# Improving the perception of visual fiducial markers in the field using Adaptive Active Exposure Control

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.12055 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.12055/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 20 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Apr 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Fast Underwater Image Enhancement for Improved Visual Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.09766/) (2019)
- [Gradient-based Camera Exposure Control for Outdoor Mobile Platforms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.07338/) (2017)
- [STag: A Stable Fiducial Marker System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.06292/) (2017)
- [Real-time Model-based Image Color Correction for Underwater Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.06437/) (2019)
- [Buoyancy enabled autonomous underwater construction with cement blocks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.05552/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Accurate localization is fundamental for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to carry out precise tasks, such as manipulation and construction. Vision-based solutions using fiducial marker are promising, but extremely challenging underwater because of harsh lighting condition underwater. This paper introduces a gradient-based active camera exposure control method to tackle sharp lighting variations during image acquisition, which can establish better foundation for subsequent image enhancement procedures. Considering a typical scenario for underwater operations where visual tags are used, we proposed several experiments comparing our method with other state-of-the-art exposure control method including Active Exposure Control (AEC) and Gradient-based Exposure Control (GEC). Results show a significant improvement in the accuracy of robot localization. This method is an important component that can be used in visual-based state estimation pipeline to improve the overall localization accuracy.