Generated Trajectory of Extended Lateral Guided Sensor Steering Mechanism for Steered Autonomous Vehicles in Real World Environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Takita ◽  

This paper discusses the generated trajectory of an extended lateral guided sensor steering mechanism (SSM) method for a steered autonomous vehicle moving in a real world environment. In a previous study, an extended SSM was applied to the Smart Dump 9 and AR Chair robots for following preset waypoints on a map. These studies showed only the schematic idea of the method; the precise performance of the generated trajectory was not shown. This paper compares the Smart Dump 9 robot with a newly developed AR Skipper robot; these robots participated in the Tsukuba Challenge in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Finally, experimental data from the Tsukuba Challenge 2016 demonstrates the advantages of the extended SSM and developed control system.

Author(s):  
Heungseok Chae ◽  
Yonghwan Jeong ◽  
Hojun Lee ◽  
Jongcherl Park ◽  
Kyongsu Yi

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an active lane change control algorithm for autonomous vehicles with human factor considerations. Lane changes need to be performed considering both driver acceptance and safety with surrounding vehicles. Therefore, autonomous driving systems need to be designed based on an analysis of human driving behavior. In this article, manual driving characteristics are investigated using real-world driving test data. In lane change situations, interactions with surrounding vehicles were mainly investigated. And safety indices were developed with kinematic analysis. A safety indices–based lane change decision and control algorithm has been developed. In order to improve safety, stochastic predictions of both the ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles have been conducted with consideration of sensor noise and model uncertainties. The desired driving mode is decided to cope with all lane changes on highway. To obtain desired reference and constraints, motion planning for lane changes has been designed taking stochastic prediction-based safety indices into account. A stochastic model predictive control with constraints has been adopted to determine vehicle control inputs: the steering angle and the longitudinal acceleration. The proposed active lane change algorithm has been successfully implemented on an autonomous vehicle and evaluated via real-world driving tests. Safe and comfortable lane changes in high-speed driving on highways have been demonstrated using our autonomous test vehicle.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Sungil Ham ◽  
Junhyuck Im ◽  
Minjun Kim ◽  
Kuk Cho

For autonomous driving, a control system that supports precise road maps is required to monitor the operation status of autonomous vehicles in the research stage. Such a system is also required for research related to automobile engineering, sensors, and artificial intelligence. The design of Google Maps and other map services is limited to the provision of map support at 20 levels of high-resolution precision. An ideal map should include information on roads, autonomous vehicles, and Internet of Things (IOT) facilities that support autonomous driving. The aim of this study was to design a map suitable for the control of autonomous vehicles in Gyeonggi Province in Korea. This work was part of the project “Building a Testbed for Pilot Operations of Autonomous Vehicles”. The map design scheme was redesigned for an autonomous vehicle control system based on the “Easy Map” developed by the National Geography Center, which provides free design schema. In addition, a vector-based precision map, including roads, sidewalks, and road markings, was produced to provide content suitable for 20 levels. A hybrid map that combines the vector layer of the road and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) orthographic map was designed to facilitate vehicle identification. A control system that can display vehicle and sensor information based on the designed map was developed, and an environment to monitor the operation of autonomous vehicles was established. Finally, the high-precision map was verified through an accuracy test and driving data from autonomous vehicles.


