Research reveals that visual information forms the major portion of the received data for driving. At night -owing to the, sometimes scarcity, sometime inhomogeneity of light- the human physiology and psychology experiences a dramatic alteration. It is found that although the likelihood of accident occurrence is higher during the day due to heavier traffic, the most fatal accidents still occur during night time. How can road safety be improved in limited lighting conditions using DMD-based high resolution headlamps?
DMD-based pixel light systems, utilizing HID and LED light sources, are able to address hundreds of thousands of pixels individually. Using camera information, this capability allows 'glare-free' light distributions that perfectly adapt to the needs of all road users. What really enables these systems to stand out however, is their on-road image projection capability. This projection functionality may be used in co-operation with other driver assistance systems as an assist feature for the projection of navigation data, warning signs, car status information etc. Since contrast sensitivity constitutes a decisive measure of the human visual function, here is then a core question: what distributions of luminance in the projection space produce highly visible on-road image projections?
This work seeks to address this question. Responses on sets of differently illuminated projections are collected from a group of participants and later interpreted using statistical data obtained using a luminance camera. Some aspects regarding the correlation between contrast ratio, symbol form and attention capture are also discussed.
HID, LED and laser-based high resolution automotive headlamps, as of late known as ‘pixel light systems’, are at the
forefront of the developing technologies paving the way for autonomous driving. In addition to light distribution
capabilities that outperform Adaptive Front Lighting and Matrix Beam systems, pixel light systems provide the possibility
of image projection directly onto the street. The underlying objective is to improve the driving experience, in any given
scenario, in terms of safety, comfort and interaction for all road users. The focus of this work is to conduct a short survey
on this state-of-the-art image projection functionality.
A holistic research regarding the image projection functionality can be divided into three major categories: scenario
selection, technological development and evaluation design. Consequently, the work presented in this paper is divided into
three short studies. Section 1 provides a brief introduction to pixel light systems and a justification for the approach adopted
for this study. Section 2 deals with the selection of scenarios (and driving maneuvers) where image projection can play a
critical role. Section 3 discusses high power LED and LED array based prototypes that are currently under development.
Section 4 demonstrates results from an experiment conducted to evaluate the illuminance of an image space projected
using a pixel light system prototype developed at the Institute of Product Development (IPeG).
Findings from this work can help to identify and advance future research work relating to: further development of pixel
light systems, scenario planning, examination of optimal light sources, behavioral response studies etc.
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