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A Multi-Sensor Intelligent Assistance System for Driver Status Monitoring and Intention Prediction
(2017)
Advanced sensing systems, sophisticated algorithms, and increasing computational resources continuously enhance the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). To date, despite that some vehicle based approaches to driver fatigue/drowsiness detection have been realized and deployed, objectively and reliably detecting the fatigue/drowsiness state of driver without compromising driving experience still remains challenging. In general, the choice of input sensorial information is limited in the state-of-the-art work. On the other hand, smart and safe driving, as representative future trends in the automotive industry worldwide, increasingly demands the new dimensional human-vehicle interactions, as well as the associated behavioral and bioinformatical data perception of driver. Thus, the goal of this research work is to investigate the employment of general and custom 3D-CMOS sensing concepts for the driver status monitoring, and to explore the improvement by merging/fusing this information with other salient customized information sources for gaining robustness/reliability. This thesis presents an effective multi-sensor approach with novel features to driver status monitoring and intention prediction aimed at drowsiness detection based on a multi-sensor intelligent assistance system -- DeCaDrive, which is implemented on an integrated soft-computing system with multi-sensing interfaces in a simulated driving environment. Utilizing active illumination, the IR depth camera of the realized system can provide rich facial and body features in 3D in a non-intrusive manner. In addition, steering angle sensor, pulse rate sensor, and embedded impedance spectroscopy sensor are incorporated to aid in the detection/prediction of driver's state and intention. A holistic design methodology for ADAS encompassing both driver- and vehicle-based approaches to driver assistance is discussed in the thesis as well. Multi-sensor data fusion and hierarchical SVM techniques are used in DeCaDrive to facilitate the classification of driver drowsiness levels based on which a warning can be issued in order to prevent possible traffic accidents. The realized DeCaDrive system achieves up to 99.66% classification accuracy on the defined drowsiness levels, and exhibits promising features such as head/eye tracking, blink detection, gaze estimation that can be utilized in human-vehicle interactions. However, the driver's state of "microsleep" can hardly be reflected in the sensor features of the implemented system. General improvements on the sensitivity of sensory components and on the system computation power are required to address this issue. Possible new features and development considerations for DeCaDrive are discussed as well in the thesis aiming to gain market acceptance in the future.
Field-effect transistor (FET) sensors and in particular their nanoscale variant of silicon nanowire transistors are very promising technology platforms for label-free biosensor applications. These devices directly detect the intrinsic electrical charge of biomolecules at the sensor’s liquid-solid interface. The maturity of micro fabrication techniques enables very large FET sensor arrays for massive multiplex detection. However, the direct detection of charged molecules in liquids faces a significant limitation due to a charge screening effect in physiological solutions, which inhibits the realization of point-of-care applications. As an alternative, impedance spectroscopy with FET devices has the potential to enable measurements in physiological samples. Even though promising studies were published in the field, impedimetric detection with silicon FET devices is not well understood.
The first goal of this thesis was to understand the device performances and to relate the effects seen in biosensing experiments to device and biomolecule types. A model approach should help to understand the capability and limitations of the impedimetric measurement method with FET biosensors. In addition, to obtain experimental results, a high precision readout device was needed. Consequently, the second goal was to build up multi-channel, highly accurate amplifier systems that would also enable future multi-parameter handheld devices.
A PSPICE FET model for potentiometric and impedimetric detection was adapted to the experiments and further expanded to investigate the sensing mechanism, the working principle, and effects of side parameters for the biosensor experiments. For potentiometric experiments, the pH sensitivity of the sensors was also included in this modelling approach. For impedimetric experiments, solutions of different conductivity were used to validate the suggested theories and assumptions. The impedance spectra showed two pronounced frequency domains: a low-pass characteristic at lower frequencies and a resonance effect at higher frequencies. The former can be interpreted as a contribution of the source and double layer capacitances. The latter can be interpreted as a combined effect of the drain capacitance with the operational amplifier in the transimpedance circuit.
Two readout systems, one as a laboratory system and one as a point-of-care demonstrator, were developed and used for several chemical and biosensing experiments. The PSPICE model applied to the sensors and circuits were utilized to optimize the systems and to explain the sensor responses. The systems as well as the developed modelling approach were a significant step towards portable instruments with combined transducer principles in future healthcare applications.