Thermal and Infrared Cameras for Airside Autonomous Vehicles
The Missing Sensor: Night Operations, Personnel Safety, and Jet Blast Detection
Last updated: 2026-04-11
Table of Contents
- Why Thermal for Airside
- IR Wavelength Bands
- Detector Technologies
- Automotive-Grade Products
- Airside-Specific Applications
- Thermal + Visible Fusion
- Perception Models for Thermal
- Deployment on NVIDIA Orin
- Cost Analysis
- Recommended Configuration
- References
1. Why Thermal for Airside
1.1 The Night Operations Gap
Airport airside operations run 24/7. During night shifts, the critical perception challenges are:
| Challenge | Visible Camera | LiDAR | 4D Radar | Thermal Camera |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel at 50m (night) | Fails (poor lighting) | Detects (3D point) | Detects (velocity) | Excellent (body heat) |
| Personnel behind GSE | Fails (occlusion) | Partial | Detects (through gaps) | Detects (heat signature through gaps) |
| Hi-vis vest effectiveness | Day: good, Night: 84-88% AEB failure | N/A | N/A | N/A — detects person, not vest |
| Jet engine running vs stopped | Cannot distinguish | Cannot distinguish | Detects blade rotation | Clear (exhaust plume visible) |
| Fuel spill on apron | Difficult (transparent) | Cannot detect | Cannot detect | Detects (evaporative cooling) |
| De-icing fluid coverage | Cannot assess | Cannot assess | Cannot assess | Clear (thermal contrast) |
| Fire detection | Visible flame only | Cannot detect | Cannot detect | Detects (early, even small) |
| Tire/brake heat | Cannot see | Cannot see | Cannot see | Clear (overheating visible) |
1.2 The Hi-Vis Paradox
From 70-operations-domains/airside/safety/ground-crew-pedestrian-safety.md:
Hi-vis clothing causes 84-88% failure rate in camera-based Automatic Emergency Braking at night due to retroreflective overexposure creating blooming artifacts.
Thermal cameras solve this completely. They detect the human body's thermal signature (~37°C) against the ambient background, regardless of clothing. Hi-vis vest is invisible to thermal — the person is always detectable.
1.3 Unique Airside Thermal Signatures
| Object | Typical Temperature | Thermal Contrast | Detection Ease |
|---|---|---|---|
| Running jet engine exhaust | 400-600°C | Extreme | Trivial |
| Jet exhaust plume (100m) | 50-150°C above ambient | Very high | Easy |
| Human body | 37°C (always) | 10-25°C above ambient | Very easy |
| Recently-run APU | 80-150°C | High | Easy |
| Hot brakes (after landing) | 150-300°C | Very high | Easy |
| Fuel spill (evaporative cooling) | 5-15°C below ambient | Medium | Moderate |
| De-icing fluid on surface | 3-8°C below ambient | Low-medium | Moderate |
| Tire marks (friction heat) | 5-20°C above ambient | Low-medium | Moderate |
| Vehicle engine compartment | 80-110°C | High | Easy |
| Heated building (winter) | 10-30°C above ambient | Medium | Easy |
| Metal GSE in sun | Up to 70°C above ambient | High | Easy (can cause false positives) |
2. IR Wavelength Bands
2.1 Spectrum Overview
Visible | NIR | SWIR | MWIR | LWIR | VLWIR
0.4-0.7 | 0.7-1 | 1-2.5 | 3-5 | 8-14 | >14 μm
| | | | |
Cameras | Night | See | Cooled | Uncooled|
| vision | through | InSb | Micro- |
| (Si) | fog | FPA | bolom. |
| | (InGaAs)| | (VOx) |2.2 Band Comparison for Airside
| Band | Wavelength | Detector | Cooling | Cost | Best For (Airside) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIR | 0.7-1.0 μm | Silicon CCD/CMOS | None | $100-500 | Cheap night vision with active IR illumination |
| SWIR | 1.0-2.5 μm | InGaAs | None/TEC | $5-20K | Seeing through fog, smoke, de-icing mist |
| MWIR | 3-5 μm | InSb, MCT, T2SL | Cryo (-200°C) | $20-100K | Highest sensitivity, gas detection, long range |
| LWIR | 8-14 μm | VOx microbolometer | None (uncooled) | $500-5K | Best overall for AV: personnel, engines, low cost |
Recommended for airside AV: LWIR (8-14 μm)
- Uncooled = no cryocooler = lower cost, smaller, more reliable
- Peak thermal emission from room-temperature objects (Wien's law: 37°C body peaks at ~9.3 μm)
- Through atmosphere window (minimal absorption)
- Automotive-grade products available from multiple vendors
2.3 Atmospheric Windows
IR radiation must pass through atmosphere to reach camera.
