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visionDetectionGenerator

Generate vision detections for driving scenario or RoadRunner Scenario

Description

The visionDetectionGenerator System object™ generates detections from a monocular camera sensor mounted on an ego vehicle. All detections are referenced to the coordinate system of the ego vehicle or the vehicle-mounted sensor. You can use the visionDetectionGenerator object in a scenario containing actors and trajectories, which you can create by using a drivingScenario object. Using a statistical mode, the generator can simulate real detections with added random noise and also generate false alarm detections. In addition, you can use the visionDetectionGenerator object to create input to a multiObjectTracker. When building scenarios using the Driving Scenario Designer app, the camera sensors mounted on the ego vehicle are output as visionDetectionGenerator objects.

You can also use the visionDetectionGenerator object with vehicle actors in RoadRunner Scenario simulation. First you must create a SensorSimulation object to interface sensors with RoadRunner Scenario and then register the lidar as a sensor model using the addSensors object function before simulation.

To generate visual detections:

  1. Create the visionDetectionGenerator object and set its properties.

  2. Call the object with arguments, as if it were a function.

To learn more about how System objects work, see What Are System Objects?

Creation

Description

sensor = visionDetectionGenerator creates a vision detection generator object with default property values.

example

sensor = visionDetectionGenerator(cameraConfig) creates a vision detection generator object using the monoCamera configuration object, cameraConfig.

example

sensor = visionDetectionGenerator(Name,Value) sets properties using one or more name-value pairs. For example, visionDetectionGenerator('DetectionCoordinates','Sensor Cartesian','MaxRange',200) creates a vision detection generator that reports detections in the sensor Cartesian coordinate system and has a maximum detection range of 200 meters. Enclose each property name in quotes.

Properties

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Unless otherwise indicated, properties are nontunable, which means you cannot change their values after calling the object. Objects lock when you call them, and the release function unlocks them.

If a property is tunable, you can change its value at any time.

For more information on changing property values, see System Design in MATLAB Using System Objects.

Types of detections generated by the sensor, specified as 'Objects only', 'Lanes only', 'Lanes with occlusion', or 'Lanes and objects'.

  • When set to 'Objects only', only actors are detected.

  • When set to 'Lanes only', only lanes are detected.

  • When set to 'Lanes with occlusion', only lanes are detected but actors in the camera field of view can impair the sensor ability to detect lanes.

  • When set to 'Lanes and objects', the sensor generates both object detections and occluded lane detections.

Example: 'Lanes with occlusion'

Data Types: char | string

Unique sensor identifier, specified as a positive integer. This property distinguishes detections that come from different sensors in a multi-sensor system.

Example: 5

Data Types: double

Required time interval between sensor updates, specified as a positive real scalar. The drivingScenario object calls the vision detection generator at regular time intervals. The vision detector generates new detections at intervals defined by the UpdateInterval property. The value of the UpdateInterval property must be an integer multiple of the simulation time interval. Updates requested from the sensor between update intervals contain no detections. Units are in seconds.

Example: 5

Data Types: double

Location of the vision sensor center, specified as an [x y]. The SensorLocation and Height properties define the coordinates of the vision sensor with respect to the ego vehicle coordinate system. The default value corresponds to a forward-facing sensor mounted on a vehicle dashboard. Units are in meters.

Example: [4 0.1]

Data Types: double

Sensor height above the vehicle ground plane, specified as a positive real scalar. The default value corresponds to a forward-facing vision sensor mounted on the dashboard of a sedan. Units are in meters.

Example: 1.5

Data Types: double

Yaw angle of vision sensor, specified as a real scalar. The yaw angle is the angle between the center line of the ego vehicle and the down-range axis of the vision sensor. A positive yaw angle corresponds to a clockwise rotation when looking in the positive direction of the z-axis of the ego vehicle coordinate system. Units are in degrees.

Example: -4

Data Types: double

Pitch angle of vision sensor, specified as a real scalar. The pitch angle is the angle between the down-range axis of the vision sensor and the x-y plane of the ego vehicle coordinate system. A positive pitch angle corresponds to a clockwise rotation when looking in the positive direction of the y-axis of the ego vehicle coordinate system. Units are in degrees.

Example: 3

Data Types: double

Roll angle of the vision sensor, specified as a real scalar. The roll angle is the angle of rotation of the down-range axis of the vision sensor around the x-axis of the ego vehicle coordinate system. A positive roll angle corresponds to a clockwise rotation when looking in the positive direction of the x-axis of the coordinate system. Units are in degrees.

Example: -4

Data Types: double

Intrinsic calibration parameters of vision sensor, specified as a cameraIntrinsics object.

