The objective of this dissertation is to develop a Multi-Camera Lane Departure Warning (MCLDW) system and a framework to evaluate it. A Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system is a safety feature that is included in a few luxury automobiles. Using a single camera, it performs the task of informing the driver if a lane change is imminent. The core component of an LDW system is a lane detector, whose objective is to find lane markers on the road. Therefore, we start this dissertation by explaining the requirements of an ideal lane detector, and then present several algorithmic implementations that meet these requirements. After selecting the best implementation, we present the MCLDW methodology. Using a multi-camera setup, MCLDW system combines the detected lane marker information from each camera's view to estimate the immediate distance between the vehicle and the lane marker, and signals a warning if this distance is under a certain threshold. Next, we introduce a procedure to create ground truth and a database of videos which serve as the framework for evaluation. Ground truth is created using an efficient procedure called Time-Slicing that allows the user to quickly annotate the true locations of the lane markers in each frame of the videos. Subsequently, we describe the details of a database of driving videos that has been put together to help establish a benchmark for evaluating existing lane detectors and LDW systems. Finally, we conclude the dissertation by citing the contributions of the research and discussing the avenues for future work.

Durch das I-FAS der TU Chemnitz wurde im Rahmen des AKTIV-Projektes eine Probandenstudie zur Akzeptanz von Systemausprägungen einer Aktiven Gefahrenbremsung (AGB) bei PKW durchgeführt. Unter Verwendung eines stehenden Hindernisses wurden sechs Systemausprägungen verglichen, die von den AGB-Partnern in zwei Versuchsträger implementiert wurden. Die sechs Systemausprägungen werden nahezu identisch bewertet, solange Probanden keine Vergleichsmöglichkeit zu anderen Systemausprägungen haben. Wenn es zu einem Fahrereingriff kommt, ist der Eingriffszeitpunkt des Fahrers unabhängig von der gefahrenen Systemausprägung.

abstract: Driving is already a complex task that demands a varying level of cognitive and physical load. With the advancement in technology, the car has become a place for media consumption, a communications center and an interconnected workplace. The number of features in a car has also increased. As a result, the user interaction inside the car has become overcrowded and more complex. This has increased the amount of distraction while driving and has also increased the number of accidents due to distracted driving. This thesis focuses on the critical analysis of today’s in-car environment covering two main aspects, Multi Modal Interaction (MMI), and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), to minimize the distraction. It also provides deep market research on future trends in the smart car technology. After careful analysis, it was observed that an infotainment screen cluttered with lots of small icons, a center stack with a plethora of small buttons and a poor Voice Recognition (VR) results in high cognitive load, and these are the reasons for the increased driver distraction. Though the VR has become a standard technology, the current state of technology is focused on features oriented design and a sales driven approach. Most of the automotive manufacturers are focusing on making the VR better but attaining perfection in VR is not the answer as there are inherent challenges and limitations in respect to the in-car environment and cognitive load. Accordingly, the research proposed a novel in-car interaction design solution: Multi-Modal Interaction (MMI). The MMI is a new term when used in the context of vehicles, but it is widely used in human-human interaction. The approach offers a non-intrusive alternative to the driver to interact with the features in the car. With the focus on user-centered design, the MMI and ADAS can potentially help to reduce the distraction. To support the discussion, an experiment was conducted to benchmark a minimalist UI design. An engineering based method was used to test and measure distraction of four different UIs with varying numbers of icons and screen sizes. Lastly, in order to compete with the market, the basic features that are provided by all the other competitors cannot be eliminated, but the hard work can be done to improve the HCaI and to make driving safer. / Dissertation/Thesis / Date collected about reaction time in the experiment_Excel / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2015

When further demands are placed on emissions and performance of cars, trucks and busses, the vehicle manufacturers are looking to have cheap ways to evaluate their products for specific customers' needs. Using simulation tools to quickly compare use cases instead of manually recording data is a possible way forward. However, existing traffic simulation tools do not provide enough detail in each vehicle for the driving to represent real life driving patterns with regards to road features. For the purpose of this thesis data has been recorded by having different people drive a specific route featuring highway driving, traffic lights and many curves. Using this data, models have then been estimated that describe how human drivers adjust their speed through curves, how long braking distances typically are with respect to the driving speed, and the varying deceleration during braking sequences. An additional model has also been created that produces a speed variation when driving on highways. In the end all models are implemented in Matlab using a traffic control interface to interact with the traffic simulation tool SUMO. The results of this work are promising with the improved simulation being able to replicate the most significant characteristics seen from human drivers when approaching curves, traffic lights and intersections.

