2010

Preejo Mathew Roll. No. 55

Reg. No. 88050259 Final Year Automobile
Engineering
6/11/2010

Seminar Report on “NIGHT

VISION IN CARS”

GOVERNMENT

COLLEGE

KALAMASSERY
 KALAMASSERY

DEPARTMENT OF
AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING

Seminar Report On

“NIGHT VISION IN
CARS”

Submitted by:
PREEJO
MATHEW
ROLL.NO: 55
REG. NO: 88050259

FINAL YEAR AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING

2010-2011
This is to certify that the seminar report entitled NIGHT VISION IN
CARS was presented by PREEJO MATHEW with Reg. No.
88050259 of final year Automobile Engineering, government
polytechnic college, Kalamassery in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of Diploma in Automobile Engineering
under the board of Diploma in automobile Engineering under the
board of technical education, during the year 2010-2011.

Guided by

Mr. Biju George Mr. Sadanandan T.V

Lecturer Head of Section

Internal Examiner External Examiner

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense pleasure to present the report of this

project work that has been undertaken during my final year Diploma
Course. The project titled “NIGHT VISION IN CARS.”

I take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to Sri.

T.V. Sadanandan, Head of the Automobile Engineering, Sri. Biju
George, Lecturer in Automobile Department and all the staff in the
Automobile Department for their valuable guidance, inspiration and
help to do this seminar and make it a
success.

I also express my heartily thanks to all my friends for their

devoted help and moral support for the completion of this seminar.

With affectionate regards

Preejo Mathew

CONTENTS

● ABSTRACT 1

● INTRODUCTION 2

● BASICS 3

● CAR NIGHT VISION SYSTEMS 4

● NIGHT VISION FOR CARS 5

● HOW NIGHT VISION WORKS 6

 ● INFRARED LIGHT 7

● STRUCTURE OR WORKING PRINCLIPLE 11

● ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES 12

● CONCLUSION 13

● REFERANCE 14

Page No.: 1

ABSTRACT

In this article, we'll look at night vision systems found in

production cars. You will understand how two of the leading
manufacturers in the auto industry are taking back the night in attempt
to make driving in the dark safer. In recent years, multiple studies
have been conducted in the United States as well as Europe and they
all seem to paint the same general picture: The majority of driving is
done with the aid of daylight, yet a high volume of fatal accidents
occur at night.

Page No.: 2

INTRODUCTION
In 2000, General Motors offered a thermal night-vision system in its
Cadillac line of vehicles. The system was innovative, but it was also
expensive and didn't produce very clear images. Toyota also gave
night vision a shot, and even now the automaker continues to offer an
in-dash system in some Lexus models. The Lexus system has its fans,
but if it's so effective, then why hasn't this technology spread to every
vehicle on the road? One theory is that it seems as if the technology
just isn't fully ready for automotive applications. Not yet, anyway. As
you can imagine, night-vision technology is expensive and if you use
inexpensive components, the quality simply won't be there.

Page No.: 3

Basics

What is night vision?

The human eye can see images which reflect light from violet to red in
the electromagnetic color spectrum. Beyond the visible spectrum for
humans is the light known as short-wave infrared,
light. The human eye is unable to see that light.

Infrared light actually falls into three classifications: near-infrared

(near-IR or NIR), mid-infrared (mid-IR or MIR) and far-infrared
(far-IR or FIR), also known as thermal-infrared. The difference
between the three types of infrared light comes down to wavelengths.
Near-IR, or NIR, has the shortest wavelength -- smaller than 1.5
microns -- and is closest to what we as humans can see as visible
light. Far-IR, or FIR, is quite different. Thermal infrared wavelengths
can be up to 30 microns and FIR is emitted from an object rather than
reflected. The two main methods of night vision are thermal
imaging and photon detection or image enhancing

