Smart Helmet for Safety Driving

N. Rajathi, N. Suganthi and Sourabh Modi

Abstract In the present time, the reason for many cases of bicycle accidents around
us is due to negligence of wearing helmets. The helmet is the safety gear to prevent
head injuries in an uncontrolled environment and saves the life of many people.
This paper presents a smart helmet to ensure safety driving. This proposed idea thus
addresses three main objectives: (i) as a means of ensure safety, (ii) to justify the
rising modern needs of technological innovations, and (iii) to overcome the helmet
inquietudes. The smart helmet allows vehicle ignition only when the helmet is worn
as well as checking the sobriety of the driver. This reduces the accidental risk by a
major factor. The drivers at remote locations are also ensured safety by making use
of GPRS and GSM. By gathering information about the location of the driver by
means of the GPRS present in the person’s device and by measuring the tilt factor,
the tilt of the vehicle can be measured for detecting accidents, and messages can be
sent to the contacts listed in the device by means of GSM, In addition, an android app
is being developed to help the vehicle driver to locate the vehicle when it is parked
in a new location.

Keywords Helmet · Alcohol sensor · Vehicle location · GPRS

N. Rajathi (B) · N. Suganthi · S. Modi

Department of Information Technology, Kumaraguru College of Technology,
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: rajathi.n.it@kct.ac.in
N. Suganthi
e-mail: suganthi.n.it@kct.ac.in
S. Modi
e-mail: sourabhmodi.it@kct.ac.in

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 407

S. C. Satapathy and A. Joshi (eds.), Information and Communication Technology
for Intelligent Systems, Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies 107,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1747-7_39
408 N. Rajathi et al.

1 Introduction

The increasing population also increased the use of motorcycles. The number of
pedestrians has been drastically reduced, as each individual is driven toward the idea
of owning a vehicle as a norm. But these have adverse effects since the driver in the
inappropriate states harms not only the passersby or the nature, but also himself. This
inappropriate states maybe the act is driving in an alcoholic drunk state or neglecting
the use of helmets. Therefore, it is necessary to make the wear of helmets mandatory.
But in order to have a foolproof mechanism, the required sensors are placed in the
helmets that do not allow vehicle ignition. There is also the problem of late medical
aid being rendered to a person in a critical state. This necessity becomes highly crucial
when the biker himself is in an isolated or a remote location, where communication
is low profiled. Thus, implementing the GPRS and GSM modules helps to locate the
biker in case of an injury at his exact location. This helps to save the lives in time.
Thus, the combined incorporation of these two features in the system helps to ensure
safety for the driver and help him to drive with sufficient backup in terms of medical
services.

2 Related Work

Vijayan et al. [1] proposed a system which automatically checks for helmet wear
and soberness while driving. The setup consists of a transmitter in the helmet and
a receiver in the vehicle, with a switch ensuring the wearing of helmet. An ON
condition ensures the placing of the helmet in a proper manner. An alcohol sensor
detects the presence of alcohol. Vijay et al. [2] proposed a system where a signal from
the IR sensor in the earlobe region and from the alcohol sensor will be transmitted to
the vehicle control circuit. The system containing the GPS will provide the geometric
coordinates. Based on these, the user cannot drive the vehicle into any no entry or
no parking areas. If he enters into the restricted area, a buzzer will get activated and
the speed of the vehicle is controlled. When an accident occurs, an alarm is started,
which triggers the sending of a warning message unless the alarm is cut off by the
driver, a case in which he is safe.
Bhumkar et al. [3] proposed a system to control vehicle speed in which drivers
are fatigues in order to prevent accidents. The system consists of sensors, like gas,
eye blink, alcohol sensors, with an ARM microprocessor and a GPS with Google
Maps APIs for determining the location. Alcohol detection—if the driver is found
to have alcohol in the breath, it displays a warning and then turns the ignition off,
thereby reducing the possibility of accidents. Sudarsan et al. [4] proposed an interac-
tive helmet system with features including an obstacle hazard warning on the road,
authentication of vehicle start and an MP3 playback which automatically adapts to
traffic. An internal microphone is present which acts as a speaker to record voice.
This may be used to record any places of interest that the driver sees on the road dur-
Smart Helmet for Safety Driving 409

