Submitted In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirement of the Degree of Bachelor of

Technology

in
Mechanical Engineering
by
GULAM QADIR
16BTMECH046

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Vaugh Institute of Agriculture, Engineering and Technology

SAM HIGGINBOTTOM UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE,

TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCES.

Prayagraj (Allahabad), 2019

 Acknowledgement

I, Gulam Qadir of B.tech mechanical engineering of 6th semester here acknowledge the
fact that if my seminar instructor had not guided me in the topic then I would not have
been so successful in the competition of this project on ‘Night vision technology in
Automobiles’.

I also than my parents and friends for the continuous and help provided to me in the
making of this project.

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 Table of content

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Basic terms and definition
2. LATERAL SURVEY
2.1 History
2.2 Types of night vision technology
2.3 Recent and future development
3. APPLICATION
3.1 Mercedes-Benzes
3.2 Toyota
3.3 Audi
3.4 BMW
3.5 Cadillac
3.6 Honda
3.7 Ds automotive
4. Advantages of night vision technology
5. Disadvantages of night vision technology
6. Conclusion and future scope
7. References

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 Abstract

First generation Night Vision Enhancement Systems with image presentation in

the dashboard have been introduced on the market some years ago [1]. Far Infrared and
Near Infrared systems are currently competing technologies. The systems present a
Camera-picture in the dashboard, in the centre console area or on the windscreen. While
Japanese systems prefer to present the camera picture via Head-up Display (HUD) in
the windscreen, European car-makers prefer the presentation in the dashboard region
with a graphic LCD screen. Ergonomic investigations have shown that the
reconfigurable LC display located in the instrument cluster was found to meet best the
requirements of a quick and distraction-free reading. A precondition for a quick
recognition and identification of relevant obstacles is a high-contrast and brilliant
picture quality. Meanwhile, the next generation has been introduced on the market in
2009. Due to technical progress in picture processing this 2nd generation makes an
object classification for pedestrians and cyclists and warns the driver. The third
generation will use a contact analogue HUD to warn the driver with icons projected
Onto the wind screen. With many applications illuminators aren't necessary. Some
manufacturers put IR illuminators on their products in order to get acceptable
performance under low light conditions. Signal-to-noise plays a key role in night vision
performance. A micro channel plate used to transfer a signal from input to output. Just
as high-end stereo equipment gives you quality sound. Resolution is the third major
consideration when purchasing night vision. This is the ability to resolve detail in your
image.
Some manufacturers put magnified optics in their systems to give the illusion that they
have high resolving systems. In the trade-off, field of view is sacrificed. Some models
give the option of higher magnification so you can have it if you want it, not because
your system needs it to function effectively. Most of Moro vision’s products offer a
uniquely formulated phosphor to create the highest contrasting images, therefore
generating the highest resolution products available to the consumer.

There are advantages and disadvantages with night vision devices. I will go through
both of these area and will lean towards more advantages than disadvantages. Just
having the ability to see in the dark is the biggest advantage point of all.

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Safety and security of life are the two most booming words in the field of transport and
manufacturing. The world has emerged from being a just simple form of day to day life
to being aeon of mean and daring machines.

Thus the safety of the people both inside and outside the vehicle is of prime concern in
the car manufacturing industry and scientists are working day in and day out to ensure
more and more complex forms of security for the human kind.

After dark, your chances of being in a fatal vehicle crash go up sharply, though the
traffic is way down. Inadequate illumination is one of the major factors in all the car
crashes that occur between midnight and 6 a.m. Headlights provide about 50 meters of
visibility on a dark road, but it takes nearly 110 meters to come to a full stop from 100
km/hr. At that speed, you may not respond fast enough to an unexpected event, simply
because the bright spot provided by your headlights doesn't give you enough time. Thus
emerged the night vision systems that use infrared sensors to let driver see as much as
3 or 4 times farther ahead and help them quickly distinguish among objects.

