Infineon develops sensory organ in Graz for safe driving

Under the leadership of Infineon Austria, the project “iLIDS4SAM” is carrying out research on sensor systems that provide autonomous road and rail vehicles with a three-dimensional image of their surroundings and enable the vehicles to more effectively anticipate danger situations. The project encompasses the entire technology, application and testing chain.

The project objective is to develop a powerful and cost-effective laser sensor system with "deep learning" data management. In turn, this will contribute to turning vehicles into" intelligent and forward-looking traffic users". The project partners include AVL List GmbH, ams AG, Silicon Austria Labs GmbH, Graz University of Technology and the Graz-based competence centre Virtual Vehicle.

The compact sensor system will be tested in urban road and rail traffic as well as in agricultural applications with the aim of demonstrating both its integration and practical performance.

Precise 360-degree vision

To enable automated vehicles to perceive their environment in its entirety, the team of researchers pursues the approach of the eye with three-dimensional vision. New and compact lidar sensor systems are designed to provide a wider field of vision at a high level of precision. Lidar stands for "light detection and ranging". A laser beam uses microchip mirrors to scan the environment in millimetre precision horizontally and vertically. It measures not only the distance but also the shape of objects. The result is a three-dimensional image of moving vehicles or pedestrians, traffic signs, obstacles at the roadside or even road markings.

The related components, the connection technologies and the mirror design need to be optimised and miniaturised further so that the sensors are compact and sturdy enough to be fully integrated into the vehicles. Test rides will enable researchers to collect a wealth of real data, so that it will be possible to predict the behaviour by means of signal processing algorithms and to assess risks. The compact sensor system will be tested in urban road and rail traffic as well as for agricultural applications.

A data management plan linked to the open source platform of the European research centre CERN has already been implemented. Further research projects, developments and improvements will be possible on the basis of this publicly accessible data pool.