This property is read-only.

Angular field of view of vision sensor, specified as a real-valued 1-by-2 vector of positive values, [azfov,elfov]. The field of view defines the azimuth and elevation extents of the sensor image. Each component must lie in the interval from 0 degrees to 180 degrees. The field of view is derived from the intrinsic parameters of the vision sensor. Targets outside of the angular field of view of the sensor are not detected. Units are in degrees.

Data Types: double

Maximum detection range, specified as a positive real scalar. The sensor cannot detect a target beyond this range. Units are in meters.

Example: 200

Data Types: double

Maximum detectable object speed, specified as a nonnegative real scalar. Units are in meters per second.

Example: 10.0

Data Types: double

Maximum allowed occlusion of an object, specified as a real scalar in the range [0 1]. Occlusion is the fraction of the total surface area of an object not visible to the sensor. A value of one indicates that the object is fully occluded. Units are dimensionless.

Example: 0.2

Data Types: double

Probability of detecting a target, specified as a positive real scalar less than or equal to 1. This quantity defines the probability that the sensor detects a detectable object. A detectable object is an object that satisfies the minimum detectable size, maximum range, maximum speed, and maximum allowed occlusion constraints.

Example: 0.95

Data Types: double

Number of false detections that the vision sensor generates for each image, specified as a nonnegative real scalar.

Example: 2

Data Types: double

Minimum height and width of an object that the vision sensor detects within an image, specified as a [minHeight,minWidth] vector of positive values. The 2-D projected height of an object must be greater than or equal to minHeight. The projected width of an object must be greater than or equal to minWidth. Units are in pixels.

Example: [30 20]

Data Types: double

Bounding box accuracy, specified as a positive real scalar. This quantity defines the accuracy with which the detector can match a bounding box to a target. Units are in pixels.

Example: 4

Data Types: double

Noise intensity used for filtering position and velocity measurements, specified as a positive real scalar. Noise intensity defines the standard deviation of the process noise of the internal constant-velocity Kalman filter used in a vision sensor. The filter models the process noise using a piecewise-constant white noise acceleration model. Noise intensity is typically of the order of the maximum acceleration magnitude expected for a target. Units are in m/s2.

Example: 2.5

Data Types: double

Enable adding noise to vision sensor measurements, specified as true or false. Set this property to true to add noise to the sensor measurements. Otherwise, the measurements have no noise. Even if you set HasNoise to false, the object still computes the MeasurementNoise property of each detection.

Data Types: logical

Source of maximum number of detections reported by the sensor, specified as 'Auto' or 'Property'. When this property is set to 'Auto', the sensor reports all detections. When this property is set to 'Property', the sensor reports no more than the number of detections specified by the MaxNumDetections property.

Data Types: char | string

Maximum number of detections reported by the sensor, specified as a positive integer. The detections closest to the sensor are reported.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the MaxNumDetectionsSource property to 'Property'.

Data Types: double

Coordinate system of reported detections, specified as one of these values:

  • 'Ego Cartesian' — Detections are reported in the ego vehicle Cartesian coordinate system.

  • 'Sensor Cartesian' — Detections are reported in the sensor Cartesian coordinate system.

Data Types: char | string

Required time interval between lane detection updates, specified as a positive real scalar. The drivingScenario object calls the vision detection generator at regular time intervals. The vision detector generates new lane detections at intervals defined by this property which must be an integer multiple of the simulation time interval. Updates requested from the sensor between update intervals contain no lane detections. Units are in seconds.

Example: 0.4

Data Types: double

Minimum size of a projected lane marking that can be detected by the sensor after accounting for curvature, specified as a 1-by-2 real-valued vector, [minHeight minWidth]. Lane markings must exceed both of these values to be detected. This property is used only when detecting lanes. Units are in pixels.

Example: [5,7]

Data Types: double

Accuracy of lane boundaries, specified as a positive real scalar. This property defines the accuracy with which the lane sensor can place a lane boundary. Units are in pixels. This property is used only when detecting lanes.

Source of maximum number of reported lanes, specified as 'Auto' or 'Property'. When specified as 'Auto', the maximum number of lanes is computed automatically. When specified as 'Property', use the MaxNumLanes property to set the maximum number or lanes.

Data Types: char | string

Maximum number of reported lanes, specified as a positive integer.

Dependencies

To enable this property, set the MaxNumLanesSource property to 'Property'.

Data Types: char | string

Actor profiles, specified as a structure or as an array of structures. Each structure contains the physical and radar characteristics of an actor.

  • If ActorProfiles is a single structure, all actors passed into the visionDetectionGenerator object use this profile.

