See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/261059609

Vehicle detection using morphological image processing technique

Conference Paper · March 2010

DOI: 10.1109/MCIT.2010.5444851

CITATIONS READS

8 819

2 authors, including:

Aisha Ajmal
Victoria University of Wellington
6 PUBLICATIONS   28 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Aisha Ajmal on 22 June 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 MCIT 2010

Vehicle Detection Using Morphological Image Processing Technique

(1)
Aisha Ajmal and (2)Ibrahim M. Hussain
Department of Computer Engineering, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology,
Karachi−Pakistan
Email: (1)aishaajmal@hotmail.com, (2)hmmiharbi@yahoo.com

Abstract vehicles. Morphological process can also be used for

Vehicle detection and classification of vehicles play
an important role in decision making for the purpose
of traffic control and management. In this paper we
propose a novel and efficient algorithm based on
image processing using aerial cameras for vehicle
detection and classification especially in highways.
The algorithm is mainly based on a sequence of
morphological methods being applied on an image
taken by an aerial camera of a road segment. The
algorithm also uses thresholding and edge detection
techniques for vehicle detection. Experiments are
carried out over a wide range of vehicles, road
segments and camera heights. A success rate of more
than 85% and proper vehicle classification is
achieved.
1. Introduction
Image processing plays an important role in various
real time applications ranging from medical imaging to
pattern and object recognition for different purposes.
One such application is object detection of mobile
targets in a particular environment [1]. Vehicle
detection on roads is an example of such object
detection which is used for traffic analysis, monitor
and control. Hence, an initial step for traffic
controlling is vehicle detection and classification using
traffic measuring techniques. Image processing based
techniques are one of the most widely used techniques
which achieve this objective. Many algorithms have
been proposed connected with vehicle detection and
classification. In [2], image segmentation and edge
detection methods are employed. In [3], background
extraction and estimation techniques are used to isolate
the vehicles of interest. Similarly vehicle detection can
be achieved with the help of vehicle shadows [4]. This
approach becomes difficult if shadows of other objects
like overhead bridges overlap with the shadows of
vehicle classification. Classification of vehicles based
on their sizes or shapes plays an importation role in
traffic management and flow control [5]. Irrespective
of the algorithm or technique being employed, camera
positioning and the quality of camera play an
important and critical role in vehicle detection. High
altitude aerial camera is an example of camera
positioning which is often used due to its wide area
coverage [6].
In our paper, we have proposed a technique through
which the vehicles are detected and classified based on
their sizes. The algorithm is based on sequence of
morphological steps, image differencing and
thresholding. The experiments are carried out on
frames (still images) of road segments using near
vertical positioned cameras. Using the proposed
algorithm, a success rate of more than 85% is
achieved.
Rest of the paper is organized as follows: in section
2, brief descriptions of the experimental scenario along
with the initial preprocessing steps are discussed. In
section 3, the actual algorithm based on edge detection
and morphological process is proposed along with
vehicle classification. Finally conclusion is given in
section 4.
2. Pre-processing algorithm
As indicated in the previous section, camera
position plays an important role in vehicle detection
process. In our case, as we are concerned with the
counting and classification of vehicles on road vertical
or near vertical camera position is chosen to cover the
whole region of interest. Some camera positions and
the corresponding images taken by these locations are
shown in Figure 1.
Video cameras are used to monitor a road for a
specific duration. The obtained video is broken into
frames at fixed intervals. The resultant images are

65
processed individually to obtain information regarding
the number of vehicles and their classification at a
particular instant of time. Figure 2 shows a block
diagram of the proposed system for vehicle detection
and classification.
The frames are passed through two phases, pre-
processing phase and then vehicle extraction phase.
threshold value is chosen properly according to the
brightness of the image to be processed. The threshold
factor can be chosen with the help of histogram
characteristic of an image. A series of thresholding is
applied one after the other on both images which
results in multiple binary images. The addition of all
the images gives a complete refined binary image. This
process is shown in Figure 5 and the obtained images
are shown in Figure 6. Four threshold values are used:
0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 respectively. Figure 6 (e) shows
the resultant image after the addition of all threshold
images. After applying the mask on both images,
image differencing takes place which is followed by
filtering the resultant image using a median filter to
remove noise generated by image differencing. Finally
this image is fed into the vehicle detection system and
further classified. The final output image obtained
from the pre processing system is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 1. Camera position from different heights

Figure 3. Flow diagram of the system: (a) Pre-processing

and (b) Vehicle detection
Figure 2. Camera position from different heights

The flow diagram of pre-processing is shown in Fig.

3(a). The steps are as follows: for a particular road
segment on which we want to detect vehicles, two
images are taken, one without vehicles and the other
with vehicles. We call the former image the reference
image and the latter one the current image. Both
images are converted into grayscale images as shown
in Figure 4 (a,b). A mask is used on both images to
isolate region of interest (i.e. roads on which the
vehicles are located) and remove unwanted details
(e.g. paths and fixed objects). A mask and an image
with mask being applied on are shown in Figure 4
(c,d). Both these images are displayed as binary
images since applying a mask is done as binary
operation. To convert both images into binary forms, a Figure 4. (a) Gray scale reference image (b) Gray scale
series of thresholding is applied on both images. The current image (c) Mask (d) Mask applied on current image

