International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems (9 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Traffic sign recognition using deep learning  
  by Vraj Patel, Joy Mehta, Saurab Iyer, Ankit Sharma 
  Abstract: Recognition of traffic signs is an integral step towards achieving Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) as distracted driving is one of the primary causes of road accidents and fatalities. This paper attempts to exploit the capabilities of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to recognise traffic signs under various computational and environmental constraints. The German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) dataset is used for the classification of images. The dataset is subjected to various image processing techniques, such as gray scaling, denoising, filtering, and thresholding, to obtain a generalised model for the recognition of traffic signs. The neural network used here comprises three convolution layers, each followed by a max pooling layer, which further are followed by four fully connected dense layers. The models are trained for 100 epochs with a validation split of 20%. The model performs best with Adam optimiser with a learning rate of 0.001.
  Keywords: traffic sign recognition; advanced driver assistance systems; German traffic sign recognition benchmark; deep learning; computer vision; image processing; convolutional neural network.
  
  
• The development of a GPS-based autonomous quadcopter for precision landing on a moving platform  
  by Muhammad Farris Khyasudeen, Norlida Buniyamin, Saaidal Razalli Azzuhri, Muhammad Badri Mhd Noor, Mohamad Hakim Abu Bakar, Mohamad Faizal Abdul Rahman, Nik Izwan Kamel, Aliff Shariffuddin, Iraj Sadegh Amiri 
  Abstract: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), especially quadcopter is widely used in search and rescue, mapping, surveillance and infrastructure inspection. The ability of the quadcopter to fly outdoor and return to its take-off point, or another landing point is important as it simplifies the quadcopter operation and reduce the possibilities of the quadcopter from damages and loss. This work proposed a quadcopter that can perform landing operation on a moving landing platform. This system is based on coordinates of both quadcopter and the moving landing platform using Global Positioning System (GPS) and feedback control using radio frequency communication. GPS is used as it reduced the complexity and cost of using another system such as image processing and computer vision which used higher capability processor on the quadcopter, and needed high quality vision sensor. The quadcopter used both the coordinates of quadcopter and moving platform to identify the distance and yaw angle between these two points and land on the moving platform without pilot assistance during the landing sequences. The results show that the accuracy of landing on a shifted platform task based on the performance of the GPS used was 6 to 46%. For best performance, the quadcopter should initially fly at a height of 4 metres. This paper contributes to the advancement of quadcopter precision landing by means of developing method, which use low cost equipment without compensating the accuracy of the process. Another contribution is this paper shows the ability and accuracy of quadcopter to execute precision landing on a moving platform without using image processing techniques and high capability computer on the quadcopter.
  Keywords: quadcopter; GPS; moving platform; autonomous precision landing; UAV; Radio frequency feedback control; Return-To-Platform.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2021.10055418
   
  
• A new fractional-order sliding mode controller for the cruise control system of automatic vehicles  
  by Sajjad Sheykhi, Hossein GholizadeNarm 
  Abstract: In this paper, a fractional-order sliding mode controller (FOSMC) is proposed for the speed control of automatic vehicles and solve the control problem when tracking a road vehicle. A sliding mode cruise controller is a smart cruise control system used in modern autonomous vehicles. The proposed method is used to control the follower vehicle to follow a reference trajectory transmitted by a leading vehicle. Road safety and driving comfort are among the required constraints when designing such controllers. The proposed controller was validated by modelling via the MATLAB program and then compared to integer-order sliding mode controllers. The simulation results and comparisons demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies.
  Keywords: sliding mode control; fractional-order sliding mode control; cruise control system.
  
  
• Decoupled 3-D object detector  
  by Moemen Arafa, Ahmed Osama, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Maged Ghoneima, Fernando Garcia, Shady Maged 
  Abstract: This paper proposes an efficient cascaded 3-D object detection architecture. Such an architecture decouples the 3-D object detection pipeline to maximise the use of the inherent advantages of RGB images and LiDAR point clouds in order to perform 3-D object detection while maintaining low computational complexity. Our proposed architecture relies on a cascade of two networks, the first leverages the texture density in images and the maturity of state-of-the-art 2-D object detectors to classify and obtain initial region proposals for objects in the scene. These proposals are fed to a light-weight secondary network that leverages the compactness of bird-eye view point cloud representations to perform orientation and size estimation. The 3-D bounding box proposal is constructed by fusing predictions inferred from both networks, as predictions lie on orthogonal planes. Evaluated on the KITTI benchmark dataset, we show that the proposed method obtains results on-par with more complex end-to-end 3-D detection methods while greatly reducing computational and memory requirements. This work also presents results from the deployment within a perception pipeline, and analyses challenges faced in deployment within a frontal perception pipeline.
  Keywords: 2-D object detectors; 3-D object detection; frontal perception; depth representation.
  