  • If ActorProfiles is an array, each actor passed into the object must have a unique actor profile.

To generate an array of structures for your driving scenario, use the actorProfiles function. The table shows the valid structure fields. If you do not specify a field, that field is set to its default value. If no actors are passed into the object, then the ActorID field is not included.

FieldDescription
ActorIDScenario-defined actor identifier, specified as a positive integer.
ClassIDClassification identifier, specified as a nonnegative integer. 0 is reserved for an object of an unknown or unassigned class.
LengthLength of actor, specified as a positive real scalar. The default is 4.7. Units are in meters.
WidthWidth of actor, specified as a positive real scalar. The default is 1.8. Units are in meters.
HeightHeight of actor, specified as a positive real scalar. The default is 1.4. Units are in meters.
OriginOffset

Offset of the rotational center of the actor from its geometric center, specified as an [x y z] real-valued vector. The rotational center, or origin, is located at the bottom center of the actor. For vehicles, the rotational center is the point on the ground beneath the center of the rear axle. The default is [0 0 0]. Units are in meters.

RCSPatternRadar cross-section pattern of actor, specified as a numel(RCSElevationAngles)-by-numel(RCSAzimuthAngles) real-valued matrix. The default is [10 10; 10 10]. Units are in decibels per square meter.
RCSAzimuthAnglesAzimuth angles corresponding to rows of RCSPattern, specified as a vector of real values in the range [–180, 180]. The default is [-180 180]. Units are in degrees.
RCSElevationAnglesElevation angles corresponding to rows of RCSPattern, specified as a vector of real values in the range [–90, 90]. The default is [-90 90]. Units are in degrees.

For full definitions of the structure fields, see the actor and vehicle functions.

Usage

Description

example

dets = sensor(actors,time) creates visual detections, dets, from sensor measurements taken of actors at the current simulation time. The object can generate sensor detections for multiple actors simultaneously. Do not include the ego vehicle as one of the actors.

To enable this syntax, set DetectionOutput to 'Objects only'.

lanedets = sensor(laneboundaries,time) generates lane detections, lanedets, from lane boundary structures, laneboundaries.

To enable this syntax set DetectionOutput to 'Lanes only'. The lane detector generates lane boundaries at intervals specified by the LaneUpdateInterval property.

lanedets = sensor(actors,laneboundaries,time) generates lane detections, lanedets, from lane boundary structures, laneboundaries.

To enable this syntax, set DetectionOutput to 'Lanes with occlusion'. The lane detector generates lane boundaries at intervals specified by the LaneUpdateInterval property.

example

[___,numValidDets] = sensor(___) also returns the number of valid detections reported, numValidDets.

[___,numValidDets,isValidTime] = sensor(___) also returns a logical value, isValidTime, indicating that the UpdateInterval time to generate detections has elapsed.

example

[dets,numValidDets,isValidTime,lanedets,numValidLaneDets,isValidLaneTime] = sensor(actors,laneboundaries,time) returns both object detections, dets, and lane detections lanedets. This syntax also returns the number of valid lane detections reported, numValidLaneDets, and a flag, isValidLaneTime, indicating whether the required simulation time to generate lane detections has elapsed.

To enable this syntax, set DetectionOutput to 'Lanes and objects'.

Input Arguments

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Scenario actor poses, specified as a structure or structure array. Each structure corresponds to an actor. You can generate this structure using the actorPoses function. You can also create these structures manually. The table shows the fields that the object uses to generate detections. All other fields are ignored.

FieldDescription
ActorID

Scenario-defined actor identifier, specified as a positive integer.

Position

Position of actor, specified as a real-valued vector of the form [x y z]. Units are in meters.

Velocity

Velocity (v) of actor in the x- y-, and z-directions, specified as a real-valued vector of the form [vx vy vz]. Units are in meters per second.

Roll

Roll angle of actor, specified as a real-valued scalar. Units are in degrees.

Pitch

Pitch angle of actor, specified as a real-valued scalar. Units are in degrees.

Yaw

Yaw angle of actor, specified as a real-valued scalar. Units are in degrees.

AngularVelocity

Angular velocity (ω) of actor in the x-, y-, and z-directions, specified as a real-valued vector of the form [ωx ωy ωz]. Units are in degrees per second.

For full definitions of the structure fields, see the actor and vehicle functions.

Dependencies

To enable this argument, set the DetectorOutput property to 'Objects only', 'Lanes with occlusion', or 'Lanes and objects'.

Lane boundaries, specified as an array of lane boundary structures. The table shows the fields for each structure.

