iVision™ - VIDEO INTERIOR OCCUPANT SENSOR FOR DYNAMIC OUT-OF-POSITION SENSING AND OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION

摘要

In this paper, the Bosch 3-D video sensor iVision™ designed for operation in the vehicle interior is presented. Mainly, this sensor enables an improved occupant protection with respect to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 and beyond. Most of the interior sensors integrated in current occupant protection systems today are seat-based Occupant Classification (OC) sensors. However, these sensors cannot precisely measure the distance between the head and the air bag module. Thus, in case of a crash, the air bags deploy independently from the Out-Of-Position (OOP) status of the occupants. In contrast, the iVision™ video sensor offers OC as well as dynamic OOP Sensing (OOPS) capabilities. Furthermore, using a video sensor integrated in the roof module, application costs can be reduced in contrast to seat-based sensors which usually have to be applied to different seat types. The requirements of a video sensor -especially for dynamic OOPS— are discussed and an appropriate test device and a test procedure are described. Furthermore, the sensor principle, the hardware architecture and the basic recognition algorithms are presented. Based on several test results, the performance of the iVision™ sensor prototype is evaluated. The paper concludes with a short review of innovative additional functions, e.g. for improved convenience, which can be realized using the iVision™ sensor.