Road Detection Technique Using Filters with Application to Autonomous Driving System

TL;DR

This paper enhances autonomous road detection by applying specialized filtering algorithms to mitigate environmental noise effects, significantly improving classification accuracy for better navigation.

Contribution

It introduces a filtering-based approach combining NDI, morphological, guidance, dark channel, and specular-to-diffuse filters to improve road detection under challenging conditions.

Findings

Filtering algorithms reduce environmental noise impact.

Improved road/non-road classification accuracy.

Enhanced path planning for autonomous systems.

Abstract

Autonomous driving systems are broadly used equipment in the industries and in our daily lives, they assist in production, but are majorly used for exploration in dangerous or unfamiliar locations. Thus, for a successful exploration, navigation plays a significant role. Road detection is an essential factor that assists autonomous robots achieved perfect navigation. Various techniques using camera sensors have been proposed by numerous scholars with inspiring results, but their techniques are still vulnerable to these environmental noises: rain, snow, light intensity and shadow. In addressing these problems, this paper proposed to enhance the road detection system with filtering algorithm to overcome these limitations. Normalized Differences Index (NDI) and morphological operation are the filtering algorithms used to address the effect of shadow and guidance and re-guidance image filtering algorithms are used to address the effect of rain and/or snow, while dark channel image and specular-to-diffuse are the filters used to address light intensity effects. The experimental performance of the road detection system with filtering algorithms was tested qualitatively and quantitatively using the following evaluation schemes: False Negative Rate (FNR) and False Positive Rate (FPR). Comparison results of the road detection system with and without filtering algorithm shows the filtering algorithm's capability to suppress the effect of environmental noises because better road/non-road classification is achieved by the road detection system. with filtering algorithm. This achievement has further improved path planning/region classification for autonomous driving system