In this thesis report we conducted research study on driver's behavior in T-Intersections using simulated environment. This report describes and discusses correlation analysis of driver's personality traits and style while driving at T-Intersections. The experiments were performed on multi user driving simulator under controlled settings, at Linköping University. A total of forty-eight people participated in the study and were divided into groups of four, all driving in the same simulated world. During the experiments participants were asked to fill a series of well-known self-report questionnaires. We evaluated questionnaires to get the insight in driver's personality traits and driving style. The self-report questionnaires consist of Schwartz's configural model of 10 values types and NEO-five factor inventory. Also driver's behavior was studied with the help of questionnaires based on driver's behavior, style, conflict avoidance, time horizon and tolerance of uncertainty. Then these 10 Schwartz's values are correlated with the other questionnaires to give the detail insight of the driving habits and personality traits of the drivers.

Le développement permanent des applications informatiques telles que le stockage de masse, le calcul intensif et les communications large bande, encourage l’émergence de nouvelles technologies de communication. D’une part, les communications à travers des interconnexions métalliques approchent de leurs limites intrinsèques en termes d’énergie, surface et coût par bit. D’autre part, la photonique hybride conventionnelle, basée sur des assemblages 2D/3D de composants photoniques en technologies III-V, ne peut pas être complètement intégrée. Le développement de nouvelle architecture photonique sur silicium est une bonne alternative afin de proposer des systèmes intégrés de communication haut débit. La conception d’un modulateur électro-optique à très haut débit sur silicium fait l’objet de cette thèse. Dans un premier temps, un état de l’art des différents systèmes optiques est dressé, afin d’identifier les principaux verrous technologiques limitant leurs performances. Suite à l’analyse des différents types de modulateur optique implémentés sur silicium, une proposition d’architecture a été faite pour un modulateur Mach Zehnder 100 Gbits/s. Ce premier circuit a été développé avec la technologie PIC25G du fondeur STMicroelectronics. Le driver de ce modulateur a, quant à lui, été conçu avec la technologie 55 nm SiGe BiCMOS de ce même fondeur. Le démonstrateur proposé dans ces travaux offre un débit de 100 Gbits/s avec une modulation NRZ sur une unique voie optique. Pour cette configuration, ce prototype offre un débit binaire au-delà de l’état de l’art (pour une unique voie de transmission optique) avec une énergie par bit de 80 pJ/bit. / The sustained development of software applications including mass storage, intensive computing and broadband communication, motivates the emergence of novel communication technologies. On one hand, communications through metallic interconnections approach their inherent limitations in term of energy, area and cost per bit. On the other hand, conventional hybrid photonics, based on discrete 2D/3D photonic assemblies of III-V photonic devices, cannot be integrated. The rising silicon photonic technology, thanks to its high level of integration, overcomes the shortcomings of the two previous approaches and promises a low cost solution allowing close proximity integration of photonics with electronics.The design of a very high data rate electro-optic modulator on silicon is reported in this thesis manuscript. In a first section, the state of the art of optic systems is presented with a focus on the main technological challenges limiting performances. Then, a silicon based topology is introduced to achieve a 100 Gbs Mach Zehnder modulator. It was implemented with the STMicroelectronics PIC25G technology. The driver of this modulator was designed with the 55 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology of the same founder. The demonstrator introduced in this work offer a 100 Gbs data rate with an NRZ modulation on a single optical channel. For this configuration, this prototype provides a data rate beyond the state of the art (for a single optical transmission path) with an energy per bit of 80 pJ/bit.

