Depth estimation for automotive with tilted optics imaging

Abstract

We have been investigating a depth estimation system for use in automobile applications. Conventional methods with stereo camera are too sensitive to slight variations of baseline length due to vibration and temperature. Conversely, the method that uses a monocular camera by focusing cannot provide a balance between wide-area estimation and realtime estimation. Therefore, we proposed a novel method that adopts tilted lens optics. In this method, the plane of sharp focus (POF) lies and the depth of field (DOF) enlarges toward the depth direction. Herein, we can obtained depth values at each pixel from the sharpness values of only two tilted optics images using monocular camera system with spectroscopic.