<p>A complete prototype system for measuring vehicle lateral position has been set up during the course of this master’s thesis project. In the development of the software, images acquired from a back-ward looking video camera mounted on the roof of the vehicle were used. </p><p>The problem of using computer vision to measure lateral position can be divided into road marking detection and lateral position extraction. Since the strongest characteristic of a road marking image are the edges of the road markings, the road marking detection step is based on edge detection. For the detection of the straight edge lines a Hough based method was chosen. Due to peak spreading in Hough space, the difficulty of detecting the correct peak in Hough space was encountered. A flexible Hough peak detection algorithm was developed based on an adaptive window that takes peak spreading into account. The road marking candidate found by the system is verified before the lateral position data is generated. A good performance of the road marking tracking algorithm was obtained by exploiting temporal correlation to update a search region within the image. A camera calibration made the extraction of real-world lateral position information and yaw angle data possible. </p><p>This vision-based method proved to be very accurate. The standard deviation of the error in the position detection is 0.012 m within an operating range of ±2 m from the image centre. During continuous road markings the rate of valid data is on average 96 %, whereas it drops to around 56 % for sections with intermittent road markings. The system performs well during lane change manoeuvres, which is an indication that the system tracks the correct road marking. This prototype system is a robust and automatic measurement system, which will benefit VTI in its many driving behaviour research programs.</p>

A complete prototype system for measuring vehicle lateral position has been set up during the course of this master’s thesis project. In the development of the software, images acquired from a back-ward looking video camera mounted on the roof of the vehicle were used. The problem of using computer vision to measure lateral position can be divided into road marking detection and lateral position extraction. Since the strongest characteristic of a road marking image are the edges of the road markings, the road marking detection step is based on edge detection. For the detection of the straight edge lines a Hough based method was chosen. Due to peak spreading in Hough space, the difficulty of detecting the correct peak in Hough space was encountered. A flexible Hough peak detection algorithm was developed based on an adaptive window that takes peak spreading into account. The road marking candidate found by the system is verified before the lateral position data is generated. A good performance of the road marking tracking algorithm was obtained by exploiting temporal correlation to update a search region within the image. A camera calibration made the extraction of real-world lateral position information and yaw angle data possible. This vision-based method proved to be very accurate. The standard deviation of the error in the position detection is 0.012 m within an operating range of ±2 m from the image centre. During continuous road markings the rate of valid data is on average 96 %, whereas it drops to around 56 % for sections with intermittent road markings. The system performs well during lane change manoeuvres, which is an indication that the system tracks the correct road marking. This prototype system is a robust and automatic measurement system, which will benefit VTI in its many driving behaviour research programs.

In this thesis, a landing autopilot for an UAV (IAI Pioneer RQ-2) is designed based on a nonlinear MATLAB model implemented with MATLAB/Simulink. In order to control the movement of the UAV at lateral and longitudinal axes, a speed, an altitude, a heading angle (direction) and a yaw rate controllers are designed. Controller design procedure is started with determination of different trim points of the aircraft. Next, the corresponding initial states and initial inputs are obtained. The model is linearized about those trim points and the gain values are determined. The resultant gain scheduled controller is used on the non-linear model. The response of the aircraft to these controllers is tested in a constrained landing area that is constructed with respect to applicable aviation regulations. The aircraft position is investigated whether it is inside or outside of this safe landing area. If it is inside, an optimized landing path set is obtained. The steepest descent method is used for multidimensional search and parabolic fit method is used for one dimensional search (as line search) in the optimization phase. In case it is outside the defined landing area a special algorithm which takes the aircraft into the desired region is applied. In addition, the area is allowed to move as much as possible depending on the situation with special regards to the length of the runway. Also a lateral position controller is designed in order to provide the reach of the aircraft to the main landing path.

