• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.361-367
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• 2006

This paper describes a novel stereo vision based localization of free parking site, which recognizes the target position of automatic parking system. Pixel structure classification and feature based stereo matching extract the 3D information of parking site in real time. The pixel structure represents intensity configuration around a pixel and the feature based stereo matching uses step-by-step investigation strategy to reduce computational load. This paper considers only parking site divided by marking, which is generally drawn according to relevant standards. Parking site marking is separated by plane surface constraint and is transformed into bird's eye view, on which template matching is performed to determine the location of parking site. Obstacle depth map, which is generated from the disparity of adjacent vehicles, can be used as the guideline of template matching by limiting search range and orientation. Proposed method using both the obstacle depth map and the bird's eye view of parking site marking increases operation speed and robustness to visual noise by effectively limiting search range.