Two main transmission windows:
Window 1: 3-5 μm (MWIR)
- Good transmission
- Hot objects (engines, exhaust) emit strongly here
- BUT: requires cryogenic cooling
Window 2: 8-14 μm (LWIR)
- Excellent transmission
- Room-temperature objects emit strongly here
- Uncooled detectors available
- BEST for personnel detection
Between windows (5-8 μm): strong atmospheric absorption (water vapor)
→ Useless for outdoor imaging3. Detector Technologies
3.1 Microbolometer (LWIR)
The dominant technology for automotive/AV thermal cameras:
Operating principle:
IR photons → absorbed by thin film (VOx or a-Si)
→ temperature rise → resistance change → voltage change
→ no cooling needed (operates at room temperature)
Key specs (state-of-art 2025):
Pixel pitch: 12 μm (high-end), 17 μm (standard), 25 μm (legacy)
Resolution: 640×480 (VGA), 1024×768 (XGA), 1280×1024 (SXGA)
NETD: 30-50 mK (can detect 0.03°C differences)
Frame rate: 30-60 Hz (some up to 120 Hz for fast objects)
Response time: 8-12 ms
Manufacturers (detector):
- ULIS / Lynred (France) — market leader, VOx, 12μm pixel
- DRS / Leonardo DRS (US) — military + automotive
- BAE Systems (UK) — VOx
- Raytron (China) — fast-growing, competitive pricing3.2 Cooled InSb/MCT (MWIR)
For maximum performance (military, high-end surveillance):
Operating principle:
IR photons → directly excite electrons in semiconductor
→ photocurrent proportional to IR intensity
→ requires cryogenic cooling to ~77K (-196°C)
Key specs:
Pixel pitch: 10-30 μm
Resolution: up to 2048×2048
NETD: 10-20 mK (2-5x better than microbolometer)
Frame rate: up to 1000 Hz
Cost: $20K-100K per camera (cooler dominates cost)
Size/weight: 2-5x larger than uncooled
MTBF: 5,000-10,000 hours (cooler limited)
NOT recommended for airside AV due to cost and reliability.
