Sensors in cars to monitor drivers
Plessey has teamed up with French firm Segula Technologies to demonstrate a heart-rate based driver alertness monitoring system at next week’s Paris Motor show.
The sensors are integrated into the seatback, and provide earlier warning of drowsiness or health issues than systems based on eye or head movement.
The UK-based firm’s sensing technology, known as EPIC, detects changes in electric potential. The seatback system senses the electrical impulses of the heart without direct skin contact and can return an accurate R peak signal from the users ECG which can be used to calculate HRV.
According to Plessey, the sensor electrodes can be discretely incorporated inside the seatbacks to access the necessary biometric signals. This is the first step on the road to a non-contact drowsiness detection system.
Alan Colman, commercial operations director at Plessey, said:
“The sensor technology has been creating considerable interest with car manufacturers as it can be used to provide low cost, reliable detection systems for several automotive applications.”
