This study is the first to develop technology to evaluate the object recognition performance of camera sensors, which are increasingly important in autonomous vehicles owing to their relatively low price, and to verify the efficiency of camera recognition algorithms in obstruction situations. To this end, the concentration and color of the blockage and the type and color of the object were set as major factors, with their effects on camera recognition performance analyzed using a camera simulator based on a virtual test drive toolkit. The results show that the blockage concentration has the largest impact on object recognition, followed in order by the object type, blockage color, and object color. As for the blockage color, black exhibited better recognition performance than gray and yellow. In addition, changes in the blockage color affected the recognition of object types, resulting in different responses to each object. Through this study, we propose a blockage-based camera recognition performance evaluation method using simulation, and we establish an algorithm evaluation environment for various manufacturers through an interface with an actual camera. By suggesting the necessity and timing of future camera lens cleaning, we provide manufacturers with technical measures to improve the cleaning timing and camera safety.
Keywords: autonomous vehicles; blockage color; camera sensor; object color; object recognition.