International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / When a sensor is replaced or added to a legacy data acquisition system, information for that sensor has to be incorporated by the software programmer into the main system software - a costly and timeconsuming process. The new ‘smart’ sensors that are being designed according to the new IEEE P1451.3 and .4 standards will have the necessary information contained in their Transducer Electronics Data Sheet (TEDS). A method has been developed to give the old sensors the intelligence to meet the requirements of these new IEEE standards without changes to the legacy hardware and a minor change to the system software.

The following hypothesis is tested by the research: A single crash test contains information that can be used to predict vehicle response accounting for different crash conditions such as vehicle mass and initial velocity and thus can be used to predict the effect on occupant injury risk for varying occupant positions within a vehicle It is established that the response of the crumple zone is influential in the level of injury risk. The metric for such response in common use is the NHTSA linear stiffness parameter. This parameter is used to show that stiffness increases with vehicle mass in a demographic setting. However, by comparing vehicle mass trends over 28 years of crash testing with similar trends in stiffness, a mass influence in the stiffness increase is implicated. This influence is supported by the introduction of a mass-independent stiffness metric, called reluctance, which shows a lesser increase in mass-independent stiffness over the 28 years. The idea that stiffness should increase with vehicle mass runs counter to intuition and is tested by comparing two identical vehicles in crash tests where one of the vehicles carries an extra 555kg. The idea is further tested by simulation using a multiple mass-spring model on vehicles, varying mass and impact velocity. Using the reluctance stiffness metric it was concluded that increased vehicle mass decreases stiffness, confirming intuition. Using the injury risk metric of contact velocity differential between occupant and interior of the vehicle it is shown that increased vehicle mass reduces injury. This has important implications for the industry where a marginal performer in a compliance crash test needs only to increase production vehicle mass to reduce injury levels to the statutory injury reference values. A fleet study presents evidence of increasing average vehicle mass. The study observes that blunt injury generally commences prior to vehicle rebound and continues well into rebound. Recognizing vehicle rebound to be influential in almost all blunt injury led to analysis of the fleet for improvement to this injury parameter. Using specific energy absorption as criterion, 18 modern cars were compared with 19 cars 15-17 years older at compliance test velocities. No improvement was discerned. Similarly, two baskets of cars (n=41 modern & n=32 older) tested at NCAP speeds separated by nominally 20 years failed to show improvement in rebound velocity. The implications for this study of the rebound findings was to ensure that the model presented was capable of representing injury into the rebound phase of the crash. To assist in this, a rebound formulation to reflect varying initial velocity was determined to be a linear function, studying 7 models of vehicles involved in 20 crashes at nominally 40, 48 & 56 km/h crash speeds. Occupant position within a vehicle is identified as an important variable in injury determination. Vehicle crash tests require seating positions to be set to mid-track adjustment. This discriminates against vehicles having more "legroom" while appearing to be fair, using seating adjustment as the determinant. An empirical mathematical model is proposed permitting crash test results to be extended to investigate the effects of varying occupant positions thus eliminating the legroom anomaly. In addition to the varying occupant position facility, the mathematical model can easily accommodate changes in vehicle mass and varying impact velocity showing fidelity with test data. The model is used to show that injury risk in the National Fleet has not improved over an 18-year period of crash testing.

O presente trabalho procura avaliar a relevância da informação sobre a segurança dos automóveis para os consumidores brasileiros estimando um modelo de demanda logit aninhado controlado pelas notas de zero a cinco estrelas obtidas nos crash tests do Latin NCAP, pesquisa até o momento única no Brasil. Os resultados indicam que a nota nos crash tests são relevantes para a utilidade média dos consumidores com os carros mais bem avaliados mostrando um nível de utilidade maior em relação aos veículos menos seguros. Resultados auxiliares apontam que não há diferença nos preços médios dos modelos avaliados pelo Latin NCAP com notas de uma a cinco estrelas sendo os modelos avaliados com zero estrelas os únicos a apresentarem preços estatisticamente diferentes e mais baratos. Outros resultados obtidos mostram que um aumento no número de automóveis testados de uma determinada montadora aumenta mais que proporcionalmente a probabilidade de um outro automóvel da mesma marca ser avaliado / The present work aims to evaluate how important is the information about car safety for consumers in brazilian market estimating a nested logit demand model using the Latin NCAP\'s grades from zero to five stars as independent variables, yet this research is unique in Brazil. The results obtained show that Latin NCAP\'s grades show some relevance for the consumer\'s mean utiliy as the higher grades exibit higher mean utility levels related to the lowest grades. Auxiliary results show that there is no statistic diference among the car\'s prices evaluated with one to five stars in the crash tests as the automobiles evaluated with zero stars appear as being the cheapest of all. Others results show that an increase in the number of tested vehicles from a given manufacturer raises more than proportionally the probability of a car from this same brand to be tested

