Real-time and low-cost embedded platform for car's surrounding vision system

The design and the implementation of a flexible and low-cost embedded system for real-time car's surrounding vision is presented. The target of the proposed multi-camera vision system is to provide the driver a better view of the objects that surround the vehicle. Fish-eye lenses are used to achieve a larger Field of View (FOV) but, on the other hand, introduce radial distortion of the images projected on the sensors. Using low-cost cameras there could be also some alignment issues. Since these complications are noticeable and dangerous, a real-time algorithm for their correction is presented. Then another real-time algorithm, used for merging 4 camera video streams together in a single view, is described. Real-time image processing is achieved through a hardware-software platform.