FieldDescription

Coordinates

Lane boundary coordinates, specified as a real-valued N-by-3 matrix, where N is the number of lane boundary coordinates. Lane boundary coordinates define the position of points on the boundary at specified longitudinal distances away from the ego vehicle, along the center of the road.

  • In MATLAB®, specify these distances by using the 'XDistance' name-value pair argument of the laneBoundaries function.

  • In Simulink®, specify these distances by using the Distances from ego vehicle for computing boundaries (m) parameter of the Scenario Reader block or the Distance from parent for computing lane boundaries parameter of the Simulation 3D Vision Detection Generator block.

This matrix also includes the boundary coordinates at zero distance from the ego vehicle. These coordinates are to the left and right of the ego-vehicle origin, which is located under the center of the rear axle. Units are in meters.

Curvature

Lane boundary curvature at each row of the Coordinates matrix, specified as a real-valued N-by-1 vector. N is the number of lane boundary coordinates. Units are in radians per meter.

CurvatureDerivative

Derivative of lane boundary curvature at each row of the Coordinates matrix, specified as a real-valued N-by-1 vector. N is the number of lane boundary coordinates. Units are in radians per square meter.

HeadingAngle

Initial lane boundary heading angle, specified as a real scalar. The heading angle of the lane boundary is relative to the ego vehicle heading. Units are in degrees.

LateralOffset

Lateral offset of the ego vehicle position from the lane boundary, specified as a real scalar. An offset to a lane boundary to the left of the ego vehicle is positive. An offset to the right of the ego vehicle is negative. Units are in meters. In this image, the ego vehicle is offset 1.5 meters from the left lane and 2.1 meters from the right lane.

Ego vehicle in a driving lane

BoundaryType

Type of lane boundary marking, specified as one of these values:

  • 'Unmarked' — No physical lane marker exists

  • 'Solid' — Single unbroken line

  • 'Dashed' — Single line of dashed lane markers

  • 'DoubleSolid' — Two unbroken lines

  • 'DoubleDashed' — Two dashed lines

  • 'SolidDashed' — Solid line on the left and a dashed line on the right

  • 'DashedSolid' — Dashed line on the left and a solid line on the right

Strength

Saturation strength of the lane boundary marking, specified as a real scalar from 0 to 1. A value of 0 corresponds to a marking whose color is fully unsaturated. The marking is gray. A value of 1 corresponds to a marking whose color is fully saturated.

Width

Lane boundary width, specified as a positive real scalar. In a double-line lane marker, the same width is used for both lines and for the space between lines. Units are in meters.

Length

Length of dash in dashed lines, specified as a positive real scalar. In a double-line lane marker, the same length is used for both lines.

Space

Length of space between dashes in dashed lines, specified as a positive real scalar. In a dashed double-line lane marker, the same space is used for both lines.

Dependencies

To enable this argument, set the DetectorOutput property to 'Lanes only', 'Lanes with occlusion', or 'Lanes and objects'.

Data Types: struct

Current simulation time, specified as a positive real scalar. The drivingScenario object calls the vision detection generator at regular time intervals. The vision detector generates new detections at intervals defined by the UpdateInterval property. The values of the UpdateInterval and LanesUpdateInterval properties must be an integer multiple of the simulation time interval. Updates requested from the sensor between update intervals contain no detections. Units are in seconds.

Example: 10.5

Data Types: double

Output Arguments

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Object detections, returned as a cell array of objectDetection objects. Each object contains these fields:

PropertyDefinition
TimeMeasurement time
MeasurementObject measurements
MeasurementNoiseMeasurement noise covariance matrix
SensorIndexUnique ID of the sensor
ObjectClassIDObject classification
MeasurementParametersParameters used by initialization functions of nonlinear Kalman tracking filters
ObjectAttributesAdditional information passed to tracker

Measurement, MeasurementNoise, and MeasurementParameters are reported in the coordinate system specified by the DetectionCoordinates property of the visionDetectionGenerator.

Measurement

DetectionCoordinates PropertyMeasurement and Measurement Noise Coordinates
'Ego Cartesian'[x;y;z;vx;vy;vz]
'Sensor Cartesian'

MeasurementParameters

ParameterDefinition
Frame Enumerated type indicating the frame used to report measurements. When Frame is set to 'rectangular', detections are reported in Cartesian coordinates. When Frame is set 'spherical', detections are reported in spherical coordinates.
OriginPosition3-D vector offset of the sensor origin from the ego vehicle origin. The vector is derived from the SensorLocation and Height properties specified in the visionDetectionGenerator.
OrientationOrientation of the vision sensor coordinate system with respect to the ego vehicle coordinate system. The orientation is derived from the Yaw, Pitch, and Roll properties of the visionDetectionGenerator.
HasVelocityIndicates whether measurements contain velocity or range rate components.

