Visible light phase-shift rangefinder for platooning applications

Vehicle positioning and environment awareness are key components in new intelligent transportation systems (ITS) which explains the growing demand in distance sensors. Though several efficient technologies already exist, the growing automation of vehicle requires sensors redundancy. In this paper, we introduce a new, simple and low cost distance measurement scheme using the headlamps and taillights of the vehicles. The following vehicle (FV) emits a periodic signal toward the leading vehicle (LV) which receives, processes and re-emits it. The FV then exploits the phase-shift introduced by this round trip to recover the distance. A complete simulation model is built and tested. This study shows that our system is able to measure distances up to 25 meters with a resolution under 10 centimeters, and up to 30 meters with a 30 centimeters resolution, at a refresh rate of 267 Hz. Even if the regulated optical power and beam limits the range of such a system, it is particularly suited for platooning applications where vehicles are close.

[1]  Wolfgang Menzel,et al.  Automotive radar – investigation of mutual interference mechanisms , 2010 .

[2]  Somya Rathi,et al.  Visible light positioning: Automotive use case , 2010, 2010 IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference.

[3]  Joe-Air Jiang,et al.  Applications of the Integrated High-Performance CMOS Image Sensor to Range Finders — from Optical Triangulation to the Automotive Field , 2008, Sensors.

[4]  Rui Valadas,et al.  Optical interference produced by artificial light , 1997, Wirel. Networks.

[5]  Hoa Le Minh,et al.  80 Mbit/s Visible Light Communications using pre-equalized white LED , 2008, 2008 34th European Conference on Optical Communication.

[6]  Jri Lee,et al.  A Fully-Integrated 77-GHz FMCW Radar Transceiver in 65-nm CMOS Technology , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[7]  Yongwan Park,et al.  An Experiment of Mutual Interference between Automotive LIDAR Scanners , 2015, 2015 12th International Conference on Information Technology - New Generations.

[8]  Fawzi Nashashibi,et al.  Platooning control using visible light communications: A feasibility study , 2013, 16th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC 2013).

[9]  Sadayuki Tsugawa.  An Overview on Control Algorithms for Automated Highway Systems , 2001, J. Robotics Mechatronics.

[10]  Siyuan Liu,et al.  Multicycle synchronous digital phase measurement used to further improve phase-shift laser range finding , 2007 .

[11]  Jeffrey B. Carruthers,et al.  Wireless infrared communications , 2003, Proc. IEEE.

[12]  J. Wenger,et al.  Automotive radar - status and perspectives , 2005, IEEE Compound Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Symposium, 2005. CSIC '05..

[13]  Siyuan Liu,et al.  Phase-shift laser range finder based on high speed and high precision phase-measuring techniques , 2011 .

[14]  Albrecht Glasmachers,et al.  Laser phase shift distance meter for vision based driver assistance systems , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques.

[15]  Steven E Shladover,et al.  OVERVIEW OF PLATOONING SYSTEMS , 2012 .

[16]  Hsin-Mu Tsai,et al.  Smart automotive lighting for vehicle safety , 2013, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[17]  Masaru Ogawa,et al.  A 0.18-$\mu$ m CMOS SoC for a 100-m-Range 10-Frame/s 200 $\,\times\,$96-Pixel Time-of-Flight Depth Sensor , 2014, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[18]  Bernard Journet,et al.  Conception of an adaptative laser range finder based on phase shift measurement , 1996, Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE IECON. 22nd International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Control, and Instrumentation.

[19]  Andras Poppe,et al.  Thermal Management for LED Applications , 2013 .

[20]  William A. Sethares,et al.  Distance Estimation Using Bidirectional Communications Without Synchronous Clocking , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.