Empower Automotive Safety with Thermal Cameras
The introduction of Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) promises to revolutionize how we travel and transport goods by road, while also improving safety. It has the potential to increase mobility for people of all ages and improve vehicle efficiency. Simultaneously, it has the potential to lower accident rates by eliminating human error and the ever-increasing threat of distracted driving.
Benefits of Thermal in ADAS
A camera is required for object classification, speed signs, and red-light detection whereas radar and LIDAR are often employed for object detection, range, and mapping applications. The addition of a thermal camera to an array of ADAS sensors improves situational awareness and driving capabilities.
Figure 1: Typical sensor suite plus Teledyne FLIR Thermal IR imaging
Differential intensities of infrared energy being emitted or reflected from an item are picked up by thermal cameras or sensors. The amount of available visible light has nothing to do with the infrared energy that is constantly emitted around us. Thermal imaging perceives heat, not light, and operates around-the-clock, making it far more than just another form of night vision. Thermal imaging can detect anything that generates heat. A thermal camera can detect the unique heat signatures of both people and animals.
Figure 2: Thermal imagers let ADAS systems detect people, animals, and vehicles through dust, smog, and heavy smoke.
Figure 3: ADAS systems with thermal imagers allow the vehicle to be aware of people outside the cone of its headlights at night.
Infrared imaging has been used for decades in both law enforcement and military settings. Thermal cameras are an effective tool for search and rescue efforts since they can see through smoke. Since their capacity to see properly is independent of the amount of light present, they can see clearly even when the sun is low in the horizon and shining directly into their eyes. A thermal camera will be able to detect objects clearly even in conditions where there is dense smoke or smog in the air and the sun is at a blinding angle.
Figure 4: Thermal imagers aren’t affected by sun glare or low sun angles, so they can still detect pedestrians when visible cameras would be blinded.
Figure 5: Thermal sensors are not blinded by oncoming headlights and can detect and classify people and animals in total darkness.
Thermal imagers are now more compact, lightweight, and reasonably priced for use in both business and consumer applications. This opens a whole new range of applications, such as ADAS, as thermal imagers are perfectly suited to detecting the variations in heat that can indicate the presence of people or animals, seeing through smoke or dust, or seeing in total darkness.
Autonomous driving systems must use a sensor suite that is reliable, efficient, and redundant enough to provide safety in the broadest variety of driving conditions. The inability to recognize and categorize people and animals in poor lighting situations is the main weakness of current systems.
Benefits of Teledyne Flir Thermal Cameras on ADAS and Autonomous Vehicles
Safety
Most of the fog, as well as darkness, sunlight, headlight glare, and shadows, are all circumstances that thermal cameras can see through. They are particularly adept in spotting vulnerable road users like pedestrians, bicycles, large animals, and others.
Smarter
The performance gaps left by the limitations of current vision sensors are filled by thermal imagery. To improve detection and classification algorithms right away through multispectral sensor fusion, they provide redundancy and complement existing visible sensors, radar, and LIDAR.
Secure
Teledyne FLIR is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of thermal cameras for automotive, defense, industrial, and commercial applications. Teledyne FLIR manufactures the only automotive-qualified thermal sensor manufactured in the United States, which has been installed in nearly a million passenger vehicles.
Thermal Vision for ADAS and AV Developers
Create the next generation of safer advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles using cost-effective Teledyne FLIR thermal cameras.
Teledyne FLIR Automotive Development Kit (ADK) offers plug-and-play installation to start testing thermal cameras for ADAS and AV development projects. It includes a 640 x 512 resolution Boson® thermal camera in a heated all-weather IP67 housing and USB, GMSL, or FPD-Link interfaces.
Find out more here or speak to us about your development projects.