Page No.: 4

Car Night Vision System

Mercedes-Benz uses an active system or near-IR system that illuminates the night
with projected infrared light, much like optics found in military-issue night-vision
goggles. BMW's passive system, on the other hand, uses far-IR or FIR technology in
its onboard night-vision systems.
Unlike night-vision optics used for military applications, BMW's system registers
images based on body heat and produces images that resemble a photo negative.
While that works well for deciphering between animals and people, it doesn't do much
for revealing a dead animal in the middle of the road or perhaps a large rock or a
fallen tree. BMW's infrared system uses complementary metal oxide semiconductor
(CMOS)-based sensors on the front of the car that pick up heat from objects and
processes the thermal signature to display images on a quarter video graphics array
(QVGA) display (320x240-pixel resolution) mounted on the dash in the center of the
vehicle's
console.
In contrast, the Mercedes system uses NIR technology and produces an even, clear
picture in the dark. This system is similar to night-vision goggles soldiers’ use. Like
the military-issued night-vision goggles, the NIR system in the Mercedes illuminates
everything as if it were in the high beams of the vehicle. By utilizing a series of
projection bulbs and cameras, the Mercedes' active night-vision system picks up the
faintest traces of light and transforms it into a clear picture. The advantage is that the
Mercedes system can see warmer living things just as clear as it can spot colder, dead
animals or non-living objects. The drawback to the Mercedes system is its range: The
system has a maximum effective range of less than 600 feet (183 meters). Another
drawback is the Mercedes' NIR system doesn't handle fog well, while the BMW's FIR
system can see through the dense conditions. But unlike the BMW's system, the
Mercedes monitor is located behind the steering wheel, directly in the driver's line of
sight to the road, and the image quality is also crisper on the NIR system.
Both systems can be turned on or off by the driver with controls found near the high-
beam lever and neither system is affected by oncoming bright lights. Both are easy on
the eyes too, so sensitivity to light should not be a problem for most drivers.
Researchers from the two companies are also in the process of perfecting warning
indicators on the night-vision systems.
Both systems cost an extra $2,000 to $2,500. While that may sound like a significant
amount of money, when you look at the price tag of a 7-Series BMW or S-Class
Mercedes, two vehicles that can easily top $100,000, it somehow seems a bit more
reasonable -- especially when you consider the benefit of being able to see through the
darkness.

Page No.: 5

Night vision for cars

Bosch has released an enhanced version of its night vision system, first
featured in this year's new Mercedes E-class.
The new system can identify
pedestrians and alert the
driver to their presence.
Like its predecessor the
system, dubbed "Night
Vision plus" by the German
electronics giant, provides a
high-contrast image of the
area
immediately ahead of the vehicle. The difference is that the image is also analysed in
the latest version.
As pedestrians are identified and highlighted on the screen, the driver has much more
time to take action than they would if relying on the beams of headlamps alone.
The technology, known within Mercedes-Benz as "Night View Assist Plus" is also
available on the latest S-Class.
The Bosch active night vision system uses four main components to provide an
accurate reproduction of the area immediately ahead of the vehicle. Infrared
headlights with a range of 150 metres – three times further than conventional dipped
headlights – "illuminate" the road, and what they pick up is recorded by a camera
behind the windscreen. The images are then processed by a control unit and shown on
a high-resolution display in the cockpit.
A separate control unit analyses the camera image to detect the reflected infrared light
– the clever part is software that allows the system to distinguish between stationary
and moving objects.
A moving object, such as a pedestrian, is highlighted on the screen display and allows
early reaction by the driver.

Page No.: 6

How Night Vision Works

The first thing you probably think of when you see the words night vision is a spy
or action movie you've seen, in which someone straps on a pair of night-vision
goggles to find someone else in a dark building on a moonless night. And you may
have wondered "Do those things really work? Can you actually see in the dark?"
The answer is most definitely yes. With the proper night-vision equipment, you can
see a person standing over 200 yards (183 m) away on a moonless, cloudy night!
Night vision can work in two very different ways, depending on the technology used.
● Image enhancement - This works by collecting the tiny amounts of light,
including the lower portion of the infrared light spectrum, that are present but
may be imperceptible to our eyes, and amplifying it to the point that we can
easily observe the image.
● Thermal imaging - This technology operates by capturing the upper portion
of the infrared light spectrum, which is emitted as heat by objects instead of
simply reflected as light. Hotter objects, such as warm bodies, emit more of
this light than cooler objects like trees or buildings.
In this article, you will learn about the two major night-vision technologies. We'll
also discuss the various types of night-vision equipment and applications. But first,
let's talk about infrared light.

Page No.: 7

Infrared Light
In order to understand night vision, it is important to understand something about
light. The amount of energy in a light wave is related to its wavelength:
Shorter wavelengths have higher
energy. Of visible light, violet
has the most energy, and red has
the least. Just next to the visible
light spectrum is the infrared
spectrum.

Infrared light is a small part of the

light spectrum.
Infrared light can be split into three categories:
● Near-infrared (near-IR) - Closest to visible light, near-IR has wavelengths
that range from 0.7 to 1.3 microns, or 700 billionths to 1,300 billionths of a
meter.
● Mid-infrared (mid-IR) - Mid-IR has wavelengths ranging from 1.3 to 3
microns. Both near-IR and mid-IR are used by a variety of electronic devices,
including remote controls.
● Thermal-infrared (thermal-IR) - Occupying the largest part of the infrared
spectrum, thermal-IR has wavelengths ranging from 3 microns to over 30
microns.

Page No.: 8

1. Thermal Imaging
Here's how thermal imaging works:
1. A special lens focuses the infrared light emitted by all of the objects in view.
2. The focused light is scanned by a phased array of infrared-detector elements.
The detector elements create a very detailed temperature pattern called a
thermogram. It only takes about one-thirtieth of a second for the detector
array to obtain the temperature information to make the thermogram. This
information is obtained from several thousand points in the field of view of the
detector array.
3. The thermogram created by the detector elements is translated into electric
impulses.
4. The impulses are sent to a signal-processing unit, a circuit board with a
dedicated chip that translates the information from the elements into data for
the display.
5. The signal-processing unit sends the information to the display, where it
appears as various colours depending on the intensity of the infrared emission.
The combination of all the impulses from all of the elements creates the image.
 The basic components of a thermal-imaging system

Page No.: 9

Types of Thermal Imaging Devices

Most thermal-imaging devices scan at a rate of 30 times per second. They can sense
temperatures ranging from -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) to 3,600 F
(2,000 C), and can normally detect changes in temperature of about 0.4 F (0.2 C).