Exception: airport-wide surveillance from tower (shared infrastructure cost).4. Automotive-Grade Products
4.1 FLIR / Teledyne FLIR
Teledyne FLIR is the dominant thermal camera brand, with dedicated automotive products:
| Product | Type | Resolution | Pixel Pitch | NETD | Interface | Price (Est.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boson 640 | Core module | 640×512 | 12 μm | <40 mK | CMOS parallel, USB | $3-6K |
| Boson 320 | Core module | 320×256 | 12 μm | <50 mK | CMOS parallel, USB | $1.5-3K |
| Lepton 3.5 | Micro module | 160×120 | 12 μm | <50 mK | SPI, I2C | $200-400 |
| ADK (Auto Dev Kit) | Full camera | 640×512 | 12 μm | <40 mK | GigE, CAN | $5-10K |
| PathFindIR III | Automotive | 320×240 | 25 μm | <60 mK | NTSC analog | $3-5K |
Boson 640 is the recommended core for airside AV:
- Automotive-grade (-40°C to +80°C operating)
- 12 μm pixel pitch (state of the art for uncooled)
- 640×512 resolution — sufficient for pedestrian detection at 100m+
- Multiple lens options (4.9mm to 50mm focal length)
- Radiometric output (actual temperature values, not just relative)
- ITAR-controlled (US export restrictions may apply)
4.2 Seek Thermal
| Product | Resolution | Interface | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seek Starter Kit | 206×156 | USB-C | $150-250 | Dev evaluation only |
| Seek Mosaic Core | 320×240 | MIPI CSI-2 | $500-1K | Embeddable, automotive-intent |
| Seek Mosaic Pro | 640×480 | MIPI CSI-2, GigE | $2-4K | AV-grade, wide dynamic range |
Seek Mosaic Pro is a strong alternative to FLIR Boson:
- Non-ITAR (no US export restrictions)
- MIPI CSI-2 interface (direct to Orin)
- Automotive-grade temperature range
- Competitive pricing
4.3 InfiRay (China)
| Product | Resolution | NETD | Interface | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT61 | 640×512 | <30 mK | GigE | $2-4K | Best NETD in class |
| AT31 | 384×288 | <35 mK | GigE, USB3 | $1.5-3K | Mid-range |
| Micro III | 256×192 | <40 mK | USB-C, MIPI | $300-600 | Compact module |
InfiRay AT61 offers the best noise performance (<30 mK NETD) at competitive pricing. Subject to CFIUS/entity list considerations for US/EU military-adjacent applications.
4.4 Lynred (France, European Alternative)
Lynred (formerly Sofradir + ULIS) manufactures the detectors used by many thermal camera brands:
| Product | Resolution | Pitch | Technology | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PICO1024 Gen2 | 1024×768 | 12 μm | a-Si | Highest resolution uncooled |
| PICO640 Gen2 | 640×480 | 12 μm | a-Si | Standard automotive |
| Micro80 Gen2 | 80×80 | 12 μm | a-Si | Ultra-compact for array configs |
Lynred detectors are used in cameras from Teledyne FLIR (Boson family), Opgal, Guide Sensmart, and others. For a European supply chain, Lynred + European integrator avoids ITAR/Chinese supply chain concerns.
5. Airside-Specific Applications
5.1 Personnel Detection at Night
The primary safety use case. 27,000 ramp accidents per year, many at night.
Thermal personnel detection at night:
Human body: ~33-35°C skin, ~37°C core
Ambient (night): -10°C to 25°C (seasonal)
ΔT: 8-47°C → ALWAYS detectable in LWIR
Detection range (640×512, 19mm lens):
- Person detection: >200m
- Person recognition: >100m
- Identification: >50m
Detection range (640×512, 6.3mm lens, wide angle):
- Person detection: >80m
- Person recognition: >40m
Comparison with visible camera at night:
Visible + apron lighting: detect person at ~20-30m (unreliable)
Thermal LWIR: detect person at ~80-200m (highly reliable)
Improvement: 3-8x detection range at night5.2 Jet Blast Zone Detection
Jet engine exhaust temperature profile:
Engine type | Exhaust temp (nozzle) | At 50m behind | At 100m behind
───────────── | ───────────────────── | ────────────── | ───────────────
Turbofan (CFM56)| 600°C | ~80°C | ~40°C
Turbofan (LEAP) | 550°C | ~70°C | ~35°C
APU | 300-400°C | ~40°C | ~25°C
Turboprop | 500°C | ~60°C | ~30°C
LWIR thermal camera can:
1. Detect engine exhaust plume shape and extent
2. Determine if engines are running or shutdown
3. Estimate blast danger zone in real-time
4. Detect unexpected engine start during pushback
This is IMPOSSIBLE with any other sensor:
- Visible camera: cannot see hot air (transparent)
- LiDAR: cannot detect gas (no solid particles)
- Radar: partially detects turbulence, unreliable
- Thermal: CLEARLY sees entire exhaust plume5.3 De-Icing Fluid Monitoring
De-icing fluid (Type I/IV glycol):
- Applied at 60-80°C
- Cools to ambient over 5-30 minutes
- Thermal camera shows:
- Coverage completeness (is entire wing surface treated?)
