Modulated Motion Blur-Based Vehicle Body Velocity and Pose Estimation Using an Optical Image Modulator

Abstract

This paper presents a new velocity and pose sensor for a ground vehicle using modulated motion blur generated from an optical image modulator (OIM). The OIM repeatedly shakes the lens of a camera in the lateral direction of the vehicle body, which creates patterns of motion blur that are recorded in an image frame. The relationship between the blur pattern and vehicle velocity is determined using camera dynamics. The 2D velocity of the vehicle body is estimated by analyzing the motion blur pattern. The vehicle roll and pitch angle with respect to the ground are calculated by comparing the estimated average depths (heights) of the sections of a scene. We propose a signal processing and control system to precisely modulate the OIM, which is an electro-mechanical system consisting of a coil, magnet, spring and damper. In addition, we validate the influence of the control reference waveform through various experiments and confirm the robustness of the proposed system. The proposed system is suitable for many applications because it is insensitive to environmental changes and has a relatively low computation time while accurately measuring the speed.