A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications

Visible spectrum cameras have emerged as a key technology in Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) and automated vehicles. An important question to be answered is how these sensors perform in challenging adverse weather conditions, such as rain. Although progress has been made in determining th...

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Main Authors: Diarmaid Geever, Tim Brophy, Dara Molloy, Enda Ward, Brian Deegan, Martin Glavin, Edward Jones
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10981986/
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author Diarmaid Geever
Tim Brophy
Dara Molloy
Enda Ward
Brian Deegan
Martin Glavin
Edward Jones
author_facet Diarmaid Geever
Tim Brophy
Dara Molloy
Enda Ward
Brian Deegan
Martin Glavin
Edward Jones
author_sort Diarmaid Geever
collection DOAJ
description Visible spectrum cameras have emerged as a key technology in Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) and automated vehicles. An important question to be answered is how these sensors perform in challenging adverse weather conditions, such as rain. Although progress has been made in determining the impact of rain on computer vision performance, previous studies have generally focused on end-to-end object detection system performance and have not addressed the specific impact of rain in detail. Moreover, the lack of image datasets with detailed labeling acquired under rain conditions means that the impact of rain remains a relatively under-researched question. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of rain in the propagation path on perception tasks, where other factors affecting performance are removed or controlled as far as possible. This study presents the results of controlled experimental testing designed to measure the impact of rain on automated vehicle perception performance. Object detection is performed on the captured data to determine the impact of rain on performance. Four object detection algorithms, a segmentation algorithm, and an optical character recognition algorithm are used as representative examples of typical algorithms used in ADAS. It is shown that the impact of rain varies between models, and at larger distances, rain has a greater impact. In the case of the OCR algorithm, rain is shown to have a larger impact at certain distances. The findings of this study are useful for ADAS design, as they provide more detailed insight into the impact of rain on ADAS and provide guidance on potential breaking points for algorithms typically used in this type of system.
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spelling doaj-art-bd3afbd5941142f7b2b3b04f64e528442025-08-20T03:21:34ZengIEEEIEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology2644-13302025-01-0161287130210.1109/OJVT.2025.356625110981986A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive ApplicationsDiarmaid Geever0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5925-3320Tim Brophy1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1229-841XDara Molloy2Enda Ward3https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4325-5117Brian Deegan4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3678-7605Martin Glavin5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1477-4835Edward Jones6https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1521-4442Lero the Research Ireland Centre for Software, Limerick, IrelandLero the Research Ireland Centre for Software, Limerick, IrelandValeo, Tuam, Company Galway, Galway, IrelandValeo, Tuam, Company Galway, Galway, IrelandLero the Research Ireland Centre for Software, Limerick, IrelandLero the Research Ireland Centre for Software, Limerick, IrelandLero the Research Ireland Centre for Software, Limerick, IrelandVisible spectrum cameras have emerged as a key technology in Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) and automated vehicles. An important question to be answered is how these sensors perform in challenging adverse weather conditions, such as rain. Although progress has been made in determining the impact of rain on computer vision performance, previous studies have generally focused on end-to-end object detection system performance and have not addressed the specific impact of rain in detail. Moreover, the lack of image datasets with detailed labeling acquired under rain conditions means that the impact of rain remains a relatively under-researched question. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of rain in the propagation path on perception tasks, where other factors affecting performance are removed or controlled as far as possible. This study presents the results of controlled experimental testing designed to measure the impact of rain on automated vehicle perception performance. Object detection is performed on the captured data to determine the impact of rain on performance. Four object detection algorithms, a segmentation algorithm, and an optical character recognition algorithm are used as representative examples of typical algorithms used in ADAS. It is shown that the impact of rain varies between models, and at larger distances, rain has a greater impact. In the case of the OCR algorithm, rain is shown to have a larger impact at certain distances. The findings of this study are useful for ADAS design, as they provide more detailed insight into the impact of rain on ADAS and provide guidance on potential breaking points for algorithms typically used in this type of system.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10981986/ADAScomputer visionobject detectionoptical character recognitionrain
spellingShingle Diarmaid Geever
Tim Brophy
Dara Molloy
Enda Ward
Brian Deegan
Martin Glavin
Edward Jones
A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications
IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology
ADAS
computer vision
object detection
optical character recognition
rain
title A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications
title_full A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications
title_fullStr A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications
title_full_unstemmed A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications
title_short A Study on the Impact of Rain on Object Detection for Automotive Applications
title_sort study on the impact of rain on object detection for automotive applications
topic ADAS
computer vision
object detection
optical character recognition
rain
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10981986/
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