introduction to the technology cit

8/7/2019 introduction to the technology cit

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INTRODUCTION

All cars today have an acceptable night vision system which can be the High beam head lights

of the vehicle and their performances are at least acceptable. However with the oncoming traffic,

the use of high beam headlights is becoming impossible. The insufficient night time visibility

originates in the fact that drivers rarely use high beam headlights, or if they use it, it will be only

in remote areas, away from traffic. The night vision system also helps drivers detect obstacles

apart from oncoming traffic light especially in the countryside where the use of high beam head

lights might not be quite efficient and not be the best option.

A night vision system therefore is a system that increases visibility in situations where only low

beam head lights can be used today. This condition will then define the criteria to evaluate theperformances of any night vision technology proposed and the potential safety impact of such a

system. Driving at a reasonable speed should allow the driver to detect, react and stop in time

before any obstacles on the road. However, most motorists actually drive faster than the visibility

range with low beam headlights.

Bavarian Motor Works

In October 1913 Karl Friedrich Rapp establishes Rapp-motorenwerke in Munich. He was

manufacturing his own aircraft engines but they have problem with vibrations. For solve this

problem Rapp-motorenwerke merging with Gustav Flugzeug-werke. After the merging they

formed the factory name to Bayerische Flugzeug Werke or BFW, in English Bavarian

Aircraft Works. In 7 of March 1916 Franz-Josef Popp changed the company name to

Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH or BMW. Popp realized that the company needed financial

help so he turned to Camillo Castiglion. In 1917 Popp and Castiglion forced the Rapp out of the

company who needs depart in this year . In year 1919 BMW turned to boat and truck engines

and farming equipment because the armistice was signed. Meanwhile, in secret, Popp continued

to work with his engineering director Friz on aircraft engines . During that time they created

Type IV. With this engine they altitude record of 9,760 metres (32,013 ft). At end of the world

war one business had bad climate so Castiglioni sold his holdings. with only a few aircraft

engines on order, BMW was struggling and started to manufacture brake system engines for


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railway cars, office furniture and workbenches, as well as cut-down aviation engines for marine

and industrial use. In 1920 BMW find out they need to produce a new product so they start to

manufacturing motorcycle and the first Production was Victoria motorcycle. In 1921BMW's

first motorized bicycle is called "Flink" and sees the light in 1921. They were powered by a

Kurier two stroke engine. In 1924 we can witness the first intercontinental flight to Persia

powered by BMW engines . The beginning terms of the BMW car is in year 1928. BMW start

their production in the car factory at Eisenach/Thuringia and with it the license to build a small

car. first product from BMW is Dixi. In the mid 1990s and early 2000s BMW was able to set

up different joint ventures in different countries some of which include china, USA, South

Africa, Japan this is so because the company wanted to globalize and make it cheaper for their

customers outside German (where the main branch is located) to acquire the efficient machine

The current BMW logo, introduced in the early 1920, was based on the circular design of an

aircraft propeller.

Direct and in-direct users

Driving at night can prove to be very hectic in densely populated countries. Drivers may find it

difficult to avoid obstacles such as pedestrians and other animals. The main objective of any

Night Vision system is to detect obstacles in the dark or in the glare of two oncoming vehicles

from opposite sides of the road.

Road users at night should be very prudent either they are seated behind a four-wheel drive or a

two-wheel drive. That is why Night Vision system can prove to be very efficient as the driver

can detect any object as far as 300m ahead of him even though the pedestrian or the cyclist is in

pitch dark. Once the vision has been improved, the driver can avoid damaging his car or even

his vehicle and with BMW Night Vision, BMW drivers will be able to drive with improved

vision at night. Driving is eased with potentially critical situations are detected as early as

possible, thus significantly increasing driver comfort.


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Functionality

This technology has three basic components which are front camera, monitors and the speakers.

The night vision camera in BMW 7 serious has located on the left side of the bumper. There are

two types of night vision technology on the market, FarInfrared (FIR) and NearInfrared (NIR).