ing travel. A warning is passed to the driver if any obstacle hazard is intimated to the
driver before 10 m. If any traffic sounds get detected, the MP3 is muted automatically.
Manjesh et al. [5] proposed a system where accident detection is taken care with
the help of vibration sensors to determine probability of hitting. The information
is passed to the microcontroller board for the comparison of stress limit. If the
values exceed the threshold, it automatically sends a message to an ambulance or
to family members. We infer that using a pressure sensor for authenticating helmet
wear is an excellent means of verification. Threshold values of vibration sensors
should be optimally selected so that false alarms are not set off even for slight
changes. Penta et al. [6] proposed system for vehicle-based accident detection using
accelerometers, where helmet authentication is determined using IR and PIR sensors
to monitor the movement of head. Alcohol is detected using MQ-3 sensor placed just
below the face shield. The threshold value is varied according to the concentration of
alcohol present. Accident detection is ensured using accelerometer which measures
the acceleration/deceleration or tilt of a platform with respect to earth axis and sends
a message to contacts using GSM.
In [7], the authors discussed about the alcohol detection system. Nazir et al. [8]
proposed a system with an alarm using SONAR ranging modules which notify the
distance between two vehicles, thereby creating warnings in a cramped environment
with messaging using GSM. The advantage of having a warning system is inferred
to notify the drivers in advance to move the vehicle farther away, thereby preventing
accidents to a larger extent.

3 Proposed Work

The following are the main objectives for the proposed design:
• Enforces the definitive use of a helmet while driving.
• Minimizes accidents due to carelessness of drivers to self and others.
• Locate our vehicle easily in a large parking lot.
• Enables the drivers to get immediate help in case of accidents.
The overall process of the proposed system is shown in Fig. 1.

4 Hardware Components

The various hardware components used in this work are presented in Table 1.
410 N. Rajathi et al.

Fig. 1 Working of the proposed system

Smart Helmet for Safety Driving 411

Table 1 Hardware components used in the proposed system

Hardware Purpose
Arduino Uno This microcontroller board featuring analog and digital pins with other
components that allow the easy integration of the board with other circuits
Force Sensor A force sensor is a printed circuit, which can be easily integrated into a
circuit. The underlying principle is that, in the initial unloaded state, the
resistance is high, which decreases on the application of a load. thus,
when a force or pressure is applied, the resistance changes
Alcohol Sensor An alcohol sensor is used to determine the level of alcohol in the breath
of a person, like a breath analyzer, it requires the user to breathe into the
mouthpiece before the vehicle is started
Bluetooth HC05 The HC 05 module of Bluetooth, using in wireless serial connection
connects easily with the Arduino. It can be configured as either a master
or a slave
Bluetooth HC06 The HC-06 module is a slave and is much suited in a wireless
transmission, enabling transmission of data between an Arduino board
and a Bluetooth device. It can also be used to connect between an
embedded system and the computer or it can simply be used as a serial
port for sending and receiving data
Servomotor The servo library in Arduino enables the support of several motors with
the board. The motor is primarily composed of a shaft, and a gear which
can be adjusted at any desired angle. A 5 V pin on the Arduino board
supplies the source of power to the board. As they draw a considerable
amount of power, the addition of motors may require the connection of a
separate power supply
Motor Driver The function of motor drivers is to provide the current necessary for
rotating a motor. This is done by amplifying the current obtained from a
lower power source. It is an interface between the board and the motor.
When used with an Arduino board, the motor drivers are preferably used
with an external power supply
Spark Plug In an ignition engine, the compressed mixture of fuel and air is ignited
with a spark plug, which basically delivers an electrical spark. Thus,
internal combustion engines feature an inbuilt spark plug which is located
in the chambers of each cylinder of gas. A ceramic tip ensures that the
spark is retained only at the tip
412 N. Rajathi et al.

5 Implementation

Software implementation details are given below.

