The Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) has entered the global standards competition by leading the development of international standards in the field of autonomous vehicle perception sensors. The core objective is to establish criteria for evaluating the performance of automotive thermal imaging cameras as international standards.

KETI announced on the 26th that it is leading the development of the international standard 'ISO 26284' for testing methods for thermal imaging cameras for automobiles. The standard is being pursued by a working group under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee on Road Vehicles.

ISO 26284 is a test standard for evaluating the image quality performance of far-infrared (FIR)-based thermal imaging cameras. It aims to measure the performance of thermal imaging sensors used for recognizing the surrounding environment of a vehicle in a consistent manner.

Thermal imaging cameras are sensors capable of detecting people or objects even in low-light nighttime environments. As one of the perception sensors utilized in autonomous driving and driver assistance systems, it is classified as a technology directly related to safety.

This standard defines key performance indicators related to image quality, test environments, evaluation procedures, etc. The purpose of this is to verify whether the thermal imaging camera mounted on the vehicle maintains adequate performance in actual operating environments.

In particular, evaluation criteria related to nighttime pedestrian detection performance are also expected to be included, taking into account the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)'s Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) regulation, FMVSS No. 127.

The KETI Mobility Platform Research Center is pursuing development with the goal of establishing an international standard by 2029. It is coordinating the standard draft in cooperation with major countries, including Korea, China, Japan, and Canada.

In the standard development process, the drafting of a Working Draft (WD) and technical review are carried out in parallel. Researchers from KETI and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) are responsible for designing and verifying the standard proposal.

This project is being implemented with the support of the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards and aims to internationalize performance measurement technology for automotive thermal imaging cameras.

KETI plans to expand cooperation with international experts in the future to improve the completeness of the standard and proceed with the final publication.