Mainly, difference between these two systems is in the way they differentiate between oncoming

cars and other road users like pedestrian and cyclists. Far infrared system or FIR detects the

radiation which all objects release, but the NearInfrared system (NIR) detects the reflected light

in a frequency just outside the visible range of a human being. Both FIR and NIR system benefit

the driver in different conditions. NIR system acts like high beam but without blinding other

road users but disadvantages of this system is that the vision of the driver will be lost while the

reflected light is so high. For example if the oncoming vehicles use high beam, the reflected light

will cause losing vision. FIR system is more efficient while driving on dark roads. This is

because it can cover longer range in compare with high beam or NIR system (UMTIR Report,

2005). FIR system has ability to detect pedestrian in range of 119 m averagely while NIR system

alert the driver when the object is 75 m in front of the vehicle.

Other component of this system is night vision display. Two monitors have been designed inside

the driver cabin, Head Up Display (HUD) and Head Down Display (HDD). Head Up Display

available in market, projects the image just under the normal line of sight, and also it can be

project directly on the windscreen or on combiner.

Figure 1 Combiner and projection lens location


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The HDD is a touch screen monitor which is located on the dashboard. It is a multipurpose

monitor that enables the deriver to see obstructs with high resolution. LCD monitor used in this

system is kind of QVGA monitors. The QuarterVideo Graphics Array, which is also known as

QuarterVGA, QVGA or qVGA, is a common term for computer display with 320 x 240 display

resolution.

The last component of this technology is the speakers. These speakers are responsible to alert the

deriver while the system detects pedestrian or other obstruction in front. Speakers are located in

side doors and they also can be use for other features of the car like the player.

Input devices

An input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment) used to provide dataand control signals to an information processing system (such as a computer). Input and output

devices make up the hardware interface between a computer as a scanner or 6DOF controller

1- Infrared Camera

This component gathers the information from the environment after certain process.

Figure 2, Night Vision Camera


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2- Touch Screen Monitor

The users can choose moods and options of system through this device.

Out Put Devices

An output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate the results

of data processing carried out by an information processing system (such as a computer) to the

outside world.

1- HDD ( head down display )


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This LCD display shows the video in high quality and high definition form

2- HUD ( head up display)

This device shows a small notification in front of the deriver.

3- Speakers

Figure 3 HDD Monitor


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Storage Devices

The system is implemented on an embedded platform. EVOC Embedded Star System board.

This board is not only for the night vision system but other features of BMW 7serie in inside this

system such as navigation system, audio system and etc. this bored equipped with an Intel

CoreTM2 Duo CPU and 2GB RAM that process all the software installed on the system.

interesting fact about the QVGA display technology is that it requires little storage capacity. The

lower the resolution the less storage capacity would be necessary. Storage devices inside the

BMW 7 series is kind of SD card memory that can be removed and carried. Another device that

has been assembled on the main board of the system is BC. The BC contains test data values that

can be accessed for troubleshooting purposes. Following list is functionality and information that

stored inside the BC:

1. Display test - test all of the LCD segments in the display matrix2. Range expenditure momentary range (Km): range left on fuel in tank when reserve

light is on

3. Fuel level from the instrument cluster - average value4. Language for display: for display of mileage/gallons - etc.5. Momentary arrival computed6. ROM date7. Encoding of vehicle specific data - vendor use only8. Software reset function9. Encoding of vehicle specific data - vendor use only

Etc


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Procedure

This night-vision system comprises of two infrared headlights, a video camera, and a displaymonitor which make, the road ahead, traffic situations and obstacles clearly visible over a great

distance. With a range of more than 300 meters, the infrared light reaches four times as far as

traditional low-beam lights. As infrared light is invisible to the human eye, it does not miss out

oncoming traffic. A special camera with 320x240 pixel resolution is mounted on the top edge of

the windshield films the section of the road ahead with the help the infrared light.

