An on-board vision based system for drowsiness detection in automotive drivers

This paper proposes a system for on-board monitoring the loss of attention of an automotive driver, based on PERcentage of eye CLOSure (PERCLOS). This system has been developed considering the practical on-board constraints such as illumination variation, poor illumination conditions, free movement of driver’s face, limitations in algorithms etc. A novel framework for PERCLOS computation is reported in this paper. The system consists of an embedded processing unit, a camera, a near infra-red lighting system, power supply, a set of speakers and a voltage regulation unit. The image based algorithm is based on the PERCLOS as an indicator of the loss of attention of the driver. The authenticity of PERCLOS as an indicator of drowsiness has been validated using EEG signals.