The detection of drowsiness using a driver monitoring system

Abstract

Objective: Drowsiness is a major cause of driver impairment leading to crashes and fatalities. Research has established the ability to detect drowsiness with various kinds of sensors. We studied drowsy driving in a high-fidelity driving simulator and evaluated the ability of an automotive production-ready driver monitoring system (DMS) to detect drowsy driving. Additionally, this feature was compared to and combined with signals from vehicle-based sensors.

Methods: The National Advanced Driving Simulator was used to expose drivers to long, monotonous drives. Twenty participants drove for about 4?h in the simulator between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. They were allowed to use cruise control and traffic was sparse and semirandom, with both slower- and faster-moving vehicles. Observational ratings of drowsiness (ORDs) were used as the ground truth for drowsiness, and several dependent measures were calculated from vehicle and DMS signals. Drowsiness classification models were created that used only vehicle signals, only driver monitoring signals, and a combination of the 2 sources.

Results: The model that used DMS signals performed better than the one that used only vehicle signals; however, the combination of the two performed the best. The models were effective at discriminating low levels of drowsiness from moderate to severe drowsiness; however, they were not effective at telling the difference between moderate and severe levels. A binary model that lumped drowsiness into 2 classes had an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.897.

Conclusions: Blinks and saccades have been shown to be predictive of microsleeps; however, it may be that detection of microsleeps and lane departures occurs too late. Therefore, it is encouraging that the model was able to distinguish mild from moderate drowsy driving. The use of automation may make vehicle-based signals useless for characterizing driver states, providing further motivation for a DMS. Future improvements in impairment detection systems may be expected through a combination of improved hardware, physiological measures from unobtrusive sensors and wearables, and the intelligent integration of environmental variables like time of day and time on task.     

Improvement of driver active interventions during automated driving by displaying trajectory pointers—A driving simulator study

Abstract

Objective: The handover of vehicle control from automated to manual operation is a critical aspect of interaction between drivers and automated driving systems (ADS). In some cases, it is possible that the ADS may fail to detect an object. In this event, the driver must be aware of the situation and resume control of the vehicle without assistance from the system. Consequently, the driver must fulfill the following 2 main roles while driving: (1) monitor the vehicle trajectory and surrounding traffic environment and (2) actively take over vehicle control if the driver identifies a potential issue along the trajectory. An effective human–machine interface (HMI) is required that enables the driver to fulfill these roles. This article proposes an HMI that constantly indicates the future position of the vehicle.

Methods: This research used the Toyota Dynamic Driving Simulator to evaluate the effect of the proposed HMI and compares the proposed HMI with an HMI that notifies the driver when the vehicle trajectory changes. A total of 48 test subjects were divided into 2 groups of 24: One group used the HMI that constantly indicated the future position of the vehicle and the other group used the HMI that provided information when the vehicle trajectory changed.

The following instructions were given to the test subjects: (1) to not hold the steering wheel and to allow the vehicle to drive itself, (2) to constantly monitor the surrounding traffic environment because the functions of the ADS are limited, and (3) to take over driving if necessary.

The driving simulator experiments were composed of an initial 10-min acclimatization period and a 10-min evaluation period. Approximately 10?min after the start of the evaluation period, a scenario occurred in which the ADS failed to detect an object on the vehicle trajectory, potentially resulting in a collision if the driver did not actively take over control and manually avoid the object.

Results: The collision avoidance rate of the HMI that constantly indicated the future position of the vehicle was higher than that of the HMI that notified the driver of trajectory changes, χ² = 6.38, P < .05. The steering wheel hands-on and steering override timings were also faster with the proposed HMI (t test; P < .05).

Conclusions: This research confirmed that constantly indicating the position of the vehicle several seconds in the future facilitates active driver intervention when an ADS is in operation.     

