Real time traffic sign detection using color and shape-based features

Abstract

This paper presents a new approach for color detection and segmentation based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) to retrieve candidate regions of traffic signs in real-time video processing. Instead of processing on each pixel, this approach utilizes a block of pixels as an input vector of SVM for color classification, where the dimension of each vector can be extended by a group of neighboring pixels. This helps to handle the diversification of data on both training and testing samples. After that, Hough transform and contour detection are applied to verify the candidate regions by detecting shapes of circle and triangle. The experimental results are highly accurate and robust for our testing database, where samples are recorded on various states of environment. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.