Thermal Night Vision ADAS Cameras are Ready for Prime TimeThermal Night Vision ADAS Cameras are Ready for Prime Time

Thermal cameras provide obvious nighttime crash-avoidance benefits but have been held back by cost.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

January 13, 2023

3 Min Read
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Image courtesy of Owl Autonomous Imaging

“Thermal now reminds me of lidar five years ago,” remarked Wade Appelman, chief marketing officer for Owl Autonomous Imaging in an interview at CES in Las Vegas.

The company specializes in infrared thermal cameras for driver assistance and the computer vision software that maximizes the benefit of such cameras. The obstacle to adopting infrared cameras is similar to that faced by lidar: “The challenge in thermal is to get the cost down,” he said.

At CES, Owl debuted what it dubs the Thermal Ranger Platform, a thermal camera system combining the camera, an NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin AI processor, and the Owl software suite. This includes Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), ROS applications, AI/ML framework and drivers, and necessary cables and adapters. The CNNs operate on the thermal images to provide 3D Object classification and ranging information using the Robot Operating System (ROS) Publish/Subscribe interface. Several example ROS applications are also included.

In addition to the software required for operation of the NVIDIA processor, the following modules are included:

  • Owl AI/ML Neural Networks

  • Autonomous Emergency Braking application

  • 3D Birds-eye-view application

  • Object segmentation

  • Raw thermal video viewer

  • Raw thermal video recorder

  • Thermal with both 2D and 3D bounding boxes and colorized range data

Related:AdaSky Infrared Cameras and AI Promise Effective Pedestrian Warning

There is good reason to consider infrared cameras, as vehicles increasingly turn to sensors to address issues such as the fact that three-quarters of pedestrian fatalities occur after dark, according to OWL.

Today’s optical camera-based collision-avoidance systems are failing in these after-dark situations, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In recent tests, IIHS found that more than half of the collision-avoidance systems evaluated could identify pedestrians in the dark.

In the company’s white paper, “Infrared for ADAS and Robotic Mobility Applications,” Owl also points out that infrared works better than visible-light cameras in other conditions that can obscure the view ahead:

“Outdoor imaging applications often include situations where viewing conditions are less than ideal. In these situations, referred to as DVEs (degraded visual environments) the viewing path may be obscured by water in the form of rain and fog or smoke from a variety of sources. The performance of imaging systems in the presence of obscurants varies substantially.

Both MWIR (mid-wave infrared) and LWIR (long-wave infrared) can see through fog and smoke better than shorter wavelengths because the particles in these obscurants are smaller than the LWIR wavelengths. Smaller relative particles scatter less so the scene rather than the obscurant provides most of the signal.”

Related:Renesas Boosts its Driver-Monitoring Camera Processor

 The benefits seem obvious, but the cost difference between a visible light camera and an infrared camera are orders of magnitude. This is because a device needed for the IR cameras is very expensive. That part is the microbolometer, which is an array of image detector elements that are each constructed from an absorber supported by a mechanical suspension platform on legs that conduct electricity.

The microbolometer is encapsulated in a vacuum that provides insulation. The tiny legs’ proportion equates to the sensor’s frame rate and the sensor is controlled by a readout integrated circuit mounted beneath the array of sensor elements.

Owl uses its own IR image sensors for its thermal cameras, which the company says will help it trim costs. “We think we’ll get the cost of these sensors into the hundreds of dollars versus thousands of dollars now,” said Appelman.

Additionally, the march of progress will also contribute, as Owl will move from older 8-inch silicon wafer technology to new 12-inch wafers, which will mean more chips per wafer and lower cost per chip.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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