Headlamp Camera Self-Calibration for Vibration Drift Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The calibration of cameras inside vehicle headlamps tends to drift due to vibrations and component tolerances, leading to reduced performance in obstacle detection.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle headlamp system with a camera calibration system that includes a reference mark on the cover lens, an adjustment device, and a control device to automatically calibrate the camera's spatial orientation, ensuring it remains in a predetermined target position.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a camera is disposed inside the housing for obstacle detection, then the obstacle detection capability is improved, but the calibration drifts away due to vibrations and tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the camera repeatedly captures images of a reference mark, and the control device calculates the position of the reference mark in each image. Based on this feedback information, the control device commands the adjustment device to modify the camera's spatial orientation, continuously correcting calibration drift and maintaining accurate obstacle detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-calibration automatically without external intervention. The camera itself captures images of the reference mark, and the control device processes these images to determine calibration corrections. This self-service approach allows the system to compensate for vibrations and tolerances autonomously, maintaining measurement precision while preserving obstacle detection reliability.
2Device complexity
If software algorithms are used to reduce performance loss from calibration drift, then the complexity is reduced, but the drift must be within an acceptable area to compensate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex software algorithms with a simpler optical-mechanical solution. Instead of using sophisticated computational methods to compensate for calibration drift, the system uses a physical reference mark and an adjustment device that mechanically repositions the camera. This substitution reduces device complexity while improving reliability by allowing larger calibration drifts to be corrected within acceptable areas.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle headlamp includes: (i) a housing and cover lens, (ii) an obstacle detection device including a camera, for capturing images, and (iii) a camera calibration system for automatically calibrating the spatial orientation of the camera. The system keeps the camera in a predetermined target position and includes (a) an adjustment device for adjusting the spatial orientation of the camera within the housing, (b) a reference mark arranged in the housing, and (c) a control device. Each image has a constant predetermined reference mark position sector (PRMPS), and the camera is in the target position when the reference mark is arranged within the PRMPS of the images. The control device receives the images captured by the camera and controls the adjustment device to remove the deviation from the target position when the reference mark is outside the PRMPS of the images in a non-target position.