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ABSTRACT
The main purpose oI this paper is to develop a prototype oI the Vehicle Black Box System.
This prototype can be designed with inIormation needed Ior better accident analysis. VBBS
can contribute to the constructing saIer vehicles improving the treatment oI crash victims
done, helping insurance companies with their vehicle crash investigations and enhancing
road status in order to decrease the death rate. The black box has the Iunction that stores
driving video, location, time and rear-end collision beIore/aIter the accident with mounted on
the vehicle. And, in case oI car accident, it has GPS Iunction to Iind the location oI accidents.
In this paper, the system was designed that traces the moving path oI the vehicle and
transmits current location oI vehicle and the videos oI accident happened during movement
to the remote control.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapters Page No
1. Introduction 04
2. Hardware Resources
2.1 Sensors section
3. Software Resources
4. Proposed System 12
5. Advantages and Disadvantages 14
6. Conclusion 16
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page No
Eig 1: Equidistant wires 08
Eig 2: Accident Sensors 09
Eig 3: Light sensors 09
Eig 4: Main page oI the VB.Net program 10
Eig 5: Display page oI the VB.Net program 11
Eig 6: Overview oI the proposed system 12
Eig 7: Demonstration Environment 13
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
According to the World Health Organization, more than a million people in the world
die each year because oI transportation-related accidents. In order to react to this situation,
the black box system draws the Iirst step to solve this problem that crosses national
boundaries and threatens the saIety and health oI people worldwide. ThereIore, in addition to
improving the treatment oI crash victims and the road status in order to decrease the death
rate, constructing saIer vehicles, and helping insurance companies with their vehicle
accidents investigations, the main purpose oI this paper is to develop black box system that
can be installed to any vehicle all over the world.
This system is committed mainly to two approaches Iirst one is how to detect and
record data Irom the vehicle the second is how to present the data recorded to the user in a
simpliIied Way. To implement the Iirst approach, some major components and diIIerent type
oI sensors were used. While the second approach was implemented using a Visual Basic
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.NET computer program. This program receives the data serially sensor Irom the black box
memory, presents it in real-time graphics and Iinally saves it to a Iormal excel report Ior
Iuture use.
The car black box is one promising solution Ior public saIety. The car black box is a
vehicle-based CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) which records video images, sound, GPS
position, speed, and time. According to the results oI a newly published study, more and
more car black boxes are installed Ior accident evidence. More recently, car black boxes are
used to prevent some crimes. In the USA, 15 oI 200 million cars carry a black box, while
80 oI the compact cars built since 2004 mount black boxes. In Japan, about 6 million oI the
black boxes mounted on vehicles include 40,000 business vehicles and 20,000 regular
passenger cars. This trend has occurred simultaneously throughout the world. When car black
boxes are installed, the high costs oI accident investigation will be reduced. Analysis oI
accidents and their causes can improve driver awareness in identiIying and avoiding
hazardous situations.
In the USA, 15 oI 200 million cars carry a black box, while 80 oI the compact
cars built since 2004 mount black boxes. In Japan, about 6 million oI the black boxes
mounted on vehicles include 40,000 business vehicles and 20,000 regular passenger cars.
This trend has occurred simultaneously throughout the world. When car black boxes are
installed, the high costs oI accident investigation will be reduced. Analysis oI accidents and
their causes can improve driver awareness in identiIying and avoiding hazardous situations.
ThereIore, preIerential policies are being implemented Ior black box-mounted vehicles. All
vehicles in Europe are required to have a car black box by 2010, while the United States will
require all vehicles under 4.5 tons to carry a black box by 2011.
Our society can realize signiIicant beneIits Irom car black boxes. In the past, because
nobody could get accurate inIormation about a car accident, the responsibility was oIten
based on presumption. Someone who was actually a victim was sometimes mistaken Ior an
oIIender. Today we can identiIy the real victim by watching it on CCTV. Vehicle black
boxes have other beneIits. The vehicle-based CCTV accurately and extensively records the
inside and outside oI a car.
