Abstract
Although only 20% of traffic happens at night, almost 45% of fatal accidents occur during the
night period. To overcome this problem, Night Vision Systems based on Near Infrared Radiation
(NIR) or Far Infrared Radiation (FIR) can be used to enhance the driver´s perception at night.
The following subjects are addressed in the paper:
- Basic principles of NIR and FIR systems
- Comparison of the two principles and evaluation of the specific strengths and weaknesses.
- Requirements to a Night Vision System from the HMI aspect
- Description of the novel approach of the Night Vision System with the following features:
o IR headlamps for street illumination designed to meet the specific release requirements of the European market
o A new CMOS camera, able to be used for night and day applications as well
o A new HMI consisting of a graphic display in the Instrument cluster, and
o A powerful and scalable CPU to process the picture.
The result is a brilliant picture with long detection range (pedestrians may be detected at distances
up to 150 m) with an extraordinary picture quality presented in a favorable reading position.
The hardware platform with scalable calculation power is prepared to be used for additional
day functions such as Lane Departure Warning, Traffic Sign Recognition, Object Detection and more.
As a next step, new warning algorithms, based on picture processing with obstacle detection will further improve the HMI and lead to a better overall performance of the system. Examples of new warning algorithms will be given based on investigations with test persons
Keywords - Night Vision, Near and Far Infrared, Automotive CMOS-Camera, Picture
Processing, HMI Concept in Instrument Cluster