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 Introduction

The probability for an accident at night is by the factor 4 to 5 higher than at daytime.
Accident statistics show, that night vision driver assistance systems have a high
potential for reducing accidents and fatalities by collision avoidance and collision
mitigation means. Night Vision Systems based on Near-Infrared Radiation (NIR) or
Far-Infrared Radiation (FIR) can be used to enhance driver’s perception at night. The
system must be an optimal vision aid allowing him to drive like cruising with high beam
on without blinding oncoming traffic.
Special emphasis has to be put on a careful design of the Human Machine Interface
(HMI) to avoid distraction by the system. For a quick and distraction-free reading
of the image presented to the driver the picture must allow a quick interpretation
of the presented information by the driver. The display must be positioned in an
ergonomically favourable position in the vicinity of the primary field of vision of the
driver without distracting him longer, than necessary from the traffic.

The streets of yesterday has turned to be monstrous night mare for the public with
demon like vehicle that swift past the roads at very high speeds and the case gets worst
in the night with drunken drivers ruling the road with high stake speeds.

The reckless accidents that occur on roads during night times mainly owe to the poor
visibility and make the drivers rather than driving ahead, predict their way ahead. But
this is not just the case of drunken drivers but also sensible drivers who find very bad
visibility during the wee hours of morning or the odd evenings

Thus comes the use of night vision systems which uses infra-red sensors or headlights
to provide a clear view of the road ahead and in the coming sections we shall discuss
about the detailed working of the night vision systems

Challenges of Night Driving

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According to the National Safety Council, traffic death rates are up to three times
greater at night than during the day.

Highway maintenance vehicles, such as bulldozers, often move slowly on or next to the
road. They are usually painted orange. Be prepared to slow down or stop for them.
When you see orange equipment on the road, people on foot are often working nearby.
One or more lanes may be closed when roadwork is going on. Orange signs warn you
that you must be prepared for people and slow moving equipment on the road. Signs
will tell you which lanes are closed. A line of orange cones will show you the closed
lane. Do not cross the line of cones. Sometimes a flashing arrow will tell you to move
left or right. Make your lane change early and safely.

Don't stop to watch roadwork. Always obey special signs and instructions as you pass.

NOTE: fines are doubled for certain violations committed in highway construction or
maintenance zones.

Driving at night is more dangerous because 90% of a driver’s reaction depends on

vision, and vision is severely limited at night. (Depth perception, colour recognition,
and peripheral vision are limited at night.)

Make sure you can stop within the distance lighted by your headlights. Glare can also
reduce visibility.

Another factor adding danger to night driving is fatigue, which makes driving more
difficult by dulling concentration and slowing reaction time.

7
It is more difficult to judge other vehicles' speeds and distances at night. Do not
overdrive your headlights. Otherwise, you are creating a blind collision area in front of
your vehicle.

When following another vehicle, keep your low-beams on to avoid blinding the driver
ahead of you.

If you have car trouble at night, pull off the road as far as possible and turn on your
hazard lights.

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Use your high-beam lights when driving in rural areas and on open highways away
from urban and metropolitan areas.

When leaving a brightly lit place, drive slowly until your eyes adjust to the darkness.

If you are driving with your high-beam lights on, you must dim them at least 500 ft
from any oncoming vehicle, so you don't blind the oncoming driver.

You must use low-beam lights if you are within 200-300 ft of the vehicle you are
following.

Consult your state's Drivers Handbook for details.

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If an approaching car is using its high-beams, don't look directly into the oncoming
headlights—look toward the right edge of your lane. Watch the oncoming car out of
the corner of your eye.

Do not try retaliating against the other driver by keeping your high-beam lights on. If
you do, both of you may be blinded.

Before going into the night vision systems it is necessary to understand something about
li^it and the electromagnetic spectrum. Humans are visible only to the rays felling under
the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum and are invisible to both the infra-red as
well as the ultra violet region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

But night vision technology makes it possible for the humans to view the rays felling
in the infra-red region of the electromagnetic spectrum, that is generally the night vision
systems used in automobiles captures the infra-red image of distant obstacles on road
as every object emits infra-red rays (heat rays) even during night. This image is viewed
in a screen and the driver can thus apply the brakes as required.

