A generalized methodology for evaluating alerting systems is presented. The methodology is used to construct System Operating Characteristic curves that describe the tradeoffs between unnecessary alerts and collisions based on probabilistic models of sensors, vehicle dynamics, and human response. An appropriate alerting threshold location can then be selected and parametric studies can be performed to examine the relative benefits of alternative sensor types and accuracies. Different avoidance maneuver options (e.g., swerving or braking) can be evaluated in terms of their ability to reduce the probability of a collision. A simplified example application is presented for a ground vehicle rear-end collision alerting system. The relative benefits of increased sensor accuracy vs. improved driver response time and braking deceleration are examined. It is shown that uncertainty in human response time is the key factor affecting the performance of the alerting system. In contrast, sensor accuracy specifications are shown to be entirely adequate: system performance is not significantly impacted by expected sensor errors.
Collision alerting system evaluation methodology for ground vehicles
Transportation Sensors and Controls: Collision Avoidance, Traffic Management, and ITS ; 1996 ; Boston,MA,United States
Proc. SPIE ; 2902 ; 272
1997-02-17
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English