Obstacle Detection and Awareness via High-Resolution Monocular Video

Armored vehicle crewmen, particularly drivers, have always been challenged by limited visibility. Vision blocks provide narrow and restricted views of the outside world and can severely impair driver performance, especially when operating at higher speeds and in complex urban environments. Drivers vision systems typically provide a low-resolution, narrow field of view to the driver which gives very little situational awareness. In many cases, drivers must operate with significant blind spots and low-quality imagery which cannot readily distinguish fine details at any distance in situations of high-stress and extreme distraction. These are exactly the circumstances under which good vision is critical. We will produce an enhanced drivers vision camera"dubbed Intelligent Monocular Camera (IMC)"which combines a high-resolution, wide field of view color imager with integrated processing and advanced computer vision algorithms for obstacle detection and classification. The system includes an innovative driver interface and is designed to be easily retrofitted to a variety of existing displays and input devices. The IMC system provides a wide range of benefits and capabilities including virtual pan/tilt/zoom, increased situational awareness, automatic obstacle and threat warnings, and the ability to zoom in on and automatically track targets of interest.