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 Lateral survey of night vision technology

An Automobile night vision system uses a thermo graphic camera to increase

a driver's perception and seeing distance in darkness or poor weather beyond the reach
of the vehicle's headlights. Such systems are offered as optional equipment on certain
premium vehicles. The technology was first introduced in the year 2000 on the
Cadillac Deville .This technology is based on the night vision devices (NVD), which
generally denotes any electronically enhanced optical devices operate in three modes:
image enhancement, thermal imaging, and active illumination. The automotive night
vision system is a combination of NVDs such as infrared cameras, GPS, Lidar,
and Radar, among others to sense and detect objects.
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There are two types of systems, either passive or active systems, both have advantages
and disadvantages when compared to the other. The passive system pertains to the
technologies that detect thermal radiation emitted by humans, animals, and other
objects in the road while the active systems illuminate objects as a significant distance
ahead using infrared light source.

1. Active system :

Active systems use an infrared light source built into the car to illuminate the road
ahead with light that is invisible to humans.

There are two kinds of active systems: gated and non-gated. The gated system uses a
pulsed light source and a synchronized camera that enable long ranges (250m) and high
performance in rain and snow.

Near Infrared wavelength is 0.75–1.4 µm is smaller and can pass between the typical
fog particles. Fog particles sizes are typically 10 to 15 microns and ranges is sizes from
1 to 100 microns. Far infrared has a wavelength of 15 micrometres (µm) to 1 mm.
During night-time operations, police officers with range gated near infrared cameras
can read license plates at a distance of up to 1.2 km. Near Infrared (NIR) cameras are
available to see 50km through fog, haze, smoke, rain.

 Advantage: Higher resolution image, superior picture of inanimate objects, works

better in warmer conditions, smaller sensor can be mounted to rear-view mirror.

 Disadvantage : does not work as well in fog or rain, lower contrast for animals,
shorter range of 150–200 meters or 500–650 feet

2. Passive systems: Passive infrared systems do not use an infrared light source,
instead they capture thermal radiation already emitted by the objects, using
a thermo graphic camera.

Advantage: greater range of about 300 meters or 1,000 feet, higher contrast for
living objects.

Disadvantage: grainy, lower resolution image, works poorly in warmer weather

conditions, larger sensors.

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  Thermo graphic camera :
A thermo graphic camera (also called an infrared camera or thermal imaging
camera or infrared thermography) is a device that forms a heat zone image
using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image
using visible light. Instead of the 400–700 nanometre range of the visible light
camera, infrared cameras operate in wavelengths as long as 14,000 nm (14 µm).
Their use is called thermography.

 Far infrared :

Far infrared (FIR) is a region in the infrared spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.

Far infrared is often defined as any radiation with a wavelength of 15 micrometres (µm)
to 1 mm (corresponding to a range of about 20 THz to 300 GHz), which places
far infrared radiation within the CIE IR-B and IR-C bands. Different sources use
different boundaries for the far infrared spectrum; for example, astronomers sometimes
define far infrared as wavelengths between 25 µm and 350 µm.

Visible light includes radiation with wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm,
meaning that far infrared photons have less energy than visible light photons.

 Infrared radiation :

Infrared radiation (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic

radiation (EMR) with longer wavelengths than those of visible light, and is therefore
generally invisible to the human eye, although IR at wavelengths up to
1050 nanometres (nm)s from specially pulsed lasers can be seen by humans under
certain conditions. IR wavelengths extend from the nominal red edge of the visible
spectrum at 700 nanometres (frequency 430 THz), to 1 millimetre (300 GHz). Most of
the thermal radiation emitted by objects near room temperature is infrared. As with all
EMR, IR carries radiant energy and behaves both like a wave and like
its quantum particle, the photon.

Infrared radiation was discovered in 1800 by astronomer Sir William Herschel, who
discovered a type of invisible radiation in the spectrum lower in energy than red light,

13
by means of its effect on a thermometer. Slightly more than half of the total energy
from the Sun was eventually found to arrive on Earth in the form of infrared. The
balance between absorbed and emitted infrared radiation has a critical effect on
Earth's climate.

