INTELLIGENT SYSTEM FOR HEAD LIGHT BEAM CONTROL

ABSTRACT:
Over the past two decades, the automotive industry has aggressively researched ways to
exploit modern computing and electronic advances in the development of safety, reliability and
entertainment technologies for vehicles. The highest crash rates occur at night time.
Additionally,traffic fatality rates are three to four times higher at night than during the daytime.
The danger arises from the fact that vision is severely limited, glare from the headlights of other
vehicles can temporarily blind you, and it is more likely that people may be driving under the
influence or be tired. Glare is particularly invasive since it can cause temporary blindness,
dizziness, and mainly Confusion. Therefore we can implement an automatic intensity controller
for head lights such that these high beams of light which causes some difficulties while driving
can be reduced. Along with this, there are several additional features included in this project such
as Defrostrer control, Fog sensor as well as Rain sensor so that the driver will be able to control
the car easily and comfortabily without any confusions on the road.

INTRODUCTION:
Driving requires effective coordination of visual, motor and cognitive skills. Visual skills
are pushed to their limit at night by decreased illumination and by disabling glare from oncoming
headlights. Increased numbers of road accidents are being reported under night time driving
throughout the world. The risk of accidents at night is 40% higher than during the day. Many
countries have imposed night time driving restrictions.
Whenever two automobiles are approaching each other, the sensor senses the high beam
light of the oppositely coming vehicle and this sensor guides the intensity controller to control
the light intensity of that particular vehicle in such a way that the light required for the driver for
clear vision on road is retained and the remaining light is controlled automatically. The sensor
used here is LIGHT SENSOR that detects the opposite vehicle’s headlight and is programmed
through AURDINO and once the controller controls the masking unit that partially masks the
headlight of the vehicle. Masking shutter is used to mask the light intensity, this masking shutter
is controlled using servo motor.
With drivers exposed to an ever increasing number of distractions, automatic rain-sensing
wiper systems become an even more appealing feature. These systems detect droplets of rain on
the windshield and automatically turn on and adjust the wiper system in accordance to the level
of precipitation.
 SYSTEM ANALYSIS
Need for the proposed system:
Human vision is not well adapted to night-time conditions. Increased sensitivity to glare
and age related visual impairment may be some of the reasons. Fundamental for safe and
efficient traffic is the interaction between road users, vehicles and road environment. The
information needed by road users to support their behavior must be easy to perceive and
understand, and obtained in time. Darkness raises particularly high demands on a good visual
traffic environment. Visibility, legibility and identification of persons and objects, in order to
achieve correct expectations and behaviors, are important components in a good visual
environment.

Driving an automobile can be a difficult task for a learner or even an experienced driver.
Various parameters like the time of the day, weather and the traffic affects the driving. The
highest crash rates occur at night time (6:00PM - 6:00AM). Additionally, traffic fatality rates are
three to four times higher at night than in the daytime. The danger arises from the fact that vision
is severely limited (low lights often cause blurred vision), glare arising from the headlights of the
other vehicles can temporarily blind you, and it is more likely that people may be driving under
the influence or may be tired. Glare is particularly invasive since it can cause temporary
blindness, dizziness and mainly confusion. Windshields are an afterthought to some vehicle
owners, but impaired visibility is a factor in many serious accidents. Dirty windshields, worn out
windshield wipers or an improper defrosting can all lead to poor visibility that contributes to a
collision. Therefore, an ‘Automatic Masking Unit’ can be implemented on the head lights to
avoid the difficulty while driving. This reduces the dazzling effect caused by high beams by
cutting-off the beam of light that hits the driver’s eye. This not only nullifies the glare by cutting
it off but it reflects the same light back onto the road for an enhanced view on the road thereby
not wasting any light produced by the headlamps. It’s not only the glare from the headlamps that
limits the vision of the driver but it’s also the weather that plays its part. On a cool winter day the
window panes of the vehicle get clogged by water that condenses on it. If it’s raining or if it is
foggy the vision of the driver is severely limited. So in order to counter these three phenomena
there has to an automated defroster, wiper control and an automatic turning on of the fog lamps.
An automated system means that the driver can concentrate on the road without having to bother
about multitasking while driving. This reduces the distractions and provides a safe journey for
the driver and also for the fellow drivers on the road.

Existing System:

Various systems are present based on the same idea. Different technologies and methodologies
are used for achieving the purpose. Considering the glare control system, many high-end car
manufacturers use image processing technique to detect cars and in turn reduce the intensity of
their headlamps in order to avoid glare and still having sufficient illumination on the road. Along
with this WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) systems are also in place to do the needful, a brief
description of these systems is given below.

An automatic headlamp control system for a vehicle which has an image sensor having a
forward field of view that captures image data of a scene forward of the vehicle. The image
processor processes the image data and detects objects of interest. A controller is responsive to
the image processing to control a beam illumination state of the headlamps of the equipped
vehicle. The controller is operable to detect at least a partial blocking condition at the image
sensor and is operable to limit switching to a different beam illumination state in response to a
signal indicative of an outside temperature at the equipped vehicle being below a threshold
temperature. The present invention provides an automatic headlamp control system that is
operable to automatically control or adjust the beam illumination state of a vehicle's headlamps,
such as from one beam illumination