O presente trabalho procura avaliar a relevância da informação sobre a segurança dos automóveis para os consumidores brasileiros estimando um modelo de demanda logit aninhado controlado pelas notas de zero a cinco estrelas obtidas nos crash tests do Latin NCAP, pesquisa até o momento única no Brasil. Os resultados indicam que a nota nos crash tests são relevantes para a utilidade média dos consumidores com os carros mais bem avaliados mostrando um nível de utilidade maior em relação aos veículos menos seguros. Resultados auxiliares apontam que não há diferença nos preços médios dos modelos avaliados pelo Latin NCAP com notas de uma a cinco estrelas sendo os modelos avaliados com zero estrelas os únicos a apresentarem preços estatisticamente diferentes e mais baratos. Outros resultados obtidos mostram que um aumento no número de automóveis testados de uma determinada montadora aumenta mais que proporcionalmente a probabilidade de um outro automóvel da mesma marca ser avaliado / The present work aims to evaluate how important is the information about car safety for consumers in brazilian market estimating a nested logit demand model using the Latin NCAP\'s grades from zero to five stars as independent variables, yet this research is unique in Brazil. The results obtained show that Latin NCAP\'s grades show some relevance for the consumer\'s mean utiliy as the higher grades exibit higher mean utility levels related to the lowest grades. Auxiliary results show that there is no statistic diference among the car\'s prices evaluated with one to five stars in the crash tests as the automobiles evaluated with zero stars appear as being the cheapest of all. Others results show that an increase in the number of tested vehicles from a given manufacturer raises more than proportionally the probability of a car from this same brand to be tested

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 21, 2002 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / Replacing and maintaining sensors in existing legacy systems is costly and time consuming since no information beyond voltage or current is supplied by these sensors. When a sensor is replaced or added, information for that sensor has to be incorporated by the software programmer into the main system software – a costly and time-consuming process. A method has been developed to give these old sensors the intelligence to meet the requirements of the proposed IEEE P1451.3 standard. This is accomplished with no changes to the legacy hardware and a minor, one time change to the legacy main system software.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Current legacy acquisition systems such as the Advanced Airborne Test Instrumentation System (AATIS) are custom-built to each individual application with unique sensors and data modules. Replacing, adding, or subtracting sensors requires the system to be removed from service for days, weeks, or even months. This is a result of having to route special wires to each sensor and reprogramming the system with sensor information, calibration data, etc. AR sensor information must be contained in the main system since these systems do not have intelligence at the sensor level. If sensors were to contain information in their own IEEE 1451-compliant transducer electronic data sheet (TEDS), the main system would no longer have to be reprogrammed with this information. This information could then be obtained directly from the sensors when they are inserted into the system. A plug-n-play capability is being added to the system with the development of a standard interface to the system control unit (SCU). This interface, called a Multi-Network Capable Applications Processor (Multi-NCAP), will interface IEEE 1451-compliant smart transducer interface modules (STIMs) to the SCU in the AATIS as well as other legacy systems. With this development, maintenance and new configuration times for the AATIS and other legacy systems will be significantly reduced.