Infrared radiation is emitted or absorbed by molecules when they change

their rotational-vibrational movements. It excites vibrational modes in
a molecule through a change in the dipole moment, making it a useful frequency range
for study of these energy states for molecules of the proper symmetry. Infrared
spectroscopy examines absorption and transmission of photons in the infrared range.

Infrared radiation is used in industrial, scientific, military, law enforcement, and

medical applications. Night-vision devices using active near-infrared illumination
allow people or animals to be observed without the observer being detected. Infrared
astronomy uses sensor-equipped telescopes to penetrate dusty regions of space such
as molecular clouds, detect objects such as planets, and to view highly red-shifted
objects from the early days of the universe. Infrared thermal-imaging cameras are used
to detect heat loss in insulated systems, to observe changing blood flow in the skin, and
to detect overheating of electrical apparatus.

Extensive uses for military and civilian applications include target

acquisition, surveillance, vision, homing, and tracking. Humans at normal body
temperature radiate chiefly at wavelengths around 10 μm (micrometres). Non-military
uses include thermal efficiency analysis, environmental monitoring, industrial facility
inspections, detection of grow-ops, remote temperature sensing, short-range wireless
communication, spectroscopy, and weather forecasting.

 Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS):

It is a spectroscopic method that uses the near-infrared region of

the electromagnetic (from 780 nm to 2500 nm). Typical applications include medical
and physiological diagnostics and research including blood sugar, pulse
oximetry, functional neuroimaging, sports medicine, elite sports
training, ergonomics, rehabilitation, neonatal research, brain computer
interface, urology (bladder contraction), and neurology (neurovascular coupling).
There are also applications in other areas as well such as pharmaceutical, food and

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agrochemical quality control, atmospheric chemistry, combustion research and
astronomy

Near-IR absorption spectrum of dichloromethane showing complicated

overlapping overtones of mid IR absorption features.

 Night vision

Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions. Whether

by biological or technological means, night vision is made possible by a combination
of two approaches: sufficient spectral range, and sufficient intensity range. Humans
have poor night vision compared to many animals, in part because the human eye lacks
a tapetum lucidum.

 Pedestrian detection :

Pedestrian detection is an essential and significant task in any intelligent video system,
as it provides the fundamental information for semantic understanding of
the video footages. It has an obvious extension to automotive applications due to the
potential for improving safety systems. Many car manufacturers (e.g. Volvo, Ford, GM,
and Nissan) offer this as an ADAS option in 2017.

 Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) :

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ADAS are systems to help the driver in the driving process. When designed with a
safe human-machine interface, they should increase car safety and more generally road
safety.

Most road accidents occurred due to the human error. Advanced driver-assistance
systems are systems developed to automate, adapt and enhance vehicle systems for
safety and better driving. The automated system which is provided by ADAS to the
vehicle is proven to reduce road fatalities, by minimizing the human error. Safety
features are designed to avoid collisions and accidents by offering technologies that
alert the driver to potential problems, or to avoid
collisions by implementing safeguards and taking
over control of the vehicle. Adaptive features may
automate lighting, provide adaptive cruise
control and collision avoidance, pedestrian crash
avoidance mitigation (PCAM), incorporate
satnav/traffic warnings, connect to smartphones,
alert driver to other cars or dangers, lane departure warning system, automatic lane
centring, or show what is in blind spots.

There are two technical variants of night-vision enhancement systems on the market:
1. Far-Infrared system (FIR)
FIR night-vision enhancement systems receive thermal radiation emitted by objects in
the far infrared wavelength range between 7 and 12 µm. These so-called passive
systems do not require any additional source of radiation to illuminate the objects. The
picture of the camera can be processed by an ECU for picture quality improvement and
is then presented by a graphic display to the driver.

In the image of a thermal camera warm objects appear as bright contours against the
dark (colder) background while cold objects are displayed dark. Only objects having a
higher temperature than the
ambient are detected by the
camera. The most striking feature
of the FIR image is the wide
reach of the system. Pedestrians
and other objects can be detected

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at ranges of 300m and more. Lane markings and traffic signs, however, can be seen
only vaguely if they have adapted their temperature to the ambient air. Fig. Shows an
image of a FIR camera.
This way of presenting the image appears rather unusual to most of the drivers because
it does not correspond to a normal reflected echo-return picture. Another drawback is
the fact that objects are displayed rich in contrast at Fig. : Image of a FIR
camera.
Low outside temperatures but only vaguely in a warm environment.

