Night vision technology in Cars(Automotive),types of night vision technology,Mercedes Night vision technology compared with BMW's night vision technology,active night vision assist,passive night vision assist,thermographic image sensor

1. NIGHT VISION TECHNOLOGY IN
CARS (AUTOMOTIVES)
01FM14EAT011 KUMAR MANIKANTAN T

2. CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 WHAT IS NIGHT VISION SYSTEM
 TYPES WITH WORKING
 ADVANTAGES
 LIMITATIONS
 CONCLUSIONS

3. INTRODUCTION
Before going into the night vision systems it is necessary to understand
something about light and the electromagnetic spectrum. Humans
are visible only to the rays falling 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.

4.  But night vision technology makes it possible for the humans to
view the rays felling in the infra-red region of the electromagnetic
spectrum.
WHAT IS NIGHT VISION SYSTEM IN AUTOMOTIVES ?
 It is a system to increase a vehicle driver's visibility in
darkness or poor weather beyond the reach of the vehicle
headlights .
 In this system Light waves [infrared (IR) ] are emitted by
source ; a special cameras collect small amounts reflected
light and amplify it to generate display on cluster.

5. How is it associated in cars
1 Night vision control unit
2 controller display
3 controller
4 Instrument Cluster
5 Button in light switch centre
6 Night vision camera

6. TYPES OF NIGHT VISION
SYSTEM
 Active systems
 Passive systems
Active systems: 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 quite higher performance in rain
and snow

7. HOW DOES IT WORKS
 Near-infrared band of wavelength within 750nm.
 NVD's rely on ambient light, often from the moon and stars.
 The intensifier tubes use the photoelectric effect.
 As a photon collides with a detector plate, that ejects several
electrons that are then amplified into a cascade of electrons that light
up a phosphor screen.

8.  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
 Mercedes system uses NIR technology and produces an even, clear
picture in the dark. This system is similar to night-vision goggles
soldiers use. 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.

9.  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.

10.  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 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

11. Passive systems: Passive systems do not use an infrared light source,
instead they capture thermal radiation already emitted by the objects,
using a thermo-graphic camera
1 Environment ahead of vehicle
2 Optical element
3 Thermal imaging sensor
4 BMW night vision control unit
5 Central information display

12.  The BMW's system picks up the heat of the animal or pedestrian
and displays it as a bright image. The warmer the target, the
brighter the image displays. It has a range of around 980 feet (299
meters) and can pan in the direction the vehicle is heading. The FIR
night vision system illuminates what's directly in front of the
vehicle reasonably well, but doesn't offer the clarity found in the
Mercedes system.

13. Switch button.
 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. The challenge is to be able to
decipher what's a hazard and what's merely a heat signature. The
goal is for the systems to be able to set off an alarm when a
pedestrian or animal is close enough to the road to be hazardous.

14.  Mercedes-Benz Night View Assist Plus
Mercedes-Benz is debuting animal detection as part of the Night View
Assist PLUS system offered on its 2014 S-Class sedan uses infrared
sensors and cameras to detect pedestrians and animals up to 700
feet away, then displays the image on the instrument panel in front
of the driver
 BMW’s Connected Drive night vision
BMW’s Connected Drive night vision option has been available on the
7-Series since 2005, and will expand to include animal detection in
its 2014-model-year 5-, 6-, and 7-Series sedans and coupes. The
option, which uses a camera in the front grille to detect pedestrians
from 10 to 100 yards away and alerts the driver with a sound and
warning on the control display.

15. 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, animals etc helps safe driving.
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. Small compact size
8. Easy and comprehensive installation
9. Low maintenance

16. Limitations
 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.
 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

17. Conclusions:
 The innovation and implementation of night vision system has a
great impact on automotive session such as saving many lives
from death reducing accidents at night.

18. References
 www.howstuffworks.com
 www.cars.com/features/nightvision assist
 Google, Wikipedia
 Improved Night-vision for next 2009 BMW 7 –series Bmw-blog 2008-
12-31.Retrieved 2009-1208
 www.autoevolution.com/night vision works
 www.mercedes-benz.co.in/Tech center/night vision assist
 autolivnightvision.com
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