Citation

Desai AV, Haque MA. J. Saf. Res. 2006; 37(2): 139-147.

Affiliation

Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, the Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsr.2005.11.003

PMID

16626742

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Alertness of individuals operating vehicles, aircrafts, and machinery is a pre-requisite for safety of the individual and for avoiding economic losses. In this paper, we present a new technique for determining the alertness level of the operator and elaborate the methodology for the specific case of highway driving METHOD: Our hypothesis is that the time derivative of force exerted by the driver at the vehicle-human interfaces can be used to construct a signature of individual driving styles and to discern different levels of alertness RESULTS: In this study, we present experimental results corroborating this hypothesis and introduce a parameter, 'spikiness index,' for the time series data of the force derivative to quantify driver alertness IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The low cost, ruggedness, and low-volume data processing requirements of the proposed technique give it a competitive edge over existing predominantly image processing based vigilance monitoring systems.

Language: en