- Holdover time estimation (how fast is it cooling?)
- Re-freeze detection (sudden temperature drop)
Application for autonomous de-icing GSE:
- Thermal-guided spray pattern optimization
- Automated coverage verification
- Holdover time monitoring → signal departure readiness5.4 FOD Detection
Foreign Object Debris detection via thermal contrast:
Day: FOD on concrete apron has different thermal mass
- Metal FOD heats faster than concrete in sun
- Rubber FOD absorbs more IR
- Detection: moderate (depends on ΔT)
Night: FOD retains different heat than concrete
- Metal cools faster → colder than concrete
- Rubber retains heat → warmer than concrete
- Detection: moderate-good
Best approach: thermal + visible fusion
- Visible: detects color/shape contrast
- Thermal: detects temperature contrast
- Fusion: catches what either alone misses5.5 Fire and Fuel Spill Detection
Fire detection:
- Thermal camera detects flame at 600-1500°C
- Also detects pre-fire conditions (overheating components)
- Sub-second detection (vs minutes for smoke detectors)
- Range: 100m+ for small fire
Fuel spill:
- Jet fuel (Jet A-1) evaporates at ~40°C
- Evaporative cooling creates thermal signature
- Spill appears as cool region on warm concrete
- Detection possible even for thin films
Combined with 4D radar:
- Radar detects liquid surface reflectivity change
- Thermal confirms evaporative cooling signature
- Dual confirmation reduces false positives6. Thermal + Visible Fusion
6.1 Fusion Approaches
Approach 1: Pixel-level fusion (early fusion)
Thermal image + Visible image → Aligned → Combined multi-channel image
→ Single detection model on fused input
Pros: Maximum information available to model
Cons: Requires precise alignment (registration), different resolutions
Approach 2: Feature-level fusion (intermediate fusion)
Thermal → Backbone → Features ──┐
├── Fusion module → Detection head
Visible → Backbone → Features ──┘
Pros: Handles misalignment better, can use different backbones
Cons: More complex architecture
Approach 3: Decision-level fusion (late fusion)
Thermal → Full detector → Detections ──┐
├── NMS/merge → Final detections
Visible → Full detector → Detections ──┘
Pros: Simplest, independent failure modes
Cons: Cannot recover what either detector alone missed6.2 Registration / Alignment
Thermal and visible cameras have different optics, resolution, and field of view. Alignment options:
| Method | Accuracy | Effort | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stereo calibration | Sub-pixel | One-time setup | Use checkerboard heated with IR lamp |
| Deep homography | ~2 pixel | Learned | Neural network predicts alignment |
| Feature matching | Variable | Automatic | Fails when thermal/visible features differ greatly |
| Co-located sensor | Perfect (shared optics) | None | Expensive dual-sensor cameras available |
Recommended for airside: Stereo calibration (one-time) + deep homography refinement (handles small shifts from vibration/thermal expansion).
6.3 Key Datasets for Thermal Perception
| Dataset | Year | Modalities | Annotations | Size | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAIST | 2015 | Visible + LWIR | Pedestrian bbox | 95K pairs | Pedestrian detection, day/night |
| LLVIP | 2021 | Visible + LWIR | Pedestrian bbox | 16.8K pairs | Low-light visible + infrared |
| FLIR ADAS v2 | 2022 | Visible + LWIR | 4 classes bbox | 26.4K thermal | Automotive (vehicles, people, bikes, dogs) |
| M3FD | 2022 | Visible + LWIR | 6 classes bbox | 4.2K pairs | Multi-modal fusion, fog/night |
| DroneVehicle | 2022 | Visible + LWIR | Oriented bbox | 56.9K pairs | Aerial vehicle detection |
| InfiRay MOOD | 2023 | Visible + LWIR | 6 classes bbox | 1.5K pairs | Automotive, Chinese driving |
No airside thermal dataset exists. This is another gap and opportunity.
