Chung Ping Young

Intelligent data fusion system for predicting vehicle collision warning using vision/GPS sensing

In this study, fuzzy approach with fault-tolerance has proposed to fuse heterogeneous sensed data and overcome the problem of imprecise collision warning due to perturbed input signal when processing the pre-crash warning. Meanwhile, another problem relevant to the danger in drowsy driving, involving fatigue level, carbon monoxide concentration, and breath alcohol concentration, was considered and has approximately reasoned to an extra reaction time to modify NHTSA algorithm. A vision-sensing analysis cooperating with global-positioning system is applied for lane marking detection and collision warning, particularly exchanging the dynamic and static information between neighboring cars via inter-vehicle wireless communications. In addition to pre-crash warning, event data recording very useful for accident reconstruction on scene is also established here. In order to speed up data fusion on both quantum-tuned back-propagation neural network (QT-BPNN) and adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), a distributed dual-platform DaVinci+XScale_NAV270 has been employed. Several tests on systems reliability and validity have been done successfully, and the comparison of system effectiveness showed that our proposed approach outperforms two current well-known collision-warning systems (AWS-Mobileye and ACWS-Delphi).

A Portable Wireless Online Closed-Loop Seizure Controller in Freely Moving Rats

A considerable portion of epilepsy cannot be well treated by available therapies nowadays. Brain stimulation with closed-loop seizure control has recently been proposed as an innovative and effective alternative. A portable wireless online closed-loop seizure controller in freely moving rats was developed and shown with several aspects of advantages, including the following: 1) high accuracy of real-time seizure detection (92-99% during wake-sleep states); 2) low cost; and 3) low power consumption. The seizure detection latency was not greater than 0.6 s after seizure onset. A wireless communication feature also provided flexibility for subjects freeing from the hassle of wires. The observation showed that the stimulation elicited no abnormal behavior and had no sleep interruption to the subjects. The experiment data supported the functional possibility of a real-time closed-loop seizure controller.

Cooperative Collision Warning Based Highway Vehicle Accident Reconstruction

Highway safety is always an important issue for automobile industry, so many researches have been conducted to prevent from or reduce the accidents. Cooperative Collision Warning (CCW), which provides an active safety mechanism for vehicles on highways, is implemented by exchanging static and dynamic vehicle parameters with neighboring vehicles through inter-vehicle wireless communications. Received information is not only used for calculating the relative safety distance between neighboring vehicles, but also stored in a Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR) for future accident investigation. A CCW-based MVEDR can easily rebuild the trajectory and interaction between the host and neighboring vehicles after an accident. This device saves time, labor and cost required for accident analysis and reconstruction.

Closed-loop seizure control on epileptic rat models

In this paper numerous alternative treatments in addition to pharmacological therapy are proposed for their use in epileptic patients. Epileptic animal models can play a crucial role in the performance evaluation of new therapeutic techniques. The objective of this research is to first develop various epileptic rat models; second, develop a portable wireless closed-loop seizure controller including on-line seizure detection and real-time electrical stimulation for seizure elimination; and third, apply the developed seizure controller to the animal models to perform on-line seizure elimination. The closed-loop seizure controller was applied to three Long-Evans rats with spontaneous spike-wave discharges (non-convulsive) and three Long-Evans rats with epileptiform activities induced by pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) injection (convulsive) for evaluation. The seizure detection accuracy is greater than 92% (up to 99%), and averaged seizure detection latency is less than 0.6 s for both spontaneous non-convulsive and PTZ-induced convulsive seizures. The average false stimulation rate is 3.1%. Near 30% of PTZ-induced convulsive seizures need more than two times of 0.5 s electrical stimulation for suppression and 90% of the non-convulsive seizures can be suppressed by only one 0.5 s electrical stimulation.

A closed-loop brain computer interface for real-time seizure detection and control

The worldwide prevalence of epilepsy is approximately 1%, and 25% of epilepsy patients cannot be treated sufficiently by available therapies. Brain stimulation with closed-loop seizure control has recently been proposed as an innovative and effective alternative. In this paper, a portable closed-loop brain computer interface for seizure control was developed and shown with several aspects of advantages, including high seizure detection rate (92–99% during wake-sleep states), low false detection rate (1.2–2.5%), and small size. The seizure detection and electrical stimulation latency was not greater than 0.6 s after seizure onset. A wireless communication feature also provided flexibility for subjects freeing from the hassle of wires. Experimental data from freely moving rats supported the functional possibility of a real-time closed-loop seizure controller.

