Laser and LIDAR in A System for Visibility Distance Estimation in Fog Conditions

• Main Authors: Razvan-Catalin Miclea, Ciprian Dughir, Florin Alexa, Florin Sandru, and Ioan Silea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: laser; LIDAR; fog; visibility distance; visual acuity; autonomous vehicle
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/21/6322

Visibility is a critical factor for transportation, even if we refer to air, water, or ground transportation. The biggest trend in the automotive industry is autonomous driving, the number of autonomous vehicles will increase exponentially, prompting changes in the industry and user segment. Unfortunately, these vehicles still have some drawbacks and one, always in attention and topical, will be treated in this paper—visibility distance issue in bad weather conditions, particularly in fog. The way and the speed with which vehicles will determine objects, obstacles, pedestrians, or traffic signs, especially in bad visibility, will determine how the vehicle will behave. In this paper, a new experimental set up is featured, for analyzing the effect of the fog when the laser and LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) radiation are used in visibility distance estimation on public roads. While using our experimental set up, in the laboratory, the information offered by these measurement systems (laser and LIDAR) are evaluated and compared with results offered by human observers in the same fog conditions. The goal is to validate and unitarily apply the results regarding visibility distance, based on information arrives from different systems that are able to estimate this parameter (in foggy weather conditions). Finally, will be notifying the drivers in case of unexpected situations. It is a combination of stationary and of moving systems. The stationary system will be installed on highways or express roads in areas prone to fog, while the moving systems are, or can be, directly installed on the vehicles (autonomous but also non-autonomous).