Image processing board for real-time extraction of line symbols from video sequences for AGV

For a vision based vehicle guidance system a compact image processing unit has been developed which extracts straight lines as symbols for the street boundaries. This unit consists of two ASICs for the segmentation of symbols and a microcontroller for high level processing. The implemented sequence of algorithms comprises gradient operation, edge thinning, line verification, Hough transformation and a rule based post processing. Although the image processing unit is originally developed for vehicle guidance the hardware can be used for other industrial and robotic applications as well. >