A highway traffic simulator with Dedicated Short Range Communications based cooperative collision prediction and warning mechanism

Highway safety is always a critical issue. A variety of sensors are employed in a vehicle for reducing traffic accidents, but it is useful only within the sensor range of this single vehicle. The earlier the driver notices the dangerous situation, the longer the response time is available to the driver. Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) is a good medium for inter-vehicle communications to periodically exchange static and dynamic parameters, and for each vehicle to maintain a map of its surrounding vehicles. The cooperative collision prediction and warning mechanism (CCPWM) will inform the driver of any potential risk to prevent accidents. A Highway Traffic Simulator (HiTSim) with DSRC-based CCPWM equipped on each vehicle was developed for simulating highway traffic and evaluating the probability of accidents. The results demonstrate that the vehicle with DSRC-based CCPWM will increase the time available to the driver to respond and therefore the vehicular safety.

Versatile PC/FPGA based verification/fast prototyping platform with multimedia applications

For most integrated circuit (IC) design houses, building a dedicated field-programmable gate array (FPGA) verification board before the chip is tapped out is usually a requirement. The time and money spent on such boards are usually high. A versatile verification/fast prototyping platform consisting of an FPGA board and the associated System Software is presented. The FPGA board is connected to the host computer through a peripheral component interconnect interface. The System Software running on a Microsoft Windows environment is developed so that all the real-time data that were generated during the verification process can be downloaded and displayed on the host computer. Hence, the system acts like a logic analyzer with very large storage memory. Furthermore, the software provides interfaces for personal computer peripherals, such as a Universal Serial Bus camera, a computer monitor, and a soundcard, if the test data for multimedia applications are necessary. The results can be also demonstrated in real time through these devices. Because multimedia data are usually complicated, and the size is huge, the design and thorough verification are usually difficult and take lots of time. The proposed system is both versatile and convenient to use, and verification of designs becomes much easier. An MPEG-4 Simple Profile Video Encoder and a 3-D surround sound processor were realized with the proposed system. Both cases can run in real time. In this paper, the highly complicated H.264/Advanced Video Coding I-Frame encoder is also used to demonstrate the proposed system.

Design and Implementation of a Modularized Polysomnography System

In recent years, an increasing number of people suffer from sleep disorders. Polysomnography (PSG) is commonly used in hospitals or sleep centers to diagnose sleep disorders because it continuously and simultaneously records multiple physiological signals during sleep. However, the excessive number of wired connections for conventional PSG is often a problem that leads to sleep disturbance. Due to the high cost and bulky body, traditional PSG systems are not suitable for sleep recording at home. This paper proposes the design and implementation of a modularized and distributed PSG system that is more convenient and has potential for recording at home. It is composed of multiple, tiny, low-cost, and wireless-synchronized signal acquisition nodes, and each node acquires specific physiological signals within a small body region to reduce sleep disturbance as a result of recording wires. To evaluate accuracy, the system and a commercial PSG system were mounted on subjects to simultaneously perform overnight recording, and the recorded data were compared. A two-phase sleep experiment was also performed to compare the comfortableness of these two systems. The results show that, in addition to high consistency (>; 93%) with the reference system, due to the reduction of the disturbance from recording wires, the proposed system has better comfortableness performance in terms of several objective and subjective sleep indices.

Highway vehicle accident reconstruction using Cooperative Collision Warning based Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder

There is often uncertainty or negligence in measurements and calculations by collecting relevant evidence and site information at the scene for the conventional vehicle accident analysis and reconstruction. Cooperative Collision Warning (CCW) mechanism exchanging static and dynamic vehicle information with neighboring vehicles through inter-vehicle wireless communications provides an active safety mechanism for vehicles on highways. Received information is not only used for calculating the relative safety distance between neighboring vehicles, but also preserved in a Motor Vehicle Event Data Recorder (MVEDR) for future accident reconstruction. A CCW-based MVEDR can easily rebuild the trajectory and interaction between the host and neighboring vehicles within communication range. This device is a supplementary tool for conventional accident reconstruction, and it saves time, labor and cost required for investigations, and eliminates uncertainty regarding accident analysis.

A Versatile Wireless Portable Monitoring System for Brain–Behavior Approaches

It is critical to set up a precise and feasible monitoring system for a variety of animal and human studies. A multichannel wireless system for monitoring physiological signals of freely moving rats is presented. This system combines electroencephalogram (EEG) and acceleration signals, enabling the study of association between brain and behavior. A combination of EEG and accelerometers eliminates the necessity for complicated video installation as well as time-consuming and tedious analysis of recorded videos. The IEEE 802.15.4 based wireless communication frees the experimental subject from the hassle of wires and reduces wire artifacts during recording. Long-period continuous recording was possible because of the low power feature of the system. Methods for automatic wake-sleep state discrimination and temporal lobe epileptic seizure detection are also proposed to demonstrate the advantages of the system. An accuracy of up to 96.22% for the automatic discrimination of wake-sleep states is an advantage of our system. In addition, the detection of amygdala-kindling temporal lobe seizures reaches 100% with zero false alarms, greatly saving manpower in the identification of temporal lobe epilepsy.