Lidar sensor verification in fog

Important results from the project

Dimhöljt has been a feasibility study in understanding the possibilities and limitations of manufacturing, characterizing and using fog to test lidars. Lidar is an enabler for self-driving vehicles and with a lower price picture also for other driver support systems. For autonomous vehicles, the overall goal is that perception should contribute to the vehicles driving sufficiently responsibly. It is well known that fog is a disturbance affecting the emitted laser light and it is of interest to identify and handle the limitation of performance in dealing with the disturbance.

Expected long term effects

During the feasibility study, we have successfully experimented with four different instruments for measuring the properties of the mist: amount of liquid water, visibility, contrast, droplet size and distribution. The measurements agree well with each other and with the corresponding theory. We have mainly used available equipment. There are advantages and disadvantages when choosing methods and instruments. The conclusion is to continue. There is a good chance to improve instruments and methods and given a suitable location, it can benefit the industry for tests in fog.

Approach and implementation

The prestudy has been successful. The project has held meetings every two weeks to plan and coordinate the progress. A master thesis project has been carried out by Veoneer. During the project, we have assembled measuring equipment for characterization of fog. We have tried four different ways to generate fog. We have run climate chambers at RISE to experiment and test a lidar sensor from Veoneer.