ObjectAttributes

AttributeDefinition
TargetIndexIdentifier of the actor, ActorID, that generated the detection. For false alarms, this value is negative.

Number of detections returned, defined as a nonnegative integer.

  • When the MaxNumDetectionsSource property is set to 'Auto', numValidDets is set to the length of dets.

  • When the MaxNumDetectionsSource is set to 'Property', dets is a cell array with length determined by the MaxNumDetections property. No more than MaxNumDetections number of detections are returned. If the number of detections is fewer than MaxNumDetections, the first numValidDets elements of dets hold valid detections. The remaining elements of dets are set to the default value.

.

Data Types: double

Valid detection time, returned as 0 or 1. isValidTime is 0 when detection updates are requested at times that are between update intervals specified by UpdateInterval.

Data Types: logical

Lane boundary detections, returned as an array structures. The fields of the structure are:

Lane Boundary Detection Structure

FieldDescription
TimeLane detection time
SensorIndexUnique identifier of sensor
LaneBoundariesArray of clothoidLaneBoundary objects.

Number of lane detections returned, defined as a nonnegative integer.

  • When the MaxNumLanesSource property is set to 'Auto', numValidLaneDets is set to the length of lanedets.

  • When the MaxNumLanesSource is set to 'Property', lanedets is a cell array with length determined by the MaxNumLanes property. No more than MaxNumLanes number of lane detections are returned. If the number of detections is fewer than MaxNumLanes, the first numValidLaneDetections elements of lanedets hold valid lane detections. The remaining elements of lanedets are set to the default value.

.

Data Types: double

Valid lane detection time, returned as 0 or 1. isValidLaneTime is 0 when lane detection updates are requested at times that are between update intervals specified by LaneUpdateInterval.

Data Types: logical

Object Functions

To use an object function, specify the System object as the first input argument. For example, to release system resources of a System object named obj, use this syntax:

release(obj)

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isLockedDetermine if System object is in use
stepRun System object algorithm
releaseRelease resources and allow changes to System object property values and input characteristics
resetReset internal states of System object

Examples

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Generate detections using a forward-facing automotive vision sensor mounted on an ego vehicle. Assume that there are two target vehicles:

  • Vehicle 1 is directly in front of the ego vehicle and moving at the same speed.

  • Vehicle 2 vehicle is driving faster than the ego vehicle by 12 kph in the left lane.

All positions, velocities, and measurements are relative to the ego vehicle. Run the simulation for ten steps.

dt = 0.1;
car1 = struct('ActorID',1,'Position',[100 0 0],'Velocity', [5*1000/3600 0 0]);
car2 = struct('ActorID',2,'Position',[150 10 0],'Velocity',[12*1000/3600 0 0]);

Create an automotive vision sensor having a location offset from the ego vehicle. By default, the sensor location is at (3.4,0) meters from the vehicle center and 1.1 meters above the ground plane.

sensor = visionDetectionGenerator('DetectionProbability',1, ...
    'MinObjectImageSize',[5 5],'MaxRange',200,'DetectionCoordinates','Sensor Cartesian');
tracker = multiObjectTracker('FilterInitializationFcn',@initcvkf, ...
    'ConfirmationParameters',[3 4],'NumCoastingUpdates',6);

Generate visual detections for the non-ego actors as they move. The output detections form a cell array. Extract only position information from the detections to pass to the multiObjectTracker, which expects only position information. Then update the tracker for each new set of detections.

simTime = 0;
nsteps = 10;
for k = 1:nsteps
    dets = sensor([car1 car2],simTime);
    n = size(dets,1);
    for k = 1:n
        meas = dets{k}.Measurement(1:3);
        dets{k}.Measurement = meas;
        measmtx = dets{k}.MeasurementNoise(1:3,1:3);
        dets{k}.MeasurementNoise = measmtx;
    end
    [confirmedTracks,tentativeTracks,allTracks] = updateTracks(tracker,dets,simTime);
    simTime = simTime + dt;
    car1.Position = car1.Position + dt*car1.Velocity;
    car2.Position = car2.Position + dt*car2.Velocity;
end

Use birdsEyePlot to create an overhead view of the detections. Plot the sensor coverage area. Extract the x and y positions of the targets by converting the Measurement fields of the cell into a MATLAB® array. Then, plot the detections using birdsEyePlot functions.