  
• MTPA real-time tracking method based on AC signal injection  
  by Ningzhi Jin, Hongchao Chen, Zhiqiang Wu, Long Zhang, Jiaxin Jiang 
  Abstract: In the actual control of Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (IPMSM), the electrical parameters often fluctuate due to magnetic saturation and temperature change, and therefore it is impossible to achieve an accurate control. Aiming at parameter changes, a new real-time tracking method for Maximum Torque Per Ampere (MTPA) trajectory of permanent magnet synchronous motor is proposed. The angle information corresponding to the MTPA current is extracted by introducing a new MTPA reference frame, infusing it with appropriate high-frequency AC signal components, analysing the internal relationship between the electromagnetic torque pulsation component and the current vector angle under the new MTPA reference frame, and then configuring reasonable cut-off frequencies of low-pass and band-pass filters. At the same time, compared with the traditional injection method, it is not necessary to inject high-frequency current angle into the vector angle, and when the system is stable, it can be injected intermittently to reduce losses. Thus, accurate and efficient control can be achieved without parameter identification. The simulation results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.
  Keywords: IPMSM; AC signal injection; MTPA reference frame; MTPA.
  
  
• Blockchain and IoT architectures in autonomous vehicles  
  by Rajanikanth Aluvalu, Uma Maheswari V, Swapna Mudrakola, Krishna Keerthi Chennam 
  Abstract: In this new digital era, the automotive industry integrates various technologies like 5G, AI, IoT, blockchain etc. to enhance communication and security. The automotive industry is making efforts to develop fully autonomous vehicles. This article discusses the opportunities, challenges, and limitations of integrating blockchain and IoT for developing autonomous vehicles. various types of autonomous vehicle and security concerns in autonomous vehicles are discussed in this article. IoT helps develop smarter vehicles through in-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Security is the major concern with IoT. Integrating blockchain technology with IoT-enabled vehicles will enhance data security. The blockchain uses cryptographic hashes to record and store data, which will help protect the data from unauthorised access. Retrospectively, the article provides a comprehensive study of integrating IoT and blockchain technologies for developing smarter autonomous vehicles.
  Keywords: blockchain; internet of things; autonomous vehicles.
  
  
• Practical ideas on slip controller activation criterion, slip estimator initialisation and optimiser interface  
  by Hamed Kashani 
  Abstract: A simple nonlinear filter and a rule-based controller are chosen to form the loop of slip control algorithm. Low computation cost is the advantage of this algorithm, but for practical usage it should be improved. This paper introduces a new optimum and adaptive activation criterion for the controller. The original employed estimator becomes cognizant about road condition and brake intensity using Kalman-Bucy filter (KBF). To keep the computational advantage of the algorithm, KBF with the simplest structure is used only as an initializer. The estimation process, between KBF and nonlinear filter, needs a middle stage. This gap is filled with piecewise linear models of friction. Simulation and resultant key performance indicators of the whole algorithm with above improvements in various road conditions proves its capability to control slip.
  Keywords: anti-lock brake; nonlinear estimator; ABS activation; Kalman-Bucy filter; slip estimator; slip control; ECE R13-H; key performance indicator.
  
  
• Development of autopilot control algorithm for an unmanned aerial vehicle based on simulation  
  by Masri Hakiki, Hao Liu, Jae-Cheon Lee 
  Abstract: This paper presents design of an autopilot control algorithm for a novel type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with configuration of two wings, X-tailplane, and double propulsion systems. Contributions of the paper are to present how to develop autopilot control algorithm for this type UAV, by using longitudinal and lateral controllers, and how to validate the control algorithm via co-simulation method. The detailed design of controlling pitch angle, forward speed, altitude, and roll motion is described at first. And then a co-simulation by using Matlab/Simulink and X-Plane based on Software-In-the-Loop (SIL) is built to implement the control algorithm for validation. Two flying missions are designed and executed to investigate control performance and tracking performance along the waypoint course. Simulation results show that the designed autopilot control system can effectively control flying specifications and guide the novel UAV following the designated waypoint course.
  Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle; autopilot control algorithm; software-in-the-loop; co-simulation; PID control.
  
  
• Distributed implementation of network simulations for large-scale Vehicle-to-Everything applications  
  by Nagacharan Teja Tangirala, Anuj Abraham, Pranjal Vyas, Chetan B.M 
  Abstract: The paper proposes a distributed simulation architecture that integrates VISSIM, MATLAB, and NS-3 to evaluate V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) applications, with a focus on designing an MPC (Model Predictive Control)- based platoon controller. By default, NS-3 does not support Wi-Fi distributed simulation. This paper proposes an alternative strategy to parallelise and increase efficiency. The proposed architecture with two processors reduces execution time by up to 50% while maintaining high accuracy in results, and the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR in %) deviation is less than 2%, indicating a cost-effective simulation of V2X applications. Compared to existing methods in the literature, the proposed architecture outperforms in terms of time savings and accuracy. By reducing the time and resources required for field trials, the proposed architecture accelerates the development and testing of V2X applications for improved safety and efficiency of transportation networks.
  Keywords: V2X simulations; distributed systems; predictive control; MPC; parallel NS-3; platooning; PDR; VISSIM; MATLAB.