It is quite easy to see everything during

...but
the at
day...
night, you can see very little.

Thermal imaging lets you see again.

 2. Image Enhancement
Image-enhancement technology is what most people think of when you talk about
night vision. In fact, image-enhancement systems are normally called night-vision
devices (NVDs). NVDs rely on a special tube, called an image-intensifier tube,
to collect and amplify infrared and visible light.

The image-intensifier tube changes photons to electrons and back again.

Page No.: 10
Here's how image enhancement works:
1. A conventional lens, called the objective lens, captures ambient light and
some near-infrared light.
2. The gathered light is sent to the image-intensifier tube. In most NVDs, the
power supply for the image-intensifier tube receives power from two N-Cell or
two "AA" batteries. The tube outputs a high voltage, about 5,000 volts, to the
image-tube components.
3. The image-intensifier tube has a photocathode, which is used to convert the
photons of light energy into electrons.
4. As the electrons pass through the tube, similar electrons are released from
atoms in the tube, multiplying the original number of electrons by a factor of
thousands through the use of a microchannel plate (MCP) in the tube. An
MCP is a tiny glass disc that has millions of microscopic holes (microchannels)
in it, made using fibre-optic technology. The MCP is contained in a vacuum
and has metal electrodes on either side of the disc. Each channel is about 45
times longer than it is wide, and it works as an electron multiplier. When the
electrons from the photo cathode hit the first electrode of the MCP, they are
accelerated into the glass microchannels by the 5,000-V bursts being sent
between the electrode pair. As electrons pass through the microchannels, they
cause thousands of other electrons to be released in each channel using a
process called cascaded secondary emission. Basically, the original
electrons collide with the side of the channel, exciting atoms and
 causing other electrons to be released. These new electrons also collide with
other atoms, creating a chain reaction that results in thousands of electrons
leaving the channel where only a few entered. An interesting fact is that the
microchannels in the MCP are created at a slight angle (about a 5-degree to 8-
degree bias) to encourage electron collisions and reduce both ion and direct-
light feedback from the phosphors on the output side.
5. At the end of the image-intensifier tube, the electrons hit a screen coated with

phosphors. These electrons maintain their position in relation to the channel

they passed through, which provides a perfect image since the electrons stay in
the same alignment as the original photons. The energy of the electrons causes
the phosphors to reach an excited state and release photons. These phosphors
create the green image on the screen that has come to characterize night vision.
The green phosphor image is viewed through another lens, called the ocular
lens, which allows you to magnify and focus the image. The NVD may be
connected to an electronic display.

Page No.: 11

Structure / Working Principle NVD

Similar to the term 'photomultiplier' the operational basics of an image

intensifier tube makes attentive to the physical working principle, the
'multiplication' or 'amplification' of the existing 'low light'.
Beside the small range of electromagnetic radiation visible for the human eye
(between 380 - 780 Nm wavelength) there is a lot of other (invisible)
electromagnetic radiation of higher and lower wavelength existing. Every radio-
station and also each warm object emits electromagnetic radiation in certain
wavelengths. While at night there is very little radiation 'detectable' for the
human eye, a varying quantity of infrared radiation (IR-radiation) is present in
the EM-spectrum starting from 700 Nm.

The night vision device functions like 'correction eyeglasses', by catching the
radiation of this wavelength, amplifying / converting it electronically and
delivering it as light within the visible spectral range.
Therefore one also speaks of 'opto-electronic devices', which are either 'active'
(i.e. use an IR-light source for illuminating the environment) or only use
'passively' the low light.

A night vision device consists of three parts (optical - electronical - optical):

- Objective Lens, collects and focuses the low light - particularly permeable for
IR-radiation

- Image Intensifier Tube (IIT), converts photons in electrons (photocathode),

multiplies these and converts it back again in light (phosphor screen)
- Eyepiece Lens, magnifies the relatively small image of the image intensifier
tube

Page No.: 12

ADVANTAGES

■ No particular skill required

■ Accidents cases reduction

■ Compact system

■ 3x range visual
 DISADVANTAGES

■ The only disadvantage is that the Initial cost too high

Page No.: 13

CONCLUSION
The Night vision device (NVD) is undoubtedly one of the most enduring
features of the automobile industry. It has lasted from its initial introduction in
2000 to the present day and in some places, still hardly different from its
Victorian origins. There have been many improvements over the years without
any skill required.
Page No.: 14

REFERANCES

● www.howstuffwork.com

● www.wikipedia.com

● www.bosch.com