Effects of different pretreatment methods on the enzymatic hydrolysis of oak shell

Sawtooth Oak (Quercus acutissima) shells were used as a renewable and low-cost agricultural residue for bioethanol production for the first time. The efficiency of H₂SO₄, NaOH, steam explosion and the combination of these methods was compared in terms of delignification, saccharification efficiency and yield. The structural features of samples were characterized by SEM, XRD and FTIR. Results show H₂SO₄/steam explosion resulted in the highest hemicellulose reduction (98.5%) and cellulose recovery yield (99.9%). NaOH /steam explosion resulted in the highest delignification level (31.5%). Steam explosion exhibited the highest enzymatic digestibility of 98.8% and total product yield of glucose of 84.8%, an increase of 130.8% and 98.1% than that of untreated oak shell, respectively, which seemed to be the most effective for improving enzymatic saccharification. The results of structural features showed the structure and surface of shells were changed that is in favor of the following enzymatic hydrolysis.     

叶面喷施磁处理复合肥对新红星（Starkrimson）苹果树营养元素的影响

叶面喷施磁处理复合肥对新红星（Ｓｔａｒｋｒｉｍｓｏｎ）苹果树营养元素的影响程文林，杨佩芳，刘和，陈晓春，高美英（山西农业大学大谷０３０８０１）关键词磁处理复合肥，根外追肥，新红星苹果树，营养元素ＥＦＦＥＣＴＯＦＭＡＧＮＥＴＩＺＥＤＣＯＭＰＯＵＮＤＦＥ...     

某850kW水平轴风力发电机机舱火灾模拟与分析

采用火灾动力学模拟器软件和性能化防火设计理论,基于实际事故案例分析,设计针对某850 kW水平轴风力发电机机舱的典型火灾场景,建立池火灾模型,对额定风速(13 m/s)下机舱内该类型火灾的发生和发展过程进行研究,模拟计算机舱内火灾的热释放速率、温度场和速度场等参数,探讨进气口风速对火灾热释放速率和温度场等的影响。结果表明:封闭条件下,从齿轮箱底部发展起来的油池火灾热释放速率在62.4 s时达到最大值(757 kW),持续燃烧93 s后降至0;齿轮箱附近部件遭受火灾破坏最为严重,喷射油料二次燃烧导致火强度变大并加剧了火灾的破坏程度。额定风速下,齿轮箱附近软管喷射油料未出现二次燃烧现象,但火灾后期热释放速率在335 s内达到4 000 kW;以火源为分界面,火源前方区域温度(406~567℃)明显高于后方区域温度(177~279℃);顶部通风口承受全部热流,机舱罩顶部温度最终达到930℃,并出现轰燃。     

驾驶人视觉注意力需求与驾驶行为特性的关系

采用驾驶模拟系统平台,以不同车道类型及不同交通流状态(自由流/稳定流/不稳定流/强制流)为虚拟试验场,应用心理试验设计方法,测试得到21名被试在不同交通流状态下的视觉注意力需求及驾驶行为。对5种车道类型及4种交通流状态下被试驾驶时的视觉注意力需求特性和驾驶行为特性数据进行分析,得到不同车道不同交通流状态下的视觉注意力需求变化情况。利用多元回归方法分析了不同交通流状态下驾驶人视觉注意力需求与驾驶行为之间的关系,并构建了基于驾驶行为特性的驾驶人视觉注意力需求预测模型。结果表明,驾驶人视觉注意力需求与制动次数、油门踏板位移和车辆轨迹偏差之间存在相关关系。     

Assessing fitness to drive—A validation study on patients with mild cognitive impairment

Objectives: There is no consensus yet on how to determine which patients with cognitive impairment are able to drive a car safely and which are not. Recently, a strategy was composed for the assessment of fitness to drive, consisting of clinical interviews, a neuropsychological assessment, and driving simulator rides, which was compared with the outcome of an expert evaluation of an on-road driving assessment. A selection of tests and parameters of the new approach revealed a predictive accuracy of 97.4% for the prediction of practical fitness to drive on an initial sample of patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The aim of the present study was to explore whether the selected variables would be equally predictive (i.e., valid) for a closely related group of patients; that is, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: Eighteen patients with mild cognitive impairment completed the proposed approach to the measurement of fitness to drive, including clinical interviews, a neuropsychological assessment, and driving simulator rides. The criterion fitness to drive was again assessed by means of an on-road driving evaluation. The predictive validity of the fitness to drive assessment strategy was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses.