The aim of the present study was to estimate the correlation between Euro NCAP pedestrian rating scores and injury outcome in real-life car to pedestrian crashes, with special focus on long-term disability. The study also surveyed most frequently injured body regions and risk differences for specific elements of pedestrians hit by cars. Another aim was to determine whether Brake Assist systems affect the injury outcome in real-life car to pedestrian crashes and to estimate the effect in injury reduction of a high Euro NCAP ranking score combined with Brake Assist. In the current study, the Euro NCAP pedestrian scoring was compared with the real-life outcome in pedestrian crashes that occurred in Sweden 2003-2010. The real-life crash data was obtained from the data acquisition system STRADA, which combines police records and hospital admission data. The medical data consisted of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) diagnoses and Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) scoring. In all approximately 500 pedestrians submitted to hospital were included in the study. Each car model was coded according to Euro NCAP pedestrian scores. In addition, the presence or absence of Brake Assist (BA) was coded for each car involved. Pedestrians were grouped according to associated car scoring. Injury outcomes were analyzed with AIS and, at victim level, with permanent medical impairment. This was done by translating the injury scores for each individual to Risk of Serious Consequences (RSC) at 1, 5 and 10% level of medical disability or more. This indicates the total risk of a medical disability for each victim, given the severity and location of injuries. The mean RSC (mrsc) was then calculated for each pedestrian group and t-tests were conducted to ensure statistically significant differences in mrsc between groups. The results showed a significant reduction of injury severity for pedestrians hit by cars with better pedestrian scoring, although pedestrians hit by cars with a high score (three or four stars) could not be studied, due to lack of cases. The reduction of RSC for pedestrians hit by medium performing (two-star) cars in comparison with pedestrians hit by low performing (one-star) cars was 12, 19 and 28% for 1 ,5 and 10% of medical impairment or more, respectively. These results applied to speed limits up to 90 km/h. In urban areas with speed limits up to 50 km/h the reduction of RSC was 17, 26 and 38% for 1, 5 and 10% of medical impairment or more, respectively. Car to pedestrian crashes was most common at speed limits up to 50 km/h and leg, arm and head were the most frequently injured body regions. RSC for pedestrians hit by cars with Brake Assist was not statistically significant lower than for pedestrians hit by cars without Brake Assist. RSC for pedestrians hit by two-star cars with Brake Assist was 19, 31 and 46% lower for 1, 5 and 10% of medical impairment or more, respectively, compared to pedestrians hit by one-star cars without Brake Assist. A significant correlation between Euro NCAP pedestrian score and injury outcome in real-life car to pedestrian crashes was found. The injury reduction was found to be larger for higher severity and level of permanent medical impairment. Car to pedestrian crashes was most common at lower speed zones. Leg, arm and head were the most frequently injured body regions. Brake Assist had no statistically significant effect measured in RSC on car to pedestrian crashes in this material. A high Euro NCAP scoring combined with Brake Assist was shown to give a high effect in reduction of RSC for pedestrians. / Syftet med denna studie var att uppskatta korrelationen mellan Euro NCAPs testresultat för fotgängarskydd och skadeutfall i verkliga olyckor med fotgängare och personbilar, med särskilt fokus på skador som ger medicinsk invaliditet. I studien kartlades även de mest frekvent skadade kroppsregionerna och riskskillnader för särskilda faktorer för fotgängare påkörda av personbilar. Studien syftar dessutom till att undersöka bromsassistanssystems påverkan av skadeutfallet för fotgängare i verkliga olyckor med personbil och att uppskatta den skadereducerande effekten av en hög Euro NCAP-poäng kombinerat med en bromsassistansutrustning. I denna studie var Euro NCAPs fotgängarskyddspoäng jämförd mot skadeutfallet i verkliga olyckor som skett i Sverige 2003-2010. Data från verkliga olyckor inhämtades från databasen STRADA (Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition) som kombinerar polis- och sjukvårdsrapporterad data. De medicinska data innehåller diagnoser av typen ICD (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems) och värden för AIS (Abbreviated Injury Scale). I helhet var omkring 500 fotgängare inkluderade i studien. Varje enskild personbilmodell kodades enligt Euro NCAPs fotgängarskyddspoäng. Dessutom kodades förekomst eller avsaknad av bromsassistansutrustning för varje enskild personbil inkluderad i studien. Fotgängarna grupperades enligt påkörande personbils fotgängarskyddspoäng. Skadeutfallet analyserades med AIS, på individnivå och med medicinsk invaliditet. Detta gjordes genom översättning av skadeutfall för varje fotgängare till risk för allvarliga konsekvenser (RSC, Risk of Serious Consequences) på 1, 5 och 10 % medicinsk invaliditet eller mer. Detta påvisar den totala risken för medicinsk invaliditet med hänsyn till skadegrad och -lokalisering. Medelvärdet av RSC (mrsc) beräknades sedan för varje fotgängargrupp och t-test utfördes för att säkerställa statistiskt signifikanta skillnader mellan gruppernas mrsc. Resultaten visade en signifikant skadereduktion för fotgängare påkörda av personbilar med en högre fotgängarskyddspoäng, trots att fotgängarolyckor med personbilar som har hög poäng (stjärnbetyg tre och fyra) inte kunde studeras på grund av fåtaligt antal olycksfall. Reduktionen av RCS för fotgängare påkörda av medelpresterande (stjärnbetyg två) personbilar i jämförelse med fotgängare påkörda av lågpresterande (stjärnbetyg ett) personbilar var 12, 19 och 28 % för 1, 5 respektive 10 % medicinsk invaliditet eller mer. Dessa resultat gäller olyckor på vägar med hastighetsgräns upp till 90 km/h. I stadsmiljö med hastighetsgräns upp till 50 km/h var reduktionen av RSC 17, 26 och 38 % för 1, 5 respektive 10 % medicinsk invaliditet eller mer. Fotgängarolyckor med personbil var vanligast på vägar med hastighetsgräns upp till 50 km/h och ben, arm och huvud var de mest frekvent skadade kroppsregionerna. RSC för fotgängare påkörda av personbilar utrustade med bromsassistans var inte statistiskt signifikant lägre än för fotgängare påkörda av personbilar utan bromsassistansutrustning. RSC för fotgängare påkörda av tvåstjärniga personbilar utrustade med bromsassistans var 19, 31 och 46 % lägre för 1, 5 respektive 10 % medicinsk invaliditet eller mer jämfört med fotgängare påkörda av enstjärniga personbilar utan bromsassistansutrustning. En signifikant korrelation mellan Euro NCAPs fotgängarpoäng och skadeutfall i verkliga fotgängarolyckor med personbil påträffades. Skadereduktionen visade sig vara högre för högre skadegrad och nivå av medicinsk invaliditet. Det var vanligare att personbilar kör på fotgängare på vägar med lägre hastighetsgräns. Ben, arm och huvud var de mest frekvent skadade kroppsregionerna. Bromsassistans hade inte en statistiskt signifikant effekt mätt i RSC för fotgängarolyckor i detta material. En hög Euro NCAP poäng kombinerat med bromsassistansutrustning visade sig ge en hög effekt av att reducera fotgängares RSC.