6.4 Night Performance Comparison
From KAIST and LLVIP benchmarks:
| Method | Day (Visible) | Night (Visible) | Night (Thermal) | Night (Fusion) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOLOv5 (pedestrian) | 91.2% | 62.8% | 84.3% | 89.7% |
| Faster R-CNN | 89.1% | 58.4% | 81.2% | 87.3% |
| Thermal-only YOLO | — | — | 85.1% | — |
| Halfway Fusion | — | — | — | 91.4% |
Key insight: Thermal alone at night (84-85%) nearly matches visible during day (89-91%). Thermal+visible fusion at night (89-91%) achieves near-daytime performance.
7. Perception Models for Thermal
7.1 Pre-trained Models Available
| Model | Framework | Thermal Dataset | Performance | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOLOv8 (fine-tuned on FLIR) | Ultralytics | FLIR ADAS v2 | ~80% mAP pedestrian | AGPL/Enterprise |
| YOLOX-Thermal | YOLOX | KAIST | ~76% mAP pedestrian | Apache 2.0 |
| Thermal-DETR | DETR variant | LLVIP | ~82% mAP pedestrian | Research |
| ThermalDet | Custom | Multi-dataset | ~85% mAP pedestrian | Research |
7.2 Domain Adaptation for Airside
Road thermal datasets (KAIST, FLIR ADAS) have different characteristics from airside:
| Aspect | Road Thermal | Airside Thermal |
|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | Casual clothing, varied poses | Hi-vis + PPE, airport-specific gear |
| Vehicles | Cars, trucks, buses | GSE (tractors, belt loaders, fuel trucks) |
| Background | Asphalt, buildings, trees | Concrete, aircraft, jet bridges |
| Temperature | Wide ambient range | Similar, plus jet exhaust heat |
| Viewing angle | Dash-mounted (1.2-1.5m) | Various (1-3m on GSE) |
Transfer learning strategy:
- Start with YOLO/DETR pre-trained on COCO (visible)
- Fine-tune on FLIR ADAS thermal dataset (general thermal)
- Fine-tune on small airside thermal dataset (100-500 annotated frames)
- Expected: >80% mAP for personnel detection with just 200 airside frames
7.3 Thermal Object Detection on Orin
Pipeline: Thermal camera → GStreamer → TensorRT inference → ROS topic
GStreamer pipeline for thermal camera:
gst-launch-1.0 \
v4l2src device=/dev/video_thermal ! \
video/x-raw,format=GRAY16_LE,width=640,height=512,framerate=30/1 ! \
videoconvert ! \
appsink name=thermal_sink
TensorRT model:
Input: 640×512 single-channel (16-bit thermal)
Model: YOLOv8s fine-tuned for thermal
Output: bounding boxes + class labels
Latency on Orin (FP16): ~8-12ms per frame
Memory: ~500 MB
Power: ~5W
ROS integration:
/thermal_raw (sensor_msgs/Image, encoding=mono16)
/thermal_detections (vision_msgs/Detection2DArray)
/thermal_overlay (sensor_msgs/Image — visualization with boxes)8. Deployment on NVIDIA Orin
8.1 Camera Interface Options
| Interface | Bandwidth | Latency | Orin Support | Recommended For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIPI CSI-2 | Up to 2.5 Gbps/lane | <1ms | Native (16 CSI-2 ports) | Direct connection, lowest latency |
| GigE Vision | 1 Gbps | 1-5ms | Via NIC (PCIe) | Standard industrial, longer cable |
| USB3 | 5 Gbps | 1-3ms | Native USB3.2 | Development, less reliable for production |
| Analog (NTSC) | N/A | ~33ms | Via capture card | Legacy cameras only |
Recommended: MIPI CSI-2 for Orin integration (direct, lowest latency, no additional hardware). Boson 640 and Seek Mosaic both support MIPI CSI-2.