Améliorer la sécurité routière passe par une meilleure compréhension des causes d'accidents. Il est donc nécessaire de développer des observatoires discrets pour étudier la manière de conduire de tous les automobilistes. Une partie de cette analyse implique l'utilisation de capteurs mesurant les trajectoires des véhicules sur une portion de route. Deux capteurs innovants ont été crées pour pallier au manque de capteurs suffisamment précis pour ces travaux de recherche : le premier est un capteur à fibres optiques présentant une succession de réseaux de Bragg et le second, protégé par un brevet, est fondé sur une technologie résistive. Le premier repère la déformation locale de fibres optiques noyées à moins d'un centimètre sous la surface de la chaussée. Il utilise la variation de longueurs d'onde engendré par l'extension de la fibre à la zone de contact roue - sol. En utilisant un algorithme adéquat, il est insensible à la température. Le second est constitué de deux conducteurs dont un est résistif. Le poids du véhicule engendre un contact électrique entre les deux conducteurs, transformant la résistance électrique de l'ensemble. Les modèles développés, électrique ainsi que de variation thermique, permettent sa meilleure utilisation. Ils ont été soumis à une expérimentation sur une route départementale. Le capteur optique s'avère plus performant mais coûteux. Le deuxième n'est pas assez robuste mais présente des perspectives intéressantes. / This action stake is not technology for itself. It is a great help the development of new safety functions, e.g. the estimation of driver’s behaviour based uponthe vehicle’s trajectory. This trajectory is determined via two sensors we developed. This system must not disturb the driver and should therefore remain invisible to him. The first one is a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. It detects local strain due to the vehicle weight. The fiber is embedded in the road thanks to resin used in other traffic sensors. The vehicle location is spotted according to the variations of Bragg wavelengths. The fiber extension located under the ground - wheel contact zone changes the step of the Bragg grating. The second one is based upon two conductors. One of them has a grater electrical resistance. The vehicle’s weight creates a link between the two conductors. The resulting electrical resistance provides a lateral position estimation of the vehicle. Electrical and thermic models and simulation even increase the sensor reliability. A caveat is lodged. Both of them were tested on a secondary road. To put in a nutshell, the FBG sensor gives better results but is very expensive (sensors and interrogator too). The resistance sensor is not much raw nevertheless it has interesting perspectives.

Multi-combination vehicles (MCVs) in urban areas impact on productivity, safety, infrastructure, congestion and the environment. However, psychological effects of MCVs on other drivers may also influence the positioning of vehicles and congestion. A literature review revealed little information on the psychological effects of heavy vehicles on other road users. This research can be used to quantify some psychological impacts of MCVs. A testing program was undertaken on the Gateway Motorway to observe passenger car behaviour around MCVs in a lateral and longitudinal sense. Video footage was collected on a four lane divided urban motorway section which was level, straight and away from any off/on ramps. It experiences high traffic volumes with a one-way AADT of approximately 33,500. The route is currently designated for B-doubles, which is the most common MCV in urban areas. In a lateral sense, the research showed that passenger car behaviour changes around heavy vehicles (prime mover semi-trailer combination and B-doubles); however, there is no statistical difference in passenger car behaviour around semi-trailers and B-doubles. Longitudinally it was found that, even though passenger cars shy away from B-doubles more than semi-trailers, B-doubles are still more efficient in a spatial sense since they carry more freight. The outcomes of this research indicate that there is no further psychological impact on passenger cars, when travelling around B-doubles compared with semi-trailers. Where the results identified longitudinal behaviour changes, it was still concluded that B-doubles were more efficient at transporting freight when the passenger car equivalent (PCE) per tonne of freight was considered. Tracking ability testing was undertaken in a rural area to determine the lateral spatial requirements of three different MCVs. The rural testing was considered appropriate since parts of the urban network have similar characteristics to rural networks. A model was developed as a part of this project to process the data collected by Haldane (2002), but results could not be relied upon due to poor quality data.