In case oI accident, the videos oI black box are oIten used as the Iield evidence oI accident as
it records the moment oI accident with videos. Eor such reason, the black box is mounted on
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the numerous cars currently. Looking into the developing trend oI automotive black box, it
played the role oI the operation recorder (operation recording, accident recording & Iuel
eIIiciency recording, etc.) related with simple operation oI the car at beginning stage. Today,
as the embedded system technology and camera technology develop, the current black box
that is capable oI recording the video is made by combining the black box that played the
role oI the operation recorder at its beginning with the technologies oI embedded system and
digital CMOS camera. Now that black box oI today is capable oI recording the video, it gets
to have the Iunction that stores the location oI accident and condition oI the car in case oI
rear-end collision by adding the video inIormation oI head-on collision and GPS in case oI
accident.
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Chapter 2
HARDWARE RESOURCES
The hardware part consists on the sensors and the black box installed into the vehicle. This
part mainly collects the status oI the sensors and saves it to the microcontroller's EEPROM.
2.1 Sensor
Speed Sensor
An inductive proximity sensor HYP-18RL8P is used detect the number oI wheel turns per
unit oI time |7|. This sensor can be used Ior the detection oI all good electrical conductors
(materials). It has a sensing distance oI maximum 8mm, and a Current Voltage 12 - 24VDC. Note
that in case it detects some metal; it will have an output voltage oI exactly what was given to its
input voltage. However, when there is no detection, the output will be zero volts.
Water Sensor
The water sensor module used is very sensitive to water level, and its sensitivity can be
increased by turning the potentiometer. This module consists oI two uncovered and unconnected
wires equidistant oI each other, as seen in the Iigure 1. When this sensor detects water, the two
wires will be connected through water conductivity, and the status oI the sensor will be on. The
module is implemented inside the black box, whereas the sensors are placed in the Iront oI the
vehicle behind the Iront wheels to detect the Iirst change in the road status.
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Fig 1: Equidistant Wires
SWITCHES
To stimulate accident sensors and belt sensors push button ON are used. They have three
pins, one pin Ior the common(C) and the other two Ior normally closed (NC) and normally open 3
(NO). In the black box system, nine push buttons were used. One oI them is used as the belt
sensor and the eight others as the accident sensors.
a- Accident Sensors
Because the purpose is to detect only accidents that hit chassis oI the vehicle, only eight
push buttons are used around the vehicle.
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Fig 2: Accident sensors
b- Belt Sensor
One push button is used to detect the place oI the seat belt during the drive. The push
button is placed on the seatbelt and gives a logic zero' when the belt is used and a logic ' I' when
the belt is not placed by the driver.
Lights Sensor
Eor a particular vehicle, the important lights in the analysis oI an accident are the Ilashers,
the brake lights and the switch. The rear lights are needed in the analysis to know the direction oI
the vehicle. The brake lights are needed to show the brake status seen by the driver behind, beIore
the accident. Einally, the Ilashers will also be useIul in the analysis oI the accident in order to
determine whether the driver has used them properly.
Fig 3: Light Sensor
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BLOCK DIAGRAM
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Chapter 3
SOFTWARE RESOURCES
AIter covering the hardware part oI the Black Box system, it's now time to take a look at
the main Iunctions oI the Visual Basic .NET program and how the user will be shown the data
recorded beIore, during, and aIter the accident. The main SAVE duties oI this program are to
receive data serially, interpret and Iinally display it to the user in a clear and simple way.
Fig 4: main page of the VB.Net program
The VB NET program consists oI two Iunctional and Iour graphical Iorms. One oI the
Iunctional Iorms is the Main Page as shown in the Iigure 4. The EXIT button is used to exit the
seconds while the SERIAL button is used Ior the serial reception oI data. Also Iound on this
page are the steps that the user should Iollow in order to have a successIul transmission.
Once the SERIAL button is pressed; the serial port settings will be set as the ones used
Ior data transmission microcontroller, 9600 baud rate, 8 data bit, no parity, and 1 stop bit. In
order to have a reliable transmission, a handshake program was written to interIace the
microcontroller and the Speed Graph VB.NET program. The VB.Net program sends an 'A
character to the PIC beIore receiving every byte. Once it is received, the program will save it
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into its corresponding place. AIter the transmission is completed successIully the corresponding
bytes are converted to bits and the program will move on to the second Iunctional Iorm, Eigure
7 shows this page which contains 7 buttons; 4 Ior display purposes, 1 to open and save the
report excel Iile, the EXIT and the BACK buttons. Each one oI these buttons has its own mouse
click event. So each one oI them has its own program that will run once clicked on.
