Osman D. Altan

Design and Evaluation of a Prototype Rear Obstacle Detection and Driver Warning System

This study, concerned with the development of driver interface criteria for a rear obstacle detection system, assessed the appropriateness of alternative warning timing algorithms and evaluated various interface approaches for presenting warning information to drivers. Interface testing used a minivan and a passenger sedan equipped with a prototype rear obstacle detection system. Two different warning timing algorithms and four different interface conditions were examined. The appropriateness of the warning timing algorithms was tested using an alerted backing procedure wherein drivers backed to known obstacles and braked in response to the warning. A surprise event scenario was also included in order to examine driver reaction to the warning under unexpected conditions. Alerted backing results suggest that although both timing algorithms led to few target strikes, one algorithm led to more acceptable ratings, fewer target strikes and close calls, and less urgent braking. None of the interface warning conditions reliably induced avoidance braking under the surprise event condition. Actual or potential applications of this work include the appropriate design of effective backing warning systems.

Multifunction Aperture for Vehicular Radar Integration

The current vision of active safety systems in future vehicles includes the use of both narrow field of view 77 GHz long range radar and wide field of view 24 GHz short range radar. The complexity of integrating both long range and short- range radar in the front of a vehicle is driving the need for new antenna approaches. This work describes the use of a spherical dielectric lens antenna with multiple 24 GHz and 77 GHz feeds located around the lens that creates multi-beam outputs with needed radiation patterns for each radar application from a single aperture. A prototype of this multifunction aperture was fabricated and measured.

Vehicle Architecture for Field Testing Forward Collision Warning and Adaptive Cruise Control

Abstract This paper describes the Prototype Vehicle Architecture that was developed as a basis for deployment vehicles to be used in field testing the Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) functions as a part of a joint program between National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and General Motors Corporation. The background of the program is presented followed by functional description, architecture, and the detailed block diagram of the system.