With the rapid development of autonomous driving technology, the role of in vehicle sensors has become increasingly crucial. They are like the "eyes" and "ears" of autonomous vehicle, helping the vehicle perceive the surrounding environment and make correct driving decisions. Among numerous sensors, LiDAR has become a star technology in the field of autonomous driving due to its high precision, high resolution, and all-weather working ability. This article will delve into vehicle mounted sensing technology and focus on analyzing the core position of LiDAR and its relationship with vehicle mounted sensing technology.
1、 Overview of In Vehicle Sensors
There are various types of in car sensors, including optical cameras, millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic sensors, and laser radar. These sensors have their own unique working principles, advantages and disadvantages, and together provide a full range of environmental awareness for autonomous vehicle.
Optical camera: An optical camera is a passive detection sensor that captures images of ambient light reflecting off the surface of an object, processes them using image recognition algorithms, and obtains information about the surrounding environment and vehicles. Optical cameras have good spatial resolution and can obtain specific object shape and color information. However, while relying on external light, they are greatly affected by ambient light and lack stability in pedestrian recognition.
Millimeter wave radar: Millimeter wave radar uses millimeter waves with a wavelength of 1-10mm as the detection medium, and achieves detection function by receiving and analyzing the millimeter waves reflected by the surface of the object. It has ranging and speed measurement functions, and the effective distance can reach 200m. Millimeter wave radar technology is mature and relatively inexpensive, but the recognition accuracy is weak, unable to distinguish the details of objects, and the detection effect on pedestrians in complex scenes is not ideal.
Ultrasonic sensor: Ultrasonic sensors obtain the position information of surrounding objects by the time difference between emitting and receiving ultrasonic signals, mainly used in lane changing assistance and automatic reversing scenarios. Ultrasonic detection has the advantages of low environmental interference, low cost, and small size, but the measurement distance is limited and cannot measure objects at medium to long distances.
2、 The core advantages of LiDAR technology
Lidar detects objects by emitting and receiving laser light reflected from the surface of the object. Lidar has the advantages of long detection range, high resolution, low sensitivity to ambient light, and resistance to electromagnetic interference, especially when compared to other sensors.
High resolution and high precision: Lidar uses laser beams for detection, with extremely high angular, distance, and velocity resolution. The angular resolution is not less than 0.1mard, and it can distinguish two targets that are 0.3 meters apart at a distance of 3 kilometers. The distance resolution can reach 0.1 meters, and the velocity resolution can reach within 10 meters per second. This high resolution enables the lidar to build high-precision environmental maps and provide accurate positioning and navigation information for autonomous vehicle.
24/7 working ability: Lidar is not limited by lighting conditions and can work normally at night or in harsh weather conditions. This is crucial for autonomous vehicle, because autonomous vehicle need to be able to maintain a stable perception in various environments.
Safety and reliability: Lidar adopts non-contact measurement method, which will not cause damage to the measured object, and has high measurement accuracy and stability. This makes the laser radar have important value in the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicle.
3、 The relationship between LiDAR and vehicle mounted sensing technology
As one of the on-board sensors, laser radar, together with other sensors, provides environmental awareness information for autonomous vehicle. However, the advantages of LiDAR in detection distance, resolution, and all-weather capability make it stand out among numerous sensors and become one of the core sensors in autonomous driving technology.
Complementarity: Lidar has complementarity with other sensors. For example, optical cameras can obtain rich color and texture information, but are greatly affected by lighting conditions; Millimeter wave radar can penetrate harsh weather conditions such as rain and fog, but its recognition accuracy is relatively low. Lidar can provide high-precision and high-resolution detection information in various environments, complement other sensors, and jointly improve the perception ability of autonomous vehicle.
Fusion application: In practical applications, LiDAR is usually used in conjunction with other sensors for fusion. By using data fusion algorithms to integrate and analyze data from LiDAR and other sensors, more comprehensive and accurate environmental perception information can be obtained. This fusion application not only improves the perception accuracy and reliability of autonomous vehicle, but also enhances their adaptability to complex environments.
summarize
On board sensing technology is one of the core components of autonomous vehicle, and laser radar is playing an increasingly important role in the field of autonomous driving with its advantages of high precision, high resolution and all-weather working ability. The laser radar and other sensors form a complementary relationship, and together provide all-round environmental perception information for autonomous vehicle. With the continuous advancement of technology and the reduction of costs, LiDAR is expected to be widely applied and promoted in the field of autonomous driving in the future.
In short, the relationship between in vehicle sensing and LiDAR technology is inseparable. As one of the core sensors of automatic driving technology, laser radar not only improves the perception ability and safety of autonomous vehicle, but also lays a solid foundation for the future development of automatic driving technology.