Title: Driver-vehicle interfacial dynamics: a robust cue for driver fatigue

Authors: M.A. Haque, A.V. Desai, M. El-Gindy

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 314 Leonhard Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA. ' Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), 216A Roger Adams Lab, 600 S. Matthews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ' Vehicle Dynamics and Simulation Research Center, Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, P.O. Box 30, State College, PA 16804, USA

Abstract: We present a new technique that measures driver fatigue from the dynamics of driver-vehicle interfaces, such as the accelerator and the steering wheel. Real-life highway driving experiments were conducted on 24 participants and the variance or energy of the time series data on driver imparted force or motion on the interfaces was found to be strongly correlated to the driver|s self-perceived alertness. The non-visual sensing principle and computational algorithm demonstrate the simplicity, robustness and cost efficiency of the proposed technique, which is expected to impact the transportation industry, particularly the automotive sector.

Keywords: driver fatigue monitoring; driver-vehicle interface; PSD; power spectral density; spikiness index; accelerator; steering wheel; force; motion; automobile industry; interface dynamics; non-visual sensing; automotive sector.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2011.041589

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2011 Vol.18 No.3, pp.245 - 256

Published online: 29 Jan 2015 *

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