BEplot = birdsEyePlot('XLim',[0 220],'YLim',[-75 75]);
caPlotter = coverageAreaPlotter(BEplot,'DisplayName','Vision Coverage Area');
plotCoverageArea(caPlotter,sensor.SensorLocation,sensor.MaxRange, ...
    sensor.Yaw,sensor.FieldOfView(1))
detPlotter = detectionPlotter(BEplot,'DisplayName','Vision Detections');
detPos = cellfun(@(d)d.Measurement(1:2),dets,'UniformOutput',false);
detPos = cell2mat(detPos')';
if ~isempty(detPos)
    plotDetection(detPlotter,detPos)
end

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) contains 2 objects of type patch, line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers These objects represent Vision Coverage Area, Vision Detections.

Create a vision sensor by using a monocular camera configuration, and generate detections from that sensor.

Specify the intrinsic parameters of the camera and create a monoCamera object from these parameters. The camera is mounted on top of an ego vehicle at a height of 1.5 meters above the ground and a pitch of 1 degree toward the ground.

focalLength = [800 800];
principalPoint = [320 240];
imageSize = [480 640];
intrinsics = cameraIntrinsics(focalLength,principalPoint,imageSize);

height = 1.5;
pitch = 1;
monoCamConfig = monoCamera(intrinsics,height,'Pitch',pitch);

Create a vision detection generator using the monocular camera configuration.

visionSensor = visionDetectionGenerator(monoCamConfig);

Generate a driving scenario with an ego vehicle and two target cars. Position the first target car 30 meters directly in front of the ego vehicle. Position the second target car 20 meters in front of the ego vehicle but offset to the left by 3 meters.

scenario = drivingScenario;
egoVehicle = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1);
targetCar1 = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1,'Position',[30 0 0]);
targetCar2 = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1,'Position',[20 3 0]);

Use a bird's-eye plot to display the vehicle outlines and sensor coverage area.

figure
bep = birdsEyePlot('XLim',[0 50],'YLim',[-20 20]);

olPlotter = outlinePlotter(bep);
[position,yaw,length,width,originOffset,color] = targetOutlines(egoVehicle);
plotOutline(olPlotter,position,yaw,length,width);

caPlotter = coverageAreaPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Coverage area','FaceColor','blue');
plotCoverageArea(caPlotter,visionSensor.SensorLocation,visionSensor.MaxRange, ...
    visionSensor.Yaw,visionSensor.FieldOfView(1))

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) contains an object of type patch. This object represents Coverage area.

Obtain the poses of the target cars from the perspective of the ego vehicle. Use these poses to generate detections from the sensor.

poses = targetPoses(egoVehicle);
[dets,numValidDets] = visionSensor(poses,scenario.SimulationTime);

Display the (X,Y) positions of the valid detections. For each detection, the (X,Y) positions are the first two values of the Measurement field.

for i = 1:numValidDets
    XY = dets{i}.Measurement(1:2);
    detXY = sprintf('Detection %d: X = %.2f meters, Y = %.2f meters',i,XY);
    disp(detXY)
end
Detection 1: X = 19.09 meters, Y = 2.79 meters
Detection 2: X = 27.81 meters, Y = 0.08 meters

Create a driving scenario containing an ego vehicle and a target vehicle traveling along a three-lane road. Detect the lane boundaries by using a vision detection generator.

scenario = drivingScenario;

Create a three-lane road by using lane specifications.

roadCenters = [0 0 0; 60 0 0; 120 30 0];
lspc = lanespec(3);
road(scenario,roadCenters,'Lanes',lspc);

Specify that the ego vehicle follows the center lane at 30 m/s.

egovehicle = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1);
egopath = [1.5 0 0; 60 0 0; 111 25 0];
egospeed = 30;
smoothTrajectory(egovehicle,egopath,egospeed);

Specify that the target vehicle travels ahead of the ego vehicle at 40 m/s and changes lanes close to the ego vehicle.

targetcar = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1);
targetpath = [8 2; 60 -3.2; 120 33];
targetspeed = 40;
smoothTrajectory(targetcar,targetpath,targetspeed);

Display a chase plot for a 3-D view of the scenario from behind the ego vehicle.

chasePlot(egovehicle)

Create a vision detection generator that detects lanes and objects. The pitch of the sensor points one degree downward.

visionSensor = visionDetectionGenerator('Pitch',1.0);
visionSensor.DetectorOutput = 'Lanes and objects';
visionSensor.ActorProfiles = actorProfiles(scenario);

Run the simulation.