Over the last years, bicycles have been addressed in newly developed driver assistance systems for passenger cars on a voluntary basis, and beginning with the blind spot assist systems, this tendency has been picked up by vehicle regulations and systems are made mandatory. This paper intends to give a detailed summary of which vehicle regulations are currently addressing bicycles, when they come into force and if they will be mandatory in the EU. Also, the performance of already available active safety systems for bicycles (not covered by regulatory requirements) and their technological potential will be included.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / The wireless sensor concept has been hindered in the past by the large number of components needed to add the wireless transceiver feature and the additional power consumption needed for that feature. This has been resolved by incorporating all the wireless components into a single, low power modular circuit. Intelligence is being added to legacy sensors to make them Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1451.4 compatible with an element called a Sensor Identification Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (SITEDS), which contains the Transducer Electronics Data Sheet (TEDS) for that sensor. All the sensor interface parameters are automatically configured by a module called the Universal Smart Transducer Interface Module (USTIM) using the TEDS input from the respective sensor’s SITEDS. An IEEE P1451.5 compatible wireless interface can be incorporated into the SITEDS with the transceiver module giving the legacy sensor full wireless capability.

Whiplash injuries as a result of rear impact are among the most common injuries in traffic accidents. This is why whiplash injuries have reached a high priority in the research area. In this study, the effects of head restraint position and impact pulse to the whiplash injury have been analyzed by performing whiplash tests using the sled test facility of METU-BILTIR Center Vehicle Safety Unit. Although there are many whiplash test protocols, the test sample has been prepared according to the most recent one, Euro NCAP Whiplash Test Protocol. Three different head restraint positions and three different impact pulses with different severities, totally nine tests have been performed. The tests are performed with a three point generic seat belt and an instrumented Hybrid III 50th percentile male adult crash test dummy is used as the occupant in driver seat of a light commercial vehicle. High speed cameras, sensors on the crash test dummy and a data acquisition system are used to take the test data. This test data has been analyzed and presented according to the defined whiplash assessment criteria and the performance scores of the particular seat for each test have been determined using the whiplash assessment criteria values according to the Euro NCAP Test Protocols.