However the system works in two different ways. First with, the near-infrared system, two barely

noticeable infrared emitters are integrated into the head-lights. The infrared light they produce iscaptured by a small camera positioned near the windshield which then sends the obstacles image

to the display while the second way is; a high-resolution infrared camera is installed behind the

radiator grille. Using a wavelength of 6 to 12 micrometers, it detects the infrared heat radiation

from the vehicles surroundings, which is displayed as a negative image. Objects that are static


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because they are inanimate appear darkened while living things are displayed as bright objects on

the display monitor.

Car night vision system "sees" what drivers miss with their bare eyes, transmitting the obstacles

status in the form of a high resolution black-and-white picture shown on the display monitor for

the driver. This allows early recognition of dangerous situations lurking in the darkness, and

gives drivers more time to react before anything goes wrong.

Figure below trys to illustrate and show how the entire process of the BMW night vision

technology works and its interior design in the car and how objects acting like obstacles are

displayed on the monitor while at the same time figure 2 illustrates how the infrared camera

operates on the outside of the car .

Communication

Output and input devices inside night vision technology communicate with each other through an

adaptor card. This card captures the front view of the vehicle with the infrared camera and

displays the video onto the screens. The camera automatically adjusts to the best angle so that it


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an animal but is quite inefficient for differentiating between a dead animal and a rock blocking

the road. The complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) which is a sensor located at

the front of the car detects the heat and captures it as data to transmit it as the thermal signature

to the QVGA display. In no time, the Night Vision system takes in the heat energy of the object,

which scientists call photons, and converts it into electrical energy which is also known as

electrons. Those electrons then pass through a thin disk which is composed of 10 million

channels. Thousands more electrons are released as soon as the electrons hit the walls of the

channels. These electrons then bounce off a phosphor screen whose job is to convert the

multiplied electrons from the micro channel plate back into photons which then allows drivers to

see what is 300m ahead of them even in pitch darkness.

Below is a diagram which explains more explicitly on how the data reaches the human eye from

the time it is captured until it is interpreted by the drivers mind.


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Software

At the convergence 2008 conference on automotive electronics, BMW Company comes up with

idea of creation an open-source platform to keep up with quick advances in technology and

features in the multimedia and digital entertainment area. Although open-source software require

specific set of hardware to ensure compatibility, they decide to have open-source system over the

next five to seven years. "We were convinced we had to develop an open platform that would

allow for open software since the speed in the infotainment and entertainment industry requires

us to be on a much faster track," said Gunter Reichart, BMW vice president of driver assistance,

body electronics and electrical networks. "We invite other OEMs to join with us, to exchange

with us. We are open to exchange with others." This idea shakes the old culture of car

competitors and it was a hand to make more corporations between car companies especially

between historical rivals like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Several other carmakers, including

Chrysler, Ford, Honda and GM expressed interest in developing this idea. This is a decision we

will make in the next six to 12 months. It's a great opportunity for us. I think this can really

advance a lot of software development and bring a lot of innovation to the vehicle," said Chris

Thibodeau, GM's director of global technology engineering for electrical/electronics products.

At 2009, BMW was still facing platform issues. They wanted the freedom to execute theirIBM

iSeries applications on Windows or Linux under Oracle as the database. This is where INFINITE

Softwares INFINITE iSERIES comes in. INFINITE Softwares INFINITE iSERIES solution

plays an important role for BMWs dealer network. INFINITE Software empowers BMWs

worldwide dealer network to operate independent of platform. By providing a platform

independent environment, their dealers now have the ability to run tried and true applications on

their platform of choice.

Another type of software uses in BMW Company is protection software. BMW Company

required a security solution that would provide expected protection."BMW dealerships have a

number of PCs in each site, all of which have to be protected and monitored said Didier

Passchier, IT & Retail IT Manager at BMW Belgium. VIPRE Enterprise has suggested to the

BMW by Carya Group (BMW's IT partner). Carya Group selected this enterprise after wide

evaluation of anti-virus and anti-malware solution. VIPRE Enterprise was chosen because of its

comprehensive security, low use of system resources and advanced management features.


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Another characteristic of this software is that the management console has been centralized and it

helps to simplify managing antimalware agents on all the PCs in the company network.

introduction to the technology cit

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