2. Near-Infrared system (NIR)

Near-infrared systems use radiation in the spectral range between 800 nm and 1,000
nm. As objects do not emit any radiation in this range of wavelengths, objects in front
of the vehicle must be illuminated. The reflections are collected by an infrared-sensitive
video camera it consists of two Halogen illumination modules, the camera, an ECU for
picture quality improvement and a HMI.
Silicon image sensors are sensitive in the mentioned wavelength range. As the upper
limit of the sensitivity of these sensors is 1,100 nm, they can hence be implemented in
day-time applications as well. The camera module is mounted on the windscreen,
usually in the region behind the interior mirror (from drivers view). Halogen
Headlights, being commonly used for the automobiles high and low beam, possess a
high infrared share with the maximum in the range between 900 and 1,000 nm. In
practical Applications light modules consisting of a halogen headlamp with an
externally mounted optical filter for the visible spectrum, are integrated into the front
headlights. Fig. shows the image of the NIR system.

The image clearly shows that only those

objects being illuminated by the IR
headlamps are visible. As the NIR
spectrum is close to the visible spectrum,
natural objects reflect NIR
Fig.: Image produced by an NIR system
Similarly to visible light. Hence the image appears as familiar to the driver as a black-
and-white TV picture bearing a high resemblance to the normal viewing impression at

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high beam. Furthermore, lane markings are clearly visible. One drawback may result in
the poor visibility of pedestrians with dark clothing.

HMI for Night Vision systems

The human machine interface (HMI) plays a major role with this kind of system,
because it directly shows the benefit of the system to the driver. In principle, there are
three different display zones characterized by differing requirements as regards the
performance of the relevant display medium. These three communication centres in the
vehicle are:
 The windshield. The information can be seen without the driver having to take his
eyes off the road and without the need for visual accommodation. At a first glance this
location seems to be ideal for night vision information.
 The instrument cluster for information being relevant to the driver. It is located
outside the driver’s primary field of view.
 The centre console for lesser important information for driver and passengers.

Where should be shown what kind of information?

 Information, to which the driver must respond, should be displayed within or close
to the primary field of view (HUD or Instrument cluster).
 Status information or operator dialog in the form of prompts, may be displayed in the
operator-control unit in the centre console. These multifunctional displays must be
structured taking into consideration the regularities of human perception [8].
 Information aimed at entertaining should be kept away from the primary field of
view.
The best compromise between a quick and precise perception of the Night Vision
information and a possible distraction must be found. The distraction must be minimal.

Recent and Future Developments:

Meanwhile, the second generation of night vision systems has been developed and is
being introduced in the market during the year 2009. These systems do not only show
a picture to the driver but they have the feature to detect, and to classify objects (to a
certain extent) and to warn him in hazardous situations. After tracking a detected object

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a contour matching step is performed. The head and shoulder part of a human is very
characteristic, allowing a reliable classification of pedestrians and bikers.

In a first step a warning symbol is shown on the display. This makes it easier for the
driver to detect relevant information within the picture. The warning symbol is in the
upper right corner of the picture close to the detected pedestrian. The multifunction
graphic display of the E-Class is located in the centre console region.
The third generation will allow the
realization of systems without graphic
screen, but warning the driver according
to the prevalent situation only in those
cases where a relevant object is detected.
Insofar a secure detection of lane
markings and a reliable course prediction
is essential to correlate the position of an object with the course of the own lane.
Application of Night vision technology in Automobile

Mercedes-Benz:
Night View Assist infrared projector visible next
to Bi-Xenon HID main headlight, Mercedes-Benz
S-Class (W221
Night View Assist prototype was shown in 2003
on the Mercedes-Benz F500 concept. Series
production Night View Assist system introduced
in 2005 on the redesigned Mercedes-Benz S-Class
(W221). It was the first system to use the instrument cluster's LCD as a display.
In 2009: Night View Assist Plus added a pedestrian detection function calling the
revised system on the redesigned Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W212) and refreshed S-
class however, the E-class uses the navigation screen's display.
In 2011: Night View Assist Plus with Spotlight Function premiere: the Mercedes-Benz
CL-Class (C216) became the first series production car with night vision-
guided pedestrian spotlighting (HID version) can flash at any pedestrians it detects in
order to warn both the driver and the pedestrians. The flashing light is directed in such
a way that vehicles in front and oncoming traffic are not dazzled.