  1. Create a bird's-eye plot and the associated plotters.

  2. Display the sensor coverage area.

  3. Display the lane markings.

  4. Obtain ground truth poses of targets on the road.

  5. Obtain ideal lane boundary points up to 60 m ahead.

  6. Generate detections from the ideal target poses and lane boundaries.

  7. Display the outline of the target.

  8. Display object detections when the object detection is valid.

  9. Display the lane boundary when the lane detection is valid.

bep = birdsEyePlot('XLim',[0 60],'YLim',[-35 35]);
caPlotter = coverageAreaPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Coverage area', ...
    'FaceColor','blue');
detPlotter = detectionPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Object detections');
lmPlotter = laneMarkingPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Lane markings');
lbPlotter = laneBoundaryPlotter(bep,'DisplayName', ...
    'Lane boundary detections','Color','red');
olPlotter = outlinePlotter(bep);
plotCoverageArea(caPlotter,visionSensor.SensorLocation,...
    visionSensor.MaxRange,visionSensor.Yaw, ...
    visionSensor.FieldOfView(1));
while advance(scenario)
    [lmv,lmf] = laneMarkingVertices(egovehicle);
    plotLaneMarking(lmPlotter,lmv,lmf)
    tgtpose = targetPoses(egovehicle);
    lookaheadDistance = 0:0.5:60;
    lb = laneBoundaries(egovehicle,'XDistance',lookaheadDistance,'LocationType','inner');
    [obdets,nobdets,obValid,lb_dets,nlb_dets,lbValid] = ...
        visionSensor(tgtpose,lb,scenario.SimulationTime);
    [objposition,objyaw,objlength,objwidth,objoriginOffset,color] = targetOutlines(egovehicle);
    plotOutline(olPlotter,objposition,objyaw,objlength,objwidth, ...
        'OriginOffset',objoriginOffset,'Color',color)
    if obValid
        detPos = cellfun(@(d)d.Measurement(1:2),obdets,'UniformOutput',false);
        detPos = vertcat(zeros(0,2),cell2mat(detPos')');
        plotDetection(detPlotter,detPos)
    end
    if lbValid
        plotLaneBoundary(lbPlotter,vertcat(lb_dets.LaneBoundaries))
    end
end

Generate detections from an ideal vision sensor and compare these detections to ones from a noisy sensor. An ideal sensor is one that always generates detections, with no false positives and no added random noise.

Create a Driving Scenario

Create a driving scenario in which the ego vehicle is positioned in front of a diagonal array of target cars. With this configuration, you can later plot the measurement noise covariances of the detected targets without having the target cars occlude one another.

scenario = drivingScenario;
egoVehicle = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1);

numTgts = 6;
x = linspace(20,50,numTgts)';
y = linspace(-20,0,numTgts)';
x = [x;x(1:end-1)];
y = [y;-y(1:end-1)];
numTgts = numel(x);

for m = 1:numTgts
    vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1,'Position',[x(m) y(m) 0]);
end

Plot the driving scenario in a bird's-eye plot.

bep = birdsEyePlot('XLim',[0 60]);
legend('hide')

olPlotter = outlinePlotter(bep);
[position,yaw,length,width,originOffset,color] = targetOutlines(egoVehicle);
plotOutline(olPlotter,position,yaw,length,width, ...
    'OriginOffset',originOffset,'Color',color)

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) is empty.

Create an Ideal Vision Sensor

Create a vision sensor by using the visionDetectionGenerator System object™. To generate ideal detections, set DetectionProbability to 1, FalsePositivesPerImage to 0, and HasNoise to false.

  • DetectionProbability = 1 — The sensor always generates detections for a target, as long as the target is not occluded and meets the range, speed, and image size constraints.

  • FalsePositivesPerImage = 0 — The sensor generates detections from only real targets in the driving scenario.

  • HasNoise = false — The sensor does not add random noise to the reported position and velocity of the target. However, the objectDetection objects returned by the sensor have measurement noise values set to the noise variance that would have been added if HasNoise were true. With these noise values, you can process ideal detections using the multiObjectTracker. This technique is useful for analyzing maneuver lag without needing to run time-consuming Monte Carlo simulations.

idealSensor = visionDetectionGenerator( ...
    'SensorIndex',1, ...
    'UpdateInterval',scenario.SampleTime, ...
    'SensorLocation',[0.75*egoVehicle.Wheelbase 0], ...
    'Height',1.1, ...
    'Pitch',0, ...
    'Intrinsics',cameraIntrinsics(800,[320 240],[480 640]), ...
    'BoundingBoxAccuracy',50, ... % Make the noise large for illustrative purposes
    'ProcessNoiseIntensity',5, ...
    'MaxRange',60, ...
    'DetectionProbability',1, ...
    'FalsePositivesPerImage',0, ...
    'HasNoise',false, ...
    'ActorProfiles',actorProfiles(scenario))
idealSensor = 
  visionDetectionGenerator with properties:

