The HARKEN concept - Heart An Respiration In-Car Embedded Nonintrusive Sensors

The HARKEN concept - Heart An Respiration In-Car Embedded Nonintrusive Sensors
Driver fatigue countermeasures may be directed at drivers, companies, road infrastructure and vehicles. Particular countermeasures that should be considered are: publicity campaigns, infrastructural measures, legislation and enforcement, and in-vehicle systems that warn drivers when they are becoming fatigued. The latter type of solution is the most direct countermeasure, and the one that automotive industry and technology component suppliers may contribute to. Such systems need an input of the driver's state, which may be recorded by the car interior parts in contact with driver's body.
The solution proposed in this project to address the stated need is a nonintrusive sensing system of driver's heart and respiration embedded in the seat cover and the safety belt of a car. It will detect the mechanical effect of heart and respiration activity, filter and cancel the noise and artefacts expected in a moving vehicle (vibration and body movements), and calculate the relevant parameters, which will be delivered in a readable format to integrate it in a fatigue detector.(...)