the road (110); —a lighting module (215) configured to project road markings on the road (120); wherein said lighting system (200) is configured to filter the projected road markings (120) on the road compared to the lanes marked (110) on the road.