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2013: Night View Assist Plus with animal detection on the W222 S-Class.

Toyota:

Night View system on the 2003 Lexus LX 470

In 2002 Toyota Night View was the first

worldwide series production active automotive
night vision system, introduced on the Toyota
Land cruiser Cygnus or Lexus LX470. This
system uses the headlight projectors emitting near
infrared light aimed like the car's high beam headlights and a CCD camera then
captures that reflected radiation, this signal is then processed by computer which
produces a black-and-white image which is projected on the lower section of the
windshield.

In February 2008 the Toyota Crown Hybrid added a feature which

highlights pedestrians and presents them in a box on an LCD display in front of the
driver. This was the first pedestrian detection feature for an active system.

In 2009 Lexus Night View in Japan, on LS.

In 2012 Lexus introduced Night View worldwide, on LS and GS. The Night View
system combines a windshield mounted near infra-red camera and near infra-red
projectors within the headlamps with a Night View ECU to display an image of the
road ahead on centre console display screen. Moving the image from the driver’s
instrument display to the centre console offers drivers a larger display and an easier
viewing angle. With the camera constantly in operation and the near infra-red projectors
activating at speeds over 10 MPH to enhance system efficiency, night view will display
an area up to 65 feet in front of the vehicle. Discontinued for 2014 in US.

Audi:

Night Vision Assistant infrared camera visible on Audi A8 grill, right circle

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Night Vision Assistant was introduced in 2010 on
the Audi A8. It uses a thermal imaging camera
behind the four rings at the front of the car which
can "see" 300 meters (984 ft.) ahead. The display
in the instrument cluster highlights humans with
yellow markings. More importantly, the computer can determine if the person on the
road moves in a way that could lead to a collision with the car. In that case the pedestrian
is being marked in red colour and the driver of the car receives an audible warning.

2013 update added animal detection. and Pedestrian Marker Lights: As soon as
a pedestrian is detected by the Night Vision Assistant in a critical range in front of the
vehicle, individual Matrix LEDs flash briefly 3 times in succession to alert that person,
who is then clearly visible to the driver.

BMW:

BMW Night Vision introduced in 2005 on the BMW 7 Series (E65). This system
processes far infrared radiation, which minimizes non-essential information placing a
greater emphasis on pedestrians and animals, allows for a range of 300 meters or nearly
1,000 feet, and avoids "dazzle" from headlights, road lights and similar intense light
sources.

2008 update added pedestrian detection system on the redesigned BMW 7 Series (F01),
which flashes a caution symbol on the navigation/information screen and automotive
head-up display when it detects pedestrians.

2013 update added Dynamic Light Spot.

2013 update added animal detection. The system provides a real-time video image that
also depicts on the Control Display persons, animals and other objects emitting heat
when they are outside of the light beam and warns in the event of an impending
collision. The Dynamic Light Spot is produced by a special headlight that directs the
light beam onto the recognised persons or animals respectively, thus drawing the
driver’s attention to possible hazards in good time. As soon as the remote infrared
detects pedestrians or larger animals on course for collision in the dark, the system
directs two separately controlled Dynamic Light Spots at them without creating an

21
unpleasant glare. In the event of an acute risk, an acoustic warning signal is also
sounded and the brakes are set to maximum standby. For the model year 2014, the
BMW 5 Series will also have these new features.