8.2 Thermal Camera Integration Diagram
Orin AGX Developer Kit
├── CSI Port 0-3: Visible cameras (4× surround)
├── CSI Port 4-5: Thermal cameras (2× front + rear)
│ ├── FLIR Boson 640 (front, 50mm lens) — long range
│ └── Seek Mosaic Pro (rear, wide angle) — close range
├── Ethernet: LiDAR data (4-8× RoboSense)
├── CAN: Vehicle bus
└── USB: IMU, GPS
Processing pipeline:
CSI thermal → ISP bypass (raw 14-bit) → NvBufSurface
→ TensorRT inference (YOLO thermal, 8ms) → ROS topic
Total thermal pipeline latency: <15ms
Additional GPU load: ~3-5W, ~500 MB8.3 Multi-Spectral BEV Fusion
For full-stack integration, thermal can be fused into the BEV perception pipeline:
Visible cameras (6-8) → Image backbone → BEV features
Thermal cameras (2-4) → Thermal backbone → BEV features (separate)
LiDAR (4-8) → PointPillars → BEV features
All BEV features → Multi-modal BEV fusion (BEVFusion-style)
→ Unified 3D perception
Thermal channels: Add thermal BEV as additional modality
- Same LSS (Lift-Splat-Shoot) projection as visible cameras
- But thermal provides complementary information:
- People detected even when visible fails (night, hi-vis blooming)
- Engine status visible (running/stopped)
- Hot exhaust zones mapped9. Cost Analysis
9.1 Per-Vehicle Cost
| Component | Quantity | Unit Cost | Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FLIR Boson 640 (core) | 2 | $4-6K | $8-12K | Front + rear |
| Lens (19mm, f/1.0) | 2 | $500-1K | $1-2K | Matched to Boson |
| Housing (IP67, automotive) | 2 | $500-1K | $1-2K | Weatherproof enclosure |
| MIPI CSI-2 adapter board | 2 | $200-400 | $400-800 | Interface to Orin |
| Calibration + integration | 1 | $2-5K | $2-5K | Engineering time |
| Total per vehicle | $12.4-21.8K |
Alternative (budget):
| Component | Quantity | Unit Cost | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seek Mosaic Pro (core) | 2 | $2-4K | $4-8K |
| Lens + housing | 2 | $1-1.5K | $2-3K |
| Integration | 1 | $2-3K | $2-3K |
| Total per vehicle | $8-14K |
9.2 Infrastructure Thermal Cameras
For fixed infrastructure (stand monitoring, taxiway surveillance):
| Use Case | Camera | Quantity/Airport | Cost Each | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stand personnel monitoring | FLIR A700 (fixed) | 20-40 (1 per stand) | $5-8K | $100-320K |
| Taxiway intersection | PTZ thermal | 5-10 | $8-15K | $40-150K |
| Wide-area surveillance | Pan-tilt thermal | 2-4 (on towers) | $15-30K | $30-120K |
| Total infrastructure | $170-590K |
9.3 ROI for Night Safety
| Metric | Without Thermal | With Thermal |
|---|---|---|
| Night pedestrian detection range | 20-30m (visible) | 80-200m (thermal) |
| Night detection reliability | 60-70% | 95%+ |
| Ramp incident reduction | Baseline | Est. 30-50% fewer incidents |
| Annual ramp incident cost (per airport) | $2-10M | $1-5M |
| Annual savings | $1-5M | |
| Payback period (per vehicle) | <1 year |
10. Recommended Configuration
10.1 Vehicle-Mounted Thermal (2 cameras per GSE)
Position 1: Front-facing, long range
Camera: FLIR Boson 640 + 19mm f/1.0 lens
FoV: 32° × 26°
Range: 200m+ person detection
Purpose: Forward path safety, approaching aircraft, jet blast
Position 2: Rear/side, wide angle
Camera: FLIR Boson 640 + 6.3mm f/1.0 lens
FoV: 95° × 75°
Range: 50m+ person detection