För att uppnå ett hållbart samhälle krävs en omställning av transportsystemet. Region Stockholmsmålsättning är att andelen cykelresor ska mer än dubbleras till år 2030 och stå för 20% av alla resor ilänet. Bristande underhåll och dålig utformning på cykelbanor står för ca 60% av allvarligasingelolyckor på cykel. Denna ökning av cykelresor ställer därmed höga krav på utformning ochunderhåll av cykelinfrastrukturen. För att cykelbanans komfort ska vara god, krävs det attcykelbanan är jämn, vilket kan komma i konflikt med brunnslock, då det ofta uppstår sättningar ibeläggningen omkring brunnarna. Brunnslocken kan upplevas som obehagliga att cykla över och haräven lägre friktion än omkringliggande yta. Detta kan resultera i halka vilket särskilt är påtagligt närvägbanan är fuktig. Brunnslock är vanligt förekommande på cykelbanor, i denna studie inventeradesde centrala delarna av elva regionala cykelstråk och där förekom ca 1200 brunnslock. Dessa var avvarierande storlek, position i cykelbanan och höjdläge jämfört med den omkringliggandebeläggningen. Brunnslock kan vara ett potentiellt hinder på cykelbanor, vilket minskar cykelbananstillgängliga bredd. Cykelbanans tillgängliga bredd är den yta som är funktionellt möjlig att cykla på.Konstruerad bredd är däremot den bredd cykelbanan byggdes med utan hänsyn till eventuellahinder.Syftet med studien är att undersöka ifall brunnslock, specifikt manhålsbrunnar och kabelbrunnar,anses vara ett hinder för cyklister på cykelbanor och hur brunnslocken påverkar den tillgängligabredden på de fyra studieplatserna. Den tillgängliga bredden på studieplatserna jämförs medrekommenderade cykelbanebredder i handböcker. Studien avgränsades för att eftersträvastudieplatsernas likvärdighet och att enbart brunnslockens egenskaper skilde studieplatserna åt. Destuderade brunnslocken var: manhålsbrunn med och utan kant samt kabelbrunn med och utan kant.Studiens resultat visar det finns en skillnad mellan situationer med och utan mötande cyklist.Majoriteten av cyklisterna håller sig till höger om brunnslocken oberoende av möte eller ej möte,vilket kan bero på deras naturliga sidledsposition. När det inte är möte väljer många att cykla tillvänster om brunnslocken. Däremot, i situationer med möte väljer nästan ingen att cykla till vänsterom brunnslocken. Minskningen i antal som cyklar vänster om brunnslocken vid möte motsvararungefär ökningen i antal som cyklar höger om brunnslocken i samma situation. Antalet som cyklaröver brunnslock skiljer sig marginellt mellan situationer med och utan möte. Detta kan tolkas somatt cyklister byter sida om brunnslocken och undviker att cykla över dem. Vid de fyra studieplatsernaär det få som cyklar över brunnslocken vilket gör att dessa brunnslock troligen bör ses som etthinder som minskar den tillgängliga bredden.Det kan konstateras att de undersökta kabelbrunnarna är ett större hinder för cyklister änmanhålsbrunnarna. Brunnslock med kant är ett större hinder än brunnslock utan kant. Fler brunnarbehöver studeras innan det går att dra mer generella slutsatser om brunnslock på cykelbanor. Dettagäller både de undersökta brunnarna och andra sorters brunnar.Den tillgängliga bredden på studieplatserna jämfördes med rekommenderade cykelbanebredder idessa handböcker: VGU, GCM-handboken, Stockholms läns regionala cykelplan, Stockholmscykelplan, Cykeln i staden och Solnas cykelplan. Bredderna som rekommenderas i handböckernauppfylls inte sett till den tillgängliga bredden på studieplatserna. / The transport system must transform to achieve a sustainable society. Region Stockholm's goal is forthe proportion of bicycle trips to more than double by 2030 and account for 20% of all trips in thecounty. Lack of maintenance and poor cycle paths account for about 60% of serious single accidentson bicycles. This increase consequently places high demands on the design and maintenance of thebicycle infrastructure. For the cycle path's comfort to be good, it is required that the cycle pathremains even, which can come into conflict with manhole covers, as subsidence often occur at andaround the manholes. The manhole covers can be experienced as unpleasant to cycle over and havelower friction than the surrounding surface. This can cause skidding, especially if the road surface iswet. Manhole covers are common on cycle paths, in this study 1 200 manhole covers were found onthe central parts of eleven regional cycle paths. These were of varying size, position in the cycle pathand height compared to the surrounding pavement. Manhole covers can be a potential obstacle oncycle paths, which reduces the available width of the cycle path. The available width of the cyclepath is the surface that is functionally possible to cycle on. Constructed width, on the other hand, isthe width the cycle path was built with without regard to any obstacles.The purpose of the study is to investigate whether manhole covers are considered an obstacle forcyclists on cycle paths and how the manhole covers affect the available width of the four study sites.The available width of the study sites is compared with recommended cycle path widths inguidelines. The study was delimited to strive for the equivalence of the study sites and that only theproperties of the manhole covers separated the study sites. Two types of manhole covers werestudied and these two types were also studied with and without edges.The results of the study show that there is a difference between situations with and without anoncoming cyclist. A majority of cyclists stay to the right of the manhole covers regardless ofoncoming cyclist or not, which may be due to their natural lateral position. When there is nooncoming cyclist, many choose to cycle to the left of the manhole covers. However, in situations ofencounter, almost no one chooses to cycle to the left of the manhole covers. The decrease in thenumber of cyclists to the left of the manhole covers at an encounter roughly corresponds to theincrease in the number of cyclists to the right of the manhole covers in the same situation. Thenumber who cycle over manhole covers differs marginally between situations with and withoutoncoming cyclists. This can be interpreted as cyclists changing sides of the manhole covers andavoiding cycling over them. At the four study sites, few people cycle over the manhole covers, whichmeans that these manhole covers should probably be seen as an obstacle that reduces the availablewidth.It can be stated that the manhole covers with edges are a greater obstacle than manhole coverswithout edges. More manholes need to be studied before it is possible to draw more generalconclusions about manhole covers on cycle paths. This applies to both the investigated manholesand other types of manholes.The available width of the study places was compared with the recommended cycle path widths inthese guidelines: “VGU”, “GCM-handboken”, “Stockholm County's regional cycle plan”, “Stockholm'scycle plan”, “Cykeln i staden” and “Solna's cycle plan”. The widths recommended in the guidelinesare not met in terms of the available width of the study places.