21-09-2012, 03:27 PM
AUTOMATED VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM
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INTRODUCTION
We use intelligent instruments in every part of our lives. It won’t take much
time that we realize that most of our tasks are being done by electronics. Very soon, as
we shall see, they will perform one of the most complicated tasks that a person does in a
day, that of driving a vehicle.
This is for the better. As the days of manned driving are getting extremely
numbered, so are those of traffic jams, bad, dangerous and rough drivers and more
importantly, accidents. According to Mr. Willie D. Jones in the IEEE SPECTRUM
magazine (September 2001), a person dies in a car crash every second.. Automation of
the driving control of two-wheelers is one of the most vital need of the hour. This
technology can very well implement what was absent before, controlled lane driving.
Considering the hazards of driving and their more pronounced effect on two-wheelers
our OPTICALLY GUIDED VEHICLE CONTROL SYSTEM is exactly what is
required.
These systems have been implemented in France, Japan & U.S.A. by many
companies, but only for cars and mass transport networks. In those systems, the
acceleration and brake controls are left to the driver while the micro-processor simply
handles the steering and the collision detection mechanism. Our system is superior in
the sense that ALL the tasks related to driving are automated. The driver just has to sit
back and enjoy the ride.
Camera
We intend to use a camera with a large field of vision. This F.O.V. should extend
from 0.5 m before the two-wheeler to 30 m ahead. This camera is located just about the
front tire hood. It is angled in order to get this F.O.V. The camera has the following
properties:
1) It is a high resolution camera so that it sees clearly in it’s F.O.V.
2) It captures images at intervals of 0.1 ms.
3) The images have a depth of 2 bits. i.e. the camera can detect only four colours at
the most. This is a significant point because it reduces the cost of the camera.
The most practical way to implement this type of camera is to use a small grayscale
video camera which generates an AVI file. Obviously the audio part is useless to us, so
we will leave it out. We can sample this AVI file at particular time intervals (0.1 ms)
and get a BMP file. This BMP file has a particular size in pixels and is called “frame”.
All the graphical manipulations will be done using this frame. This frame is passed onto
the control circuit.
Speedometer
We have a speedometer on the two wheeler. This analog input is digitized and given
as an input to the control circuit. The speedometer on many two-wheelers is highly
inaccurate. So we intend to use a better quality speedometer as it’s readings are very
crucial in the collision detection circuit.
Control Circuit
This is the heart of the system and runs a program written in a high level language,
C. The program written in C will have the image processing as it’s main part. The
image processing is the most time consuming task of the CPU. Hence and Intel 80486
based chip will be used. This image processing program takes the sampled frame from
the camera and analyzes it as explained further in the algorithm. Depending upon the
difference from the standard picture stored in the memory, the speed control, the
tracking and obstacle detection sub-routines will be called. If either the tracking or the
obstacle detection sub-routines are called, then the speed control program will not be
called as the other two sub-programs will call the speed control programs in their own
way. When none of the two, the obstacle or the tracking program have to be called for,
the control circuit engages the speed control circuitry so that the two wheeler travels in
a straight line at a constant speed of 30 km/h. The two subroutines are called along with
the necessary daat as explained in the algorithm.
CONCLUSION
Collision detection and avoidance systems should become more commonplace
with the passage of time. People are living in a networked world and constantly feel that
they have less time on their hands. It has been jokingly said, that “The more developed
a country is, the more time it’s citizens waste behind the steering wheel.” To perfect
this technique, it might take several years, but this project is surely a step in the right
direction. Prevention is better than cure. So instead of treating patients after an
accident, accidents should be prevented by incorporating this system.
This project is very feasible as very less expensive parts are used. The most
expensive component is the micro-processor which is available in the second hand
market at a very low cost.
This project can be improved upon in many ways. For example: Including an
overtaking feature. Hopefully we will implement them in the future.