Cadillac:

First worldwide series production automotive night vision on 2000 Cadillac

Deville Night Vision, however it was discontinued in 2004. This system was developed
with Raytheon and worked by using a passive infrared sensor camera mounted behind
the vehicle's grille. Infrared radiation is picked up by the sensor, processed by computer
and then displayed on the windshield using a head-up display. Information is displayed
as a black-and-white image with warmer objects in white, while cooler objects appear
black. Because this system outputs a standard NTSC composite video signal and the
used parts are somewhat easy and inexpensive to find, it has become a popular choice
for fitting thermal night vision to other vehicles. After a long hiatus, the 2015
flagship Cadillac CT6 was equipped with an improved version of the Enhanced Night
Vision, in which the images are displayed and embedded in the instrument panel instead
of being displayed as a reflection on the windshield.

Honda:

In 2004, Honda introduced first worldwide system with pedestrian detection on

redesigned Honda Legend Intelligent Night Vision. It detected far infrared radiation.
The pedestrian detection feature alerted the driver with an audio warning and visually
enclosed the pedestrian in a box on the display which was presented via head-up
display. The night vision system uses a separate heads up type display projected on the
centre bottom of the windshield. The infrared cameras do not require a light source, and
the software is able to detect human like figures, surround the image with a red box and
give audible caution tones.

DS Automotive:

DS NIGHT VISION offers road visibility by night. An infrared camera in the front grill
identifies objects, pedestrians and animals on the road at a distance of up to 100m.A
digital instrument cluster shows the driver the area around the car in infrared, with a

22
yellow line around any sources of potential danger. For critical danger, the line becomes
red, allowing the driver to react to the situation. DS 7 CROSSBACK is the first DS
vehicle to include Night Vision.

Advantages and disadvantages of night vision technology

Advantages:

1. Improved vision conditions of dusk and darkness.

2. No dazzling by head lights of the oncoming vehicles.

3. Highlighting of illuminated, heat-emitting objects as pedestrian, cyclists, deer, etc.

4. Better overview of the driving situations.

5. The zoom functions of the object in the far distance at high speeds.

6. Illumination of the bends/curves (pivoting of image details)

7. Illumination of dark courtyard and garage entrances.

8. Superior image quality.

9. Uninterrupted image.

10. Immune to dynamic thermal environment

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Disadvantages:

1. The objective of the pedestrian warning algorithm is to accurately detect pedestrians

and provide the driver with informative warnings. In the eyes of the driver, the end
product of the good system provides a timely warning and possibly, additional
information such as position of the pedestrians or an overlaid icon on night vision
display.

2. Although generic image processing algorithms have been addressing similar goals
for many years, there are several problems that are unique to image processing in
automotive application. For example, it is difficult to distinguish between objects in the
foreground and the background of the image the entire image is continuously changing
and because pedestrians vary in scale based on their distance to the viewer.

3. The probability of true warnings (i.e. when the driver is about to hit the pedestrian)
is low, as it often is in reality, then the odds of the true alarm, can be quite low even for
very sensitive warning systems with very high hit rates and low false alarm rates.

4. Quality cameras often have a high price range.

5. Neck strain and fatigue.
6. Night vision device is very costly.
7. It cannot be properly used in rain and fog as it degrade its performance etc.

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 Conclusion and Future scope

To put it in a nut shell it has become the need of the hour to have these kinds of hybrid
safety systems on the latest automobiles that could save the lives of many. All the
automobile giants should divert their R&D work towards such innovative technologies
and make this world a safer world to live in. Many such ideas are yet to come and it is
the duty of young budding engineers to think innovatively and work upon developing
such techniques one of which being the night vision sensors used in cars and other
automobiles that are proving to be a great success in the west and this should be
implemented immediately on the Indian terrain and reduce the catastrophic incidents
that occur on the roads especially during the night times. In the recent past small scale
developments have come into play and the world is looking forward for such creations
to come into play

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 References:

1. https://www.seminarsonly.com/mech%20&%20auto/night-vision-
technology-in-automobiles-seminar-report-ppt.php
2. https://www.slideshare.net/sarangbire/night-vision-system-in-
automobiles
3. https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-automotive-night-vision-534824
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268003642_An_Intelligent_
Night_Vision_System_for_Automobiles
5. https://www.slideshare.net/mihika_shah/night-vision-technology

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