Road transportation is an integral part of our daily life. Millions of deaths occur due to road accidents. Thus, safety becomes crucial when it comes to opting for road transport. This paper proposes a wireless seatbelt latch system that is cost-effective and requires a set of electronic components and a sensor which detects the status of the seatbelt and transmits to the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) of the car. The proposed system is tested and validated using Proteus software.

Wireless Seatbelt Latch Status Indicator

A vast increase in automotive electronic systems, coupled with related demands on power and design, has created an array of new engineering opportunities and challenges. Today's high-end vehicles may have more than 4 kilometers of wiring, compared to 45 meters in vehicles manufactured in 1955. Reducing wiring mass through in-vehicle networks will bring an explosion of new functionality and innovation. Our vehicles will become more like PCs, creating the potential for a host of plug-and-play devices. On average, US commuters spend 9 percent of their day in an automobile. Thus, introducing multimedia and telematics to vehicles will increase productivity and provide entertainment for millions. Further, X-by-wire solutions will make computer diagnostics a standard part of mechanics' work and may even create an electronic chauffeur.

Expanding automotive electronic systems

The 802.11-p based dedicated short range communication (DSRC) is being seriously considered as a promising wireless technology for enhancing transportation safety and highway efficiency. However, to-date, there is very little research done in characterizing the reliability of DSRC communication based on real-world experimental data, and its effect on the reliability of vehicle safety applications. Our experimental set-up includes a fleet of three vehicles equipped with DSRC communication system, GPS receiver and a number of vehicle safety applications based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This paper analyzes the link-level behavior of DSRC vehicle-to-vehicle communication in a wide variety of traffic environments based on real-world experimental data. In addition, we also characterize the application level reliability of DSRC for vehicle safety communication (VSC) system. Based on our experiments, we show that the reliability of DSRC vehicle-to-vehicle communication is adequate since packet drops do not occur in bursts most of the time. We also show that the application level reliability of VSC applications based on DSRC communication is quite satisfactory. Finally, we develop an analytical model to relate application level reliability with communication reliability and VSC system parameter, laying out a clear way to improve reliability of VSC applications under harsh traffic environments. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to characterize the application-level reliability of DSRC communication for VSC applications based on real-world experimental data. Our findings develop a deep insight into significant characteristics of DSRC communication for highly mobile vehicle-to-vehicle wireless network, which will contribute to better design and evaluation of communication protocols for VSC applications in the future

Reliability Analysis of DSRC Wireless Communication for Vehicle Safety Applications

Together, the Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) and Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) technologies provide a unique opportunity to develop and introduce various types of communication- based automotive technologies to the marketplace. To date, many applications have been identified by the automotive community. Given the large number and diverse nature of these applications, it is advantageous to develop a systematic classification methodology to facilitate future DSRC and VANET research. Toward this objective, in this paper, we present a study that goes through two major steps: characterisation and classification. First, we focus on a set of representative applications and characterise them with respect to plausible application- and networking-related attributes. The characterisation process not only strengthens our understanding of the applications but also sets the stage for the classification step since it reveals numerous application commonalities. Thus, we have categorised the given applications into seven generic classes, with the consideration of balancing the trade-off between exploiting as many application similarities as possible while preserving their salient differences. This is of paramount importance to facilitate performance analysis of newly designed protocols. Finally, we have identified key performance metrics for each class of applications, which, we hope, could bridge the gap between the automotive and wireless networking communities. Accordingly, the proposed classes are envisioned to play a dual-role: facilitate application simulation and performance evaluation and guide DSRC and VANET protocol research and development.

/pdf/towards-characterising-and-classifying-communication-based-awlsebb2qn.pdf

Towards Characterising and Classifying Communication–based Automotive Applications from a Wireless Networking Perspective

The objective of this paper is to present an improved design of a wireless inductive sensor with novel compressive parts and its integration with a suitable mechanical device. The proposed system can be used as a seat occupancy detector with adjustable weight threshold. It consists of a sensor (inductor, steel springs, and ferrite plate), an antenna, and a mechanical device for transferring the scaled weight to the sensor. The sensor is designed in such a way that the weight applied to its surface causes the built-in springs to compression, and as a result, the reduction of the distance between the inductor and the ferrite plate, which in turn changes in the sensor’s inductance, and consequently the antenna-sensor resonant frequency, which is used as the electric output. The mechanical device, which serves as a weight converter, has also been developed. The prototype of the system is fabricated and experimentally tested in order to confirm its functionality and performance. A three-segment linear characteristic is obtained with the following sensitivities: 0.9 MHz/kg for the weights of 0–20 kg, 1.86 MHz/kg for the weights of 20–40 kg, and 0.19 MHz/kg for the weights of 40–50 kg. These results show that the developed system can detect the presence of weight and, therefore, can be used for seat occupancy detection in a vehicle safety restraint and airbag systems. It can also be used as the indicator in the airbag safety restraint systems when the occupant’s weight exceeds the defined weight threshold for the airbag activation.

Wireless Seatbelt Latch Status Indicator

References

Expanding automotive electronic systems

Reliability Analysis of DSRC Wireless Communication for Vehicle Safety Applications

Towards Characterising and Classifying Communication–based Automotive Applications from a Wireless Networking Perspective

Detection of Seat Occupancy Using a Wireless Inductive Sensor