Despite the fact that the performance of organic solar cells is generally susceptible to degradation by moisture exposure,
there has been suggestion that the photoactive layer (P3HT) is surprisingly resilient. This work attempts to confirm the
stability of P3HT as an organic solar cell material by deliberately introducing water into the photoactive layer. A
dramatic step drop in device performance during cell characterization is observed approximately one day after the device
has been fabricated. The time-delayed step drop in output efficiency strongly suggests that moisture has little effect on
the P3HT conducting polymer.
The authors investigate a data acquisition system utilising the widely available digital multi-meter and the webcam. The system is suited for applications that require sampling rates of less than about 1 Hz, such as for ambient temperature recording or the monitoring of the charging state of rechargeable batteries. The data displayed on the external digital readout is acquired into the computer through the process of template matching. MATLAB is used as the programming language for processing the captured 2-D images in this demonstration. A RC charging experiment with a time characteristic of approximately 33 s is setup to verify the accuracy of the image-to-data conversion. It is found that the acquired data matches the steady-state voltage value displayed by the digital meter after an error detection technique has been devised and implemented into the data acquisition script file. It is possible to acquire a number of different readings simultaneously from various sources with this imaging method by placing a number of digital readouts within the camera's field-of-view.
In this paper we put forward and evaluate a near real-time night driving assistance system intended for use in land vehicles (cars in particular) to help with T-junctions crossing at night. The onboard system of the host vehicle computes the remaining distance between itself and the nearest approaching vehicle using spatial perspective method. The algorithm evaluates the interspacing of the incoming vehicle's headlights. This allows the distance-to-contact to be determined or estimated. This work emphasises techniques to obtain the required image quality for distance sensing. The image quality was achieved when work was focused primarily at the hardware levels. With polaroids in place, the acquired images show that the headlight signals are clearly distinguishable from other ambient lights. This significantly simplifies image processing. Road-testing shows rather promising results. The system can be generalised to intersection settings, prevent rear-front collisions and may be extended for daytime applications with the introduction of virtual references.
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