Improved human detection with a fusion of laser scanner and vision/infrared information for mobile applications

This paper presents a method for human detection using a laser scanner with vision or infrared images. Mobile applications require reliable and efficient methods for human detection, especially as a part of driver assistance systems, including pedestrian collision systems. The authors propose an efficient method for multimodal human detection based on a combination of the features and context information. Strictly, the human is detected in the vision/infrared images using a combination of local binary patterns and histogram of oriented gradients features with a neural network in a cascade manner. Next, using coordinates of detected humans from the vision system, the moving trajectory is predicted until the scanner working distance is reached by the individual human. Then the segmentation of data from the laser scanner is further carried out with respect to the predicted trajectory. Finally, human detection in the laser scanner working distance is performed based on modelling of the human legs. The modelling is based on the adaptive breakpoint detection algorithm and proposed improved polylines definition and fitting algorithm. The authors conducted a set of experiments in predefined scenarios, discussed the identified weakness and advantages of the proposed method, and outlined detailed future work, especially for night-time and low-light conditions.