Research on Development and Application of Simulated Night Vision Enhancement Systems

This research focuses on developing an affordable and integrated experimental platform that can provide drivers using night vision enhancement systems (NVESs) with a realistic nighttime driving experience. Study on both near-infrared (NIR) and far-infrared (FIR) NVESs' overall benefits and driver distraction were conducted on this platform with the purpose of exploring both the advantages and disadvantages of current NVESs and making recommendation for future improvements.;A comprehensive review was first conducted on previous research on nighttime driving safety and NVESs, including the evolution of this system, the state of the art of the technology, and the application of NVESs to production vehicles. Previous research methods for evaluating drivers' distraction and safety while using NVESs and other in-vehicle devices were also studied. A platform for simulating both NVESs and nighttime driving environments was then developed in a driving simulator. Twenty different hazard scenarios involving pedestrians and bicyclists (walking, running, jogging, standing or riding bike) were created in the simulated environment, aiming to capture the true traffic features in both the downtown and rural areas of the greater Boston area. The NVESs simulated in this study captured the characteristics of the current advanced NVESs on production vehicles of BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Audi. Twenty-four experienced drivers from Northeastern University (staff and students) participated in this study of NVESs. They used and tested NVESs systems in the Virtual Environments Laboratory and were required to complete two experimental trials, each individually. The twenty-four subjects were divided into three groups of eight. Each group was tested against one of the following: (1) control-group without NVESs; (2) using NIR NVES; and (3) using FIR NVES. In addition, each participant drove in two different weather conditions—one in clear weather and the other in foggy weather.;All subjects reported that the simulations seem realistic and they showed significantly increased interest in purchasing a NVES for their own vehicle after the test. Significance at a 0.01 level of confidence has been done for each parameter. If two criteria, the response distance to stop the vehicle before hitting an object on the road, and detection accuracy, were used in evaluating the performance of the three different groups. The group that used FIR had the best performance in the foggy weather in terms of both statistically significant hazard detection distance and hazard detection accuracy differences, while the control group without NVESs had the worst performance. Though statistically insignificant, the result might indicate that NVESs' performance in hazard detection won't be affected by the weather conditions. Results also showed that NVESs' performance in detecting hazard statistically varied as the hazard scenarios and hazard appearance distance changed. Test results on lane deviation and driver's glance behaviors were not statistically different among the conditions, subjects that used FIR NVES spent more time looking at NVES's display and failed in one criterion for drivers' distraction by NHTSA. However, the result might still indicate that though the use of NVES did cause drivers' visual distraction, it did not have a negative impact on drivers' overall driving performance in terms of lane keeping. Scores from NASA-TLX questionnaires also showed that drivers' mental distraction in terms of mental workload was reduced when driving with the NIR system, but the difference was statistically insignificant. These results demonstrated that simulation provides a good opportunity to experience driving with a NVES, and also is a very good tool for conducting research on NVESs. Data analysis showed that instead of distracting drivers and degrading driving performance, implementation of current NVESs on production vehicles could actually improve drivers' nighttime driving performance at an acceptable distraction level, especially in adverse weather conditions like fog. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).