Author(s):  
Adam R. Short ◽  
Zachary Mimlitz ◽  
Douglas L. Van Bossuyt

Autonomous systems operating in dangerous and hard-to-reach environments such as defense systems deployed into enemy territory, petroleum installations running in remote arctic and off-shore environments, or space exploration systems operating on Mars and further out in the solar system often are designed with a wide operating envelope and deployed with control systems that are designed to both protect the system and complete mission objectives, but only when the on-the-ground environment matches the expected and designed for environment. This can lead to overly conservative operating strategies such as preventing a rover on Mars from exploring a scientifically rich area due to potential hazards outside of the original operating envelope and can lead to unanticipated failures such as the loss of underwater autonomous vehicles operating in Earth’s oceans. This paper presents an iterative method that links computer simulation of operations in unknown and dangerous environments with conceptual design of systems and development of control system algorithms. The Global to Local Path Finding Design and Operation Exploration (GLPFDOE) method starts by generating a general mission plan from low resolution environmental information taken from remote sensing data (e.g.: satellites, plane fly-overs, telescope observations, etc.) and then develops a detailed path plan from simulated higher-resolution data collected “in situ” during simulator runs. GLPFDOE attempts to maximize system survivability and scientific or other mission objective yield through iterating on control system algorithms and system design within an in-house-developed physics-based autonomous vehicle and terrain simulator. GLPFDOE is best suited for autonomous systems that cannot have easy human intervention during operations such as in the case of robotic exploration reaching deeper into space where communications delays become unacceptably large and the quality of a priori knowledge of the environment becomes lower fidelity. Additionally, in unknown extraterrestrial environments, a variety of unexpected hazards will be encountered that must to be avoided and areas of scientific interest will be found that must be explored. Existing exploratory platforms such as the Mars Exploratory Rovers (MERs) Curiosity and Opportunity either operate in environments that are sufficiently removed from immediate danger or take actions slowly enough that the signal delay between the system and Earth-based operators is not too great to allow for human intervention in hazardous scenarios. Using the GLPFDOE methodology, an autonomous exploratory system can be developed that may have a higher likelihood of survivability, can accomplish more scientific mission objectives thus increasing scientific yield, and can decrease risk of mission-ending system damage. A case study is presented in which an autonomous Mars Exploration Rover (MER) is generated and then refined in a simulator using the GLPFDOE method. Development of the GLPFDOE methodology allows for the execution of more complex missions by autonomous systems in remote and inaccessible environments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-242
Author(s):  
Siyuan Chen ◽  
Minchen Wei

Color appearance models have been extensively studied for characterizing and predicting the perceived color appearance of physical color stimuli under different viewing conditions. These stimuli are either surface colors reflecting illumination or self-luminous emitting radiations. With the rapid development of augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), it is critically important to understand how the color appearance of the objects that are produced by AR and MR are perceived, especially when these objects are overlaid on the real world. In this study, nine lighting conditions, with different correlated color temperature (CCT) levels and light levels, were created in a real-world environment. Under each lighting condition, human observers adjusted the color appearance of a virtual stimulus, which was overlaid on a real-world luminous environment, until it appeared the whitest. It was found that the CCT and light level of the real-world environment significantly affected the color appearance of the white stimulus, especially when the light level was high. Moreover, a lower degree of chromatic adaptation was found for viewing the virtual stimulus that was overlaid on the real world.


Author(s):  
Mhafuzul Islam ◽  
Mashrur Chowdhury ◽  
Hongda Li ◽  
Hongxin Hu

Vision-based navigation of autonomous vehicles primarily depends on the deep neural network (DNN) based systems in which the controller obtains input from sensors/detectors, such as cameras, and produces a vehicle control output, such as a steering wheel angle to navigate the vehicle safely in a roadway traffic environment. Typically, these DNN-based systems in the autonomous vehicle are trained through supervised learning; however, recent studies show that a trained DNN-based system can be compromised by perturbation or adverse inputs. Similarly, this perturbation can be introduced into the DNN-based systems of autonomous vehicles by unexpected roadway hazards, such as debris or roadblocks. In this study, we first introduce a hazardous roadway environment that can compromise the DNN-based navigational system of an autonomous vehicle, and produce an incorrect steering wheel angle, which could cause crashes resulting in fatality or injury. Then, we develop a DNN-based autonomous vehicle driving system using object detection and semantic segmentation to mitigate the adverse effect of this type of hazard, which helps the autonomous vehicle to navigate safely around such hazards. We find that our developed DNN-based autonomous vehicle driving system, including hazardous object detection and semantic segmentation, improves the navigational ability of an autonomous vehicle to avoid a potential hazard by 21% compared with the traditional DNN-based autonomous vehicle driving system.


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