               SensorIndex: 1
            UpdateInterval: 0.0100

            SensorLocation: [2.1000 0]
                    Height: 1.1000
                       Yaw: 0
                     Pitch: 0
                      Roll: 0
                Intrinsics: [1x1 cameraIntrinsics]

            DetectorOutput: 'Objects only'
               FieldOfView: [43.6028 33.3985]
                  MaxRange: 60
                  MaxSpeed: 100
       MaxAllowedOcclusion: 0.5000
        MinObjectImageSize: [15 15]

      DetectionProbability: 1
    FalsePositivesPerImage: 0

  Use get to show all properties

Plot the coverage area of the ideal vision sensor.

legend('show')
caPlotter = coverageAreaPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Coverage area','FaceColor','blue');
mountPosition = idealSensor.SensorLocation;
range = idealSensor.MaxRange;
orientation = idealSensor.Yaw;
fieldOfView = idealSensor.FieldOfView(1);
plotCoverageArea(caPlotter,mountPosition,range,orientation,fieldOfView);

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) contains an object of type patch. This object represents Coverage area.

Simulate Ideal Vision Detections

Obtain the positions of the targets. The positions are in ego vehicle coordinates.

gTruth = targetPoses(egoVehicle);

Generate timestamped vision detections. These detections are returned as a cell array of objectDetection objects.

time = scenario.SimulationTime;
dets = idealSensor(gTruth,time);

Inspect the measurement and measurement noise variance of the first (leftmost) detection. Even though the detection is ideal and therefore has no added random noise, the MeasurementNoise property shows the values as if the detection did have noise.

dets{1}.Measurement
ans = 6×1

   31.0000
  -11.2237
         0
         0
         0
         0

dets{1}.MeasurementNoise
ans = 6×6

    1.5427   -0.5958         0         0         0         0
   -0.5958    0.2422         0         0         0         0
         0         0  100.0000         0         0         0
         0         0         0    0.5398   -0.1675         0
         0         0         0   -0.1675    0.1741         0
         0         0         0         0         0  100.0000

Plot the ideal detections and ellipses for the 2-sigma contour of the measurement noise covariance.

pos = cell2mat(cellfun(@(d)d.Measurement(1:2)',dets, ...
    'UniformOutput',false));
cov = reshape(cell2mat(cellfun(@(d)d.MeasurementNoise(1:2,1:2),dets, ...
    'UniformOutput',false))',2,2,[]);
plotter = trackPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Ideal detections', ...
    'MarkerEdgeColor','blue','MarkerFaceColor','blue');
sigma = 2;
plotTrack(plotter,pos,sigma^2*cov)

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) contains 2 objects of type patch, line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers These objects represent Coverage area, Ideal detections.

Simulate Noisy Detections for Comparison

Create a noisy sensor based on the properties of the ideal sensor.

noisySensor = clone(idealSensor);
release(noisySensor)
noisySensor.HasNoise = true;

Reset the driving scenario back to its original state.

restart(scenario)

Collect statistics from the noisy detections.

numMonte = 1e3;
pos = [];
for itr = 1:numMonte
    time = scenario.SimulationTime;
    dets = noisySensor(gTruth,time);

    % Save noisy measurements
    pos = [pos;cell2mat(cellfun(@(d)d.Measurement(1:2)',dets,'UniformOutput',false))];

    advance(scenario);
end

Plot the noisy detections.

plotter = detectionPlotter(bep,'DisplayName','Noisy detections', ...
    'Marker','.','MarkerEdgeColor','red','MarkerFaceColor','red');
plotDetection(plotter,pos)

Figure contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) contains 3 objects of type patch, line. One or more of the lines displays its values using only markers These objects represent Coverage area, Ideal detections, Noisy detections.

Algorithms

The vision sensor models a monocular camera that produces 2-D camera images. To project the coordinates of these 2-D images into the 3-D world coordinates used in driving scenarios, the sensor algorithm assumes that the z-position (height) of all image points of the bottom edge of the target’s image bounding box lie on the ground. The plane defining the ground is defined by the height property of the vision detection generator, which defines the offset of the monocular camera above the ground plane. With this projection, the vertical locations of objects in the produced images are strongly correlated to their heights above the road. However, if the road is not flat and the heights of objects differ from the height of the sensor, then the sensor reports inaccurate detections. For an example that shows this behavior, see Model Vision Sensor Detections.

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced in R2017a