Approximately 1.3 million people die each year as a result of road traffic accidents and more than half are vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cyclists. Around 75 per cent of these fatalities occur in poor visibility. An AAA study found that current PAEB systems perform inconsistently and have been shown to be inadequate at night, prompting insurers and rating agencies to advocate for rules that would equip passenger vehicles with PAEB systems that work well in the dark. “Protecting pedestrians in poor visibility conditions makes a strong case for thermal imaging, which is well-established for being efficient in the majority of degraded visibility scenarios, as it can detect and identify objects at greater distances and with more accuracy,” said Sebastien Tinnes, global market leader at France headquartered Lynred. “We are delighted to have collaborated with Umicore, a long-time partner, on this exciting project to link together sensors and optics, the two most critical parts of a thermal sensing system, and therefore optimise the capabilities and performance of next-generation PAEB systems.”
MORE FROM AUTOMOTIVE A visible camera, along with a low-beam headlight, can detect at a distance of 20 to 30m, but thermal sensing can detect objects as far as 150m to 300m. Thermal sensing can also classify a living being, such as cyclist or deer, from a distance of 100m to 200m, depending on the sensor resolution.
The thermal sensing technology for improving next-generation PAEB systems consists of a new 8.5µm pixel pitch microbolometer designed by Lynred and Belgian multinational Umicore’s wafer-level lens technologies. Funding was provided via the EU’s HELIAUS project.
“Thanks to the fruitful collaboration with Lynred’s sensor development team and the other HELIAUS partners, Umicore was able to further refine and incorporate its unique Tessella chalcogenide wafer level optics technology into a groundbreaking, affordable and large volume thermal camera solution which will bring much needed performance improvements to current PAEB systems.” said Mikael Frenkian, business line manager IR solutions at Umicore.
The system’s capabilities for in-cabin and out-of-cabin applications will be demonstrated at AutoSens, September 12 – 15.
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