Lens distortion correction and geometrical alignment for Around View Monitoring system

Around View Monitoring (AVM) system assists drivers by providing a more natural perspective of scenes (around the vehicle) to the driver, thus enhancing road safety. The AVM system usually employs several ultra-wide angle lens cameras to cover a large area around the vehicle. These camera lenses are usually spherical in nature and they suffer from severe distortions. Conventional distortion correction techniques have their own limitations and hence, a novel distortion correction technique is proposed to correct the distortion introduced by such lenses. To generate the bird's eye view of the surrounding environment, a homography based geometrical alignment technique is also proposed. A unique pattern is used in conjunction with a feature based refinement technique to align the multi-camera views precisely, and to generate an accurate bird's eye view of the surroundings. Further, colour temperature balancing and blending techniques are applied to enhance the appearance of the bird's eye view.