EMS-Vision: a perceptual system for autonomous vehicles

A survey is given of an expectation-based multifocal saccadic vision (EMS-Vision) system. EMS-Vision is the 3rd generation dynamic vision system for road vehicle guidance following the 4D approach. It combines a wide field of view (f.o.v.) nearby (>100/spl deg/, L/sub 0.05/=36 m, peripheral part) with central areas of high resolution: a 3-chip-color-camera with a f.o.v. of 23/spl deg/ (L/sub 0.05/=100 m) and a high sensitivity b/w-camera with a f.o.v. of 5.5/spl deg/ (L/sub 0.05/=300 m, foveal part). At L/sub 0.05/ a single pixel in the image corresponds to 5 cm in the real world. By active gaze control, this foveal cone can be inertially stabilized, be redirected to a point of interest in the wide f.o.v. (saccade), and locked onto a moving object for reducing motion blur (fixation). This vertebrate type of vision system allows new performance levels in machine vision. The system has been implemented on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in test vehicles.