High-Speed Obstacle Detection for Automated Highway Applications

Abstract

Highway obstacle detection is a challenging problem. Highways present an unknown and dynamic environment with real-time constraints. In addition, the high speeds of travel force a system to detect objects at long ranges. Although there are a number of methods that can successfully detect moving vehicles, the more difficult problem of finding small, static road debris such as tires or crates remains unsolved. Systems such as the Automated Highway System (AHS) which demand high levels of safety are not feasible unless these critical problems are addressed. Although the problem of detecting static obstacles has been tackled in both the crosscountry and indoor mobile robot navigation literature, these systems have operated at low speeds (5 - 10 mph or less) and short range. This thesis will improve on the current state-of-the-art, by demonstrating how small static road debris can be safely detected at long distances and high speeds. In particular, it will focus on using two sensor modaliti...