panasonic has recently announced the development of "sleep control" to detect and predict a person's drowsiness, allowing him to stay comfortably awake while driving.
This technology enables the driver to detect the initial state of light sleep - second level - in the driver by accurately measuring the driver's condition without any physical contact, including the features of eyelashes and facial expressions, etc. signals taken by a camera installed in the car, and Then treat these signals using artificial intelligence.
Furthermore, thanks to the use of measurement data from the internal environment of the vehicle, such as driver heat loss and change of lighting inside the vehicle, Panasonic's new technology also predicts the ongoing shifts in the driver's drowsiness. The technology also includes a thermal sensor function, allowing the driver to stay comfortably awake while driving.
This technology has enabled the development of the driver's control system, which reveals the current level of driver's sleepiness, anticipates shifts in the drowsiness based on the interior of the car, and a sleep control system that allows the driver to stay comfortably awake. These systems prevent the driver from sleeping while driving.
Drowsiness control - basic functions
You discover the light drowsiness that even the driver does not realize by measuring the features of eyelashes, facial expressions and other criteria.
Data is collected in the vehicle's internal environment to predict changes in the driver's drowsiness level.
It senses and monitors the driver's thermal sensation, allowing the person to stay comfortably awake.
Traditional drowsiness systems have had difficulty predicting shifts in drowsiness. Traditional drowsiness systems use sounds and vibrations to wake up users, which can worry their comfort.
Panasonic's newly developed technology, with 22 patents, is a technology suitable for applications of human and environmental monitoring systems used in places such as private and commercial vehicles, offices and educational institutions; drowsiness systems; and drowsiness control systems to keep people awake.
Drowsiness Technology - Explain the main technical advantages
She discovers the light drowsiness that even the driver himself does not realize, by measuring the features of eyelashes with the eyes, facial expressions, and so on.
A sleepy person shows different signs. For example, when people feel drowsy, their features appear to be "tired facial expressions" or "shimmer in a certain way". Identifying these signs allows for the detection of drowsiness.
Using image recognition techniques that have been improved through the development of surveillance cameras and other systems, Panasonic has recently developed a high-resolution non-contact detection technology for detecting people's eyelashes, facial expressions, and other captured images. The company compiled a database of various measurements of drowsiness and biomarker levels and analyzed the relationship between about 1800 measurements of eyelashes, facial expressions, etc., and drowsiness, from a physiological point of view, after extracting those parameters from the database.
Based on the findings of an analysis of sleepy expressions collected during the joint research with the Ohara Memorial Institute for Labor Sciences, a public interest institution, Panasonic has developed an artificial intelligence capable of assessing the level of sleepiness of the individual.
These achievements allow for the detection of signs of light drowsiness, even if the person does not pay attention to them, as well as determine the actual level of drowsiness.
Compiling data in the vehicle's internal environment to predict changes in driver's drowsiness level
In general, people rarely feel sleepy in cold and light environments, but they can easily feel sleepy in a warm, dark environment. Therefore, drowsiness is supposed to depend on the environmental factors in the car, such as temperature and brightness. While some people wear a lot of clothing, others wear less in the same atmosphere and the same temperature. These differences in human behavior make it difficult to estimate people's sleepiness based solely on ambient temperature.
Panasonic conducted joint research with the University of Chiba, where research revealed that the loss of heat from a person's body is related to sleepiness of the person after a certain time, regardless of the amount of clothing worn by that person. Panasonic also developed an inductive technology to measure heat loss from a person's body through Grid-EYE
, A range of infrared sensors "Grid Eye". In addition, the company identified the effect of elapsed time and ambient brightness, measured by the sensor environment, at the level of sleepiness in the person.
These results can predict how a person's current drowsiness is altered by the loss of heat from the body - through non-contact measurement - and the brightness surrounding it.
It senses and monitors the driver's thermal sensation, allowing the person to stay comfortably awake.
Adjusting room temperature or air flow can be done based on an estimate of drowsiness, making it easy to keep the person awake. But the person will feel cold when the room temperature is too low, which means that the level of thermal comfort will be disrupted. Based on Panasonic's accumulated experience in thermal environments and physiology, thanks to its research and development in the field of air conditioners and other products, Panasonic has developed through a joint research with the University of "Nara" for women thermal sensing technology . This technology can be used inside the car, where the airflow effect and other effects are significant. Using a range of infrared detectors, the person's thermal sensation can be continuously monitored as an ideal means of controlling heat, such as temperature control, for example. This helps keep the person awake and relaxed .
The technique of sleepiness control
Five equal levels of drowsiness
A measure to determine the level of sleepiness of a person's facial expressions. Drowsiness levels are assessed within the following five levels:
Do not feel sleepy at all,
Feel a little sleepy
Feel sleepy
Feel very sleepy
Feel sleepy seriously
Source: Hiroki Kitajima, Nakaho Nomata, Keshi Yumamoto, Yoshihiro Joey: "Prediction of the level of drowsiness of the driver of the vehicle (first report assessment of drowsiness based on facial expressions and the examination of indicators of the drowsy forecasting mechanism)" Proceedings of the Japanese Society of Mechanical Engineers " No. 613, p. 93-100, 1997.
A range of infrared sensors, Grid-EYE
The array of infrared sensors includes two-dimensional pixels that reveal infrared (wavelength: 10 μm) emitted from the human body or object, and can measure the two-dimensional heat distribution. Panasonic's 64-pixel Infrared Eye Kit is equipped with a high-resolution algorithm that can be used at the right speed and angle to give the Tuzai thermal images the resolution of the 7800-pixel images.