5.1 MIT App Inventor

App Inventor for android is an open-source Web application where the process of
app creation is transformed from writing lines of code to a simple, user-friendly pro-
gramming of drag and drop blocks. It opens a new platform for learning, working on
the solution itself rather than being much involved with the steps of implementation.

5.2 Alcohol Detection and Helmet Authentication

An alcohol sensor is fitted near the lower jaw part of the helmet. Hence, the biker’s
breath is checked for the presence of alcohol content ensuring soberness. Confirma-
tion of helmet wear is by a pressure sensor which is mounted onto the helmet. The
combined information from both the sensors (a 0 in the alcohol and a 1 on the pres-
sure sensor) is sent to the master circuitry fitted in the vehicle. The transmission of
information is via Bluetooth. A bump switch can be used to activate or deactivate the
circuit for the vehicle to start. The vehicle allows for mobility only when the driver
is alcohol-free in the state of helmet wear. Any detection of alcohol or the absence
of a helmet will result in the vehicle remaining static, and Fig. 2. shows the Arduino
board connected to the force and alcohol sensors which are embedded in the helmet;
Fig. 3. shows the driver circuit connected to the motor driver and the spark plug. The
final helmet system with the sensors present is represented in Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 Alcohol and force sensors

Smart Helmet for Safety Driving 413

Fig. 3 Module present in the vehicle

Fig. 4 Helmet system

5.3 Intimation to Contacts in Case of an Emergency

A mobile phone is fitted to the vehicle in the front. The MEMS accelerometer present
in the mobile phone helps in constant monitoring of variations in speed. A sudden tilt
and a jerk will indicate a vast difference in the coordinate values, and the condition is
sufficient to indicate that the motorist has met with an accident and requires rescue. As
soon as the accident occurs the phone camera automatically captures the incident for
few seconds. An app has been developed using the MIT app inventor for sending the
message along with the video captured to an emergency contact, and this information
is also routed to the nearest medical center so that the individual can get due medical
aid immediately. The code for message passing is shown in Fig. 5 and the screenshot
Fig. 6 shows the accident detection app.

5.4 Determine Vehicle Location

An android app determines the location of the vehicle initially. The latitudinal and the
longitudinal coordinates are noted, and the address is stored as the starting point. Then
the person or the vehicle itself can be moved, and the subsequent location is stored
414 N. Rajathi et al.

Fig. 5 App inventor code for message passing

Fig. 6 Screenshot of accident detection app

as the destination. Then, by the concept of pathfinding, the route to the destination is
plotted on the maps, which addresses two causes (i) help determine the location of the
vehicle (in the case of a crowded parking lot) and (ii) help navigation easier in vehicles
Smart Helmet for Safety Driving 415

Fig. 7 Screenshot of the GPS navigation app

Fig. 8 Screenshot of the GPS navigation app

as the locations get recorded in continuum. This helps visualizing pathfinding and
traversing in an entirely new perspective opening a whole new outlook to navigation
with a simpler tool. The screenshots to record the location of source and destination
are given in Figs. 7 and 8.
416 N. Rajathi et al.

The above-featured screenshot displays the route from the source to the destina-
tion. Thus, this can be used to know the route travelled for a temporary small scaled
area where timely information alone is enough for usage.

6 Conclusion

This design of smart helmet enables pedestrians to navigate the roads with ease,
unperturbed by the nuisance caused by drunk driving. Also, it adds on to the personal
front of the driver, preventing any unwanted accidents due to alcohol or due to the
negligence of helmets. It acts as a measure of safety to the driver, helping deliver
timely help when met with an accident. The scope of the project extends, as the
initiative to uncover the new possibilities of navigation help in the reach of the
technology by means of a simple android app. Thus, this system can be looked upon
as a tool providing functionalities that range from providing protection to an area
of prediction, enabling constant betterment. This system is very effective for the
safety purpose of the user. User has to wear a helmet to ride two-wheeler, and hence,
traffic rules will follow with this. This system is under pocket control, i.e., Ride
two-wheeler vehicle having safety in hand and in budget also. This easy functioning
system provides a better security to the biker.

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