Purpose: Close-range personnel, reversing safety, side clearance
Optional Position 3-4: Additional side-facing for 360° coverage
Camera: Seek Mosaic Pro (lower cost)
Purpose: Complete surround thermal coverage10.2 Integration Priority
| Priority | Integration Step | Effort | Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount 2× thermal on one test vehicle | 2-4 weeks | Night personnel detection proof-of-concept |
| 2 | Train YOLO on FLIR ADAS + small airside set | 1-2 weeks | Thermal person/vehicle detector |
| 3 | Late fusion with existing LiDAR pipeline | 2-4 weeks | Combined day/night detection |
| 4 | BEV fusion (thermal + LiDAR + visible) | 2-3 months | Full multi-spectral perception |
| 5 | Jet blast zone estimation from thermal | 1-2 months | Unique safety feature |
10.3 Sensor Suite Update
Adding thermal to the recommended airside sensor suite (from 90-synthesis/master/master-synthesis.md):
| Sensor | Qty | Purpose | Airside Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cameras (surround) | 6-8 | Primary perception | Rich semantic info |
| Thermal LWIR | 2-4 | Night safety, jet blast | Personnel at night, engine status |
| LiDAR (128-ch) | 1 | 3D geometry | Large objects, localization |
| 4D Radar | 2-4 | Velocity, all-weather | Rain, de-icing, fog |
| RTK-GNSS | 1 | Localization | cm-level in open areas |
| ADS-B receiver | 1 | Aircraft awareness | Real-time aircraft positions |
| IMU | 1 | Dead reckoning | Bridge GPS gaps |
11. References
Products
- FLIR Boson:
https://www.flir.com/products/boson/ - FLIR ADK:
https://www.flir.com/products/adk/ - Seek Thermal Mosaic:
https://www.thermal.com/mosaic-core.html - InfiRay AT Series:
https://www.infiray.com/thermal-modules.html - Lynred PICO series:
https://www.lynred.com/products
Datasets
- KAIST Multispectral Pedestrian:
https://soonminhwang.github.io/rgbt-ped-detection/ - LLVIP:
https://bupt-ai-cz.github.io/LLVIP/ - FLIR ADAS v2:
https://www.flir.com/oem/adas/adas-dataset-agree/ - M3FD: Multi-modal Fusion Dataset for autonomous driving
Papers
- Hwang et al., "Multispectral Pedestrian Detection: Benchmark Dataset and Baseline," CVPR 2015
- Jia et al., "LLVIP: A Visible-Infrared Paired Dataset for Low-Light Vision," ICCV 2021
- Zhang et al., "Multispectral Fusion for Object Detection with Cyclic Fuse-and-Refine Blocks," ICIP 2020
- Cao et al., "Attention-Guided Multi-modal and Multi-scale Fusion for Multispectral Pedestrian Detection," IEEE TITS 2023
Related Documents
| Topic | Document |
|---|---|
| 4D radar (all-weather primary) | 20-av-platform/sensors/4d-radar.md |
| Ground crew safety (hi-vis paradox) | 70-operations-domains/airside/safety/ground-crew-pedestrian-safety.md |
| Adverse conditions (de-icing, fog) | 60-safety-validation/verification-validation/robustness/airside-adverse-conditions.md |
| FOD and jet blast | 70-operations-domains/airside/operations/fod-and-jetblast.md |
| Production perception systems | 30-autonomy-stack/perception/overview/production-perception-systems.md |
| Sensor fusion architectures | 30-autonomy-stack/perception/overview/sensor-fusion-architectures.md |
| NVIDIA Orin technical | 20-av-platform/compute/nvidia-orin-technical.md |
| Infrastructure cooperative perception | 30-autonomy-stack/perception/overview/infrastructure-cooperative-perception.md |