Fig 5: Display page of the VB.Net program
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Chapter 4
PROPOSED SYSTEM
Our proposed scheme is shown in Eigure 1. In the Iirst step, a car owner sends a query to
an accident database oI the police server. At the next stage, the police database server replies with
the accident databases which include the where and when oI the accident in the GPS coordinates
system. II the car has a valid video data, the car only sends the part oI the whole video data Irom a
Iew minutes beIore to a Iew minute aIter the time the accident occurred. In addition, the car owner
can decide whether to send the valid video data or not Ior preserving his/her privacy. To save
network resources, only selected data are transIerred to the police database server.
Fig 6: Overview of proposed system
4.1 DEMONSTRATION SCENARIO
The demonstration is perIormed on laptops instead oI vehicles as shown in Eigure 7. We
assume that the vehicles have GPS navigation system and camera to record their environments,
location, route, and time. Several vehicles and a server belong to the same Local Area Network
(LAN). Although both the vehicles and the server belong to the same LAN during the
demonstration, it is possible to reIlect the real world.
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Fig 7: Demonstration Environment
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Chapter 5
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
Advantages
Reducing road crashes
Proving responsibility Ior crashes and crash damage
Reducing distances travelled and thus climate change
Improving medical response and rescue time
Improving the evidence base Ior road saIety
Controls driver perIormance
Provide key management reports
Can improve TraIIic Control System and Driving methodologies
Provide vehicle security
D|sadvantages
A legal Iramework is needed to encourage the use oI black boxes and ensure legitimate
access to the data. This in turn requires standards Ior the technology.
North America is ahead oI Europe in this respect. By 2011, all EDRs installed by
manuIacturers will be regulated to ensure that the devices can be used Ior automatic crash
notiIication, crash investigation and the analysis oI saIety equipment perIormance. Drivers
will be inIormed that their cars are equipped with black boxes which can do these things.
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Applications
HAND APPLICATION
Step 1: Wash and thoroughly dry car. Use a high quality, non-spotting vehicle wash
such as Turtle Wax ICE Car Wash. Vehicle Iinish should be cool to the touch. Do
not apply in direct sunlight.
Step 2: Use gloves iI hands are sensitive to car wax and/or black pigments.
Step 3: Apply Step 1, Black Pre-Wax Cleaner & Conditioner to applicator and apply
to vehicle using a back and Iorth motion to deep clean Iinish. Let dry to a haze. Apply
to one section oI the vehicle at a time.
Step 4: Lightly mist Black Spray Detailer onto a Iolded micro-Iiber cloth or onto
surIace and remove polish. Use the same applicator and micro Iiber towel until entire
vehicle has been prepared with Step 1.
Step 5: Using the other applicator, apply Step 2, Black Carnauba Blend Wax, to the
vehicle Iinish using a back and Iorth motion. Let dry to a haze.
Step 6: Lightly mist Black Spray Detailer onto a Iresh, Iolded micro Iiber towel or
onto waxed surIace and lightly buII to a high gloss shine turning cloth Irequently.
Step 7: Use a clean micro Iiber towel and Black Spray Detailer Ior a Iinal wipe oI
each section to enhance Iinish.
Step 8: Wash hands thoroughly aIter use.
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Chapter 6
CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a new vision Ior the vehicles industry, which is the Black Box
system used Ior vehicles. A Iull and detailed description was made Ior every part oI this system.
This paper has also oIIered a user Iriendly visual basic program to analyze the data oI the accident.
In addition, the transmission method between the two parts has been introduced and developed.
The Black Box system built can be implemented in any vehicle. As soon as the driver runs the
motor, this system will begin saving the events oI the corresponding vehicle. The last are always
saved in the EEPROM oI the Black and in case oI an accident, an additional 10 seconds oI events
aIter this accident will be saved. The data saved can be, retrieved only aIter the accident Ior
privacy purposes. Using serial transmission, a VB.NET program will read the data Irom Sample
the EEPROM and display it to the user in Graphical Iormat. In addition, a detailed report will be
given to the user containing all necessary inIormation.
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REFERENCES