Driverless cars are a hot topic in today’s industry where several vehicle manufacturers try to create a reliable system for automated driving. The advantages of highly automated vehicles are many, safer roads and a lower environmental impact are some of the arguments for this technology. However, the notion of highly automated cars give rise to a large number of human factor issues regarding the safety and reliability of the automated system as well as concern about the driver’s role in the system. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of systematic variations in traffic complexity and external time pressure on decision-making time in a simulated situation using a web-based testing platform. A secondary focus was to examine whether measures of cognitive performance and driver attitudes have an effect on decision-making time.  The results show that systematic variations in both time pressure and traffic complexity have an effect on decision-making time. This indicates that drivers are able to adapt their decision-making to facilitate the requirements of a certain situation. The results also indicate that intelligence; speed of processing and driver attitudes has an effect on decision-making time.

This document discusses the concept of drivers implemented within the context of the REMPLI (Real-Time Energy Management over Power line and Internet, see section 1.8.) network. The process image approach and the tunnelling approach are presented and reasoning is given why the tunnelling approach is preferred. Each of the drivers implemented is associated with a specific metering protocol. This document further discusses the general architecture of such a driver structure. The generic software architecture serves as a framework for integrating serial communication based metering protocols over packet-orientated remote networks and meters, by tunnelling the protocol data units to the remote meters. Principally each Protocol Driver consists of three parts, one part situated at the Application Server, one at the Access Point and one at the Node. This document then gives a description of the general driver structure within the REMPLI network and briefly explains the functions of all the modules contained within the driver structure. An example is used to show how these modules, which make up the software architecture of the Protocol Driver, are used to send an application generated request from the Application Server to the Metering Equipment and sending the response back from the remote Metering Equipment to the Application Server. This dissertation further discusses the need for address translation within the REMPLI network and the need to restrict access to meters by using these addresses and an access control list. This document also discusses the need for a “Keep-alive” signalling scheme, if supported by the underlying protocol and gives a general concept as to how it should be implemented. The role of an Optimization Module is also discussed for low bandwidth networks by means of an M-Bus example. Finally the M-Bus protocol driver implementation is discussed. The results achieved are presented, showing that the driver architecture can successfully be used to tunnel the M-Bus protocol to remote meters, provided the underlying network conforms to the quality of service requirements determined by the implemented metering protocol. The work proposed in this document started off as part of the REMPLI project by the REMPLI team but was completed independently. / Dissertation (MEng (Computer Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

No description available.

Distracted driving involving secondary tasks is known to lead to an increased likelihood of being involved in motor vehicle crashes. Some secondary tasks are unnecessary and should never be performed. But other secondary tasks, e.g., operating the defroster, are critical to safe driving. Ideally, the driver should schedule when to perform the critical tasks such that the likelihood of a hazard materializing is relatively small during the performance of the secondary task. The current study evaluates a training program -- STRAP (Secondary Task Regulatory & Anticipatory Program) -- which is designed to make drivers aware of latent hazards in the hope that they regulate engagement in secondary tasks which they are performing at the time the latent hazard appears. The secondary tasks include both tasks that require drivers to take their eyes off the road (e.g., operating the defroster) and those which do not (e.g., cell phone use). Participants were assigned either to STRAP or placebo training. After training, the groups navigated eight different scenarios on a driving simulator and were instructed to engage during the drive in as many secondary tasks as possible as long as they felt safe to do so. Secondary task engagement was fully user paced. It is important to note that drivers receiving STRAP training were never instructed directly to either disengage from or not engage in secondary tasks when encountering latent hazards. The results show that STRAP trained drivers were more likely to detect latent hazards and associated clues than placebo trained drivers. With regards to secondary task engagement, STRAP trained drivers chose to limit their in-vehicle and cell phone task engagement by focusing on the forward roadway rather than the task at hand. STRAP training holds out the promise of providing individuals with the necessary skills and proactive awareness to make safe decisions regarding the non-performance or interruption of a secondary task in the presence of a potential latent hazard.