66

Figure 5. Series of image thresholding using different
threshold factors
Figure 6. (a) to (d) Series thresholding sub-images (e)
Addition of all sub-images
Figure 7. Output of the pre-processing algorithm
3. Vehicle detection algorithm
In this section the actual processing for vehicle
detection is performed. The steps are shown in Figure
3 (b) as follows: first, edge detection is applied on the
image obtained from the preprocessed algorithm as
shown in Figure 8 (a). The reason for using edge
detection technique is to obtain contour of the vehicles.
We have used the „Sobel‟ edge detection to create
67
minimum number of edges as our goal is to have the
outer edges of the vehicle since the inner edges are
irrelevant for overall vehicle detection [7]. Second,
series of linear binary morphological dilations in three
directions horizontally, vertically and through 45
degrees are performed. The result of the three dilations
is shown in Figure 8 (b). It is obvious that the vehicles
are becoming more prominent but at the same time,
some noise objects are becoming larger. Hence these
unwanted objects can give false detection.
Furthermore, binary filling of the holes is performed as
shown in Figure 8 (c). Holes are defined as a set of
background pixels that cannot be reached by filling in
the background from the edge of image. Note that the
unwanted small objects did not increase in size as
result of the filling operation. In order to reduce the
complexity of algorithm, those objects touching the
border of the image are removed as shown in Fig 8(d).
Figure 8. (a) Edge detection (b) First dilation (c) Filling
(d) Border object removal (e) Second dilation (f) Opening
In some cases, when a single vehicle is broken into
adjacent parts due to the previous processing steps, it
is required to connect them otherwise they could be
detected as separate vehicles and gives false detection.
Thus, a second level dilation ensures the connectivity
of such disconnected parts. The structure element used
for this dilation is the diamond structure which is one
of the most efficient structures in morphological
dilation and erosion. The affect of this dilation is
evident another frame shown in Figure 9. The blue bus
on the extreme right lane in Figure 9 (a) has black roof
at three different places. Before applying the second
level of dilation as indicated by Figure 9 (b), the bus is
divided into three parts. Clearly after applying the
second level dilation as shown in Figure 9 (c), these
parts are connected as a single vehicle. Although the
second level dilations results in an increase of size of
the unwanted objects, the proportion of increase in the
 size of target vehicles and unwanted objects is same.
Hence unwanted objects could be easily detected.
Figure 9. (a) Original image (b) Before applying second
level dilation (c) After applying second level dilation
The operation we have used to remove small
unwanted objects is the binary open operation based
on the size of the objects. The range of sizes of such
objects depends on the camera height. For different
heights we have selected different opening sizes.
Objects that are 8-connected neighborhood and having
sizes smaller than the defined threshold are removed
using binary opening. Figure 8 (e,f) shows the resultant
images after the second level dilation and the removal
of unwanted objects. At this point the vehicle objects
are prominent without noise or unwanted objects and
ready to be classified.
Vehicle classification process starts with isolating
each object and reshaping it into a near polygon shape
so that it reflects the actual vehicle‟s dimensions from
an aerial camera. The objects are isolated using 8-
connectivity neighborhood. Each detected object is
assigned a label indicating the location of each vehicle.
Further, the Convex Hull of each object is calculated
and the objects are reshaped into near polygon shape.
To perform classification, each vehicle type (e.g.
small, medium and big) is assigned a measurement
range of sizes. This measurement is based on the area
and circumference of the vehicles. The object falling
within any of these ranges will be classified as small,
medium or big vehicle. The final result is shown in
Figure 10 after detection and classification of the
vehicles. The detected vehicles are indicated by
rectangular boundaries around them.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, we have developed a novel algorithm
for vehicle detection and classification based on image
processing. By combining methods of thresholding,
image differencing, edge detection and various
morphological processes, the proposed algorithm gives
a success rate of more than 85% in both vehicle
detection and classification which in turn can be very
useful for traffic analysis and management.
68
View publication stats
Figure 10. (a) Original image (b) Detected vehicles (c)
Image obtained using the proposed algorithm
References
[1] Ville Viitaniemi and Jorma Laaksonen , “Techniques
for Image Classification, Object Detection and Object
Segmentation”, in Proc. 10th international conference
on Visual Information Systems: Web-Based Visual
Information Search and Management, Sept. 2008,
Salerno, Italy, pp. 231 – 234.
[2] Hossain M. Julius, Dewan M. Ali Akber and
Chae Oksam, “Moving Object Detection for Real Time
Video Surveillance: An Edge Based Approach”, IEICE
Transactions on Communications, vol. 90, no.
12, pp. 3654 – 3664.
[3] Saad M. Al-Garni, and Adel A. Abdennour, “Moving
vehicle detection using automatic background
extraction”, in proc. World Academy of Science,
Engineering and Technology 2006, Dec. 2006, Sydney,
Australia, vol. 24, pp. 82-86.
[4] Yoichiro Iwasaki and Hisato Itoyama, “Real-time
Vehicle Detection Using Information of Shadows
Underneath Vehicles”, Book Chapter of Advances in
Computer, Information, and Systems Sciences, and
Engineering, Publisher, Springer Netherlands, pp. 94-
98.
[5] Gupte, S.; Masoud, O.; Martin, R.F.K. and Papanik
olopoulos, N.P, “Detection and Classification of
Vehicles”, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent
Transportation Systems, vol. 3, no. 1, Mar 2002, pp.
37 – 47.
[6] Sompoch, P. and Shibasiki R., “Vehicle Detection from
Ultra-high Resolution Aerial Image, Three Line
Scanner”, in proc. Geoinformation Forum Japan 2003,
Tokyo, Japan, July 2003, pp. 159-164.
[7] Weihua Wang, “Reach on Sobel Operator for Vehicle
Recognition”, in proc. IEEE International Joint
Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2009, July 2009,
California, USA, pp.448-451.