Results: Twelve patients with MCI (66.7%) passed and 6 patients (33.3%) failed the on-road driving assessment. The previously proposed approach to the measurement of fitness to drive achieved an overall predictive accuracy of 94.4% in these patients. The application of an optimal cutoff resulted in a diagnostic accuracy of 100% sensitivity toward unfit to drive and 83.3% specificity toward fit to drive. Further analyses revealed that the neuropsychological assessment and the driving simulator rides produced rather stable prediction rates, whereas clinical interviews were not significantly predictive for practical fitness to drive in the MCI patient sample.

Conclusions: The selected measures of the previously proposed approach revealed adequate accuracy in identifying fitness to drive in patients with MCI. Furthermore, a combination of neuropsychological test performance and simulated driving behavior proved to be the most valid predictor of practical fitness to drive.     

分子流态下翅片管式热沉传输几率计算分析

目的研究空间环境模拟器翅片管式热沉传输特性,为进一步开展真空等效性分析等研究工作奠定基础。方法根据热沉结构特点建立镜面反射气体输运通道模型,采用蒙特卡罗方法,对该模型的传输几率进行分析计算,并建立验证模型,对计算结果进行验证。结果对于所选择的翅片管式热沉,其平面阵列的传输几率为0.030 116 4,柱面阵列的传输几率为0.017 988 6。结论蒙特卡罗方法可以用于计算一定结构的翅片管式热沉的传输几率。通过传输几率的计算,可以将热沉等效为具有相应传输几率的可透射平面,从而在保证模拟精度的同时大大简化模拟计算强度,提高计算效率。     

Receptor modeling for source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban atmosphere

This study reports source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in particulate depositions on vegetation foliages near highway in the urban environment of Lucknow city (India) using the principal components analysis/absolute principal components scores (PCA/APCS) receptor modeling approach. The multivariate method enables identification of major PAHs sources along with their quantitative contributions with respect to individual PAH. The PCA identified three major sources of PAHs viz. combustion, vehicular emissions, and diesel based activities. The PCA/APCS receptor modeling approach revealed that the combustion sources (natural gas, wood, coal/coke, biomass) contributed 19–97% of various PAHs, vehicular emissions 0–70%, diesel based sources 0–81% and other miscellaneous sources 0–20% of different PAHs. The contributions of major pyrolytic and petrogenic sources to the total PAHs were 56 and 42%, respectively. Further, the combustion related sources contribute major fraction of the carcinogenic PAHs in the study area. High correlation coefficient (R ² > 0.75 for most PAHs) between the measured and predicted concentrations of PAHs suggests for the applicability of the PCA/APCS receptor modeling approach for estimation of source contribution to the PAHs in particulates.     

Low-heat alkaline pretreatment of biomass for dairy anaerobic codigestion

In this research, low-heat alkaline pretreatment was evaluated to determine the extent to which urban landscape waste (yard waste), corn stover, and switchgrass could be codigested under conditions typical of US farm-based anaerobic digestion (AD). Waste heat from combined heat and power (CHP) units associated with AD could make such pretreatment economical. Short-term batch digestion studies and 8-week continuous-feed studies were used to screen and evaluate various pretreatment conditions. Results indicate that maple and oak leaves did not digest well, even with pretreatment. Pretreatment did improve digestion of corn leaves and stalks as well as switchgrass. However, these materials also digested reasonably well even without pretreatment. No digester operational problems were observed during continuous-feed studies of intermittently stirred bench top digesters, but optimal levels of alkali, temperature, and pretreatment time may be specific to the feedstock, particle size, and digester loading rate. Results suggest that some common lignocellulosic biomass materials, such as corn stover and switchgrass, could be successfully codigested in many existing farm-based digesters. Interestingly, without pretreatment, switchgrass digestion improved over 20-fold when digested with seed culture from a dairy digester compared to seed culture from a municipal digester, suggesting that culture acclimation could be as important as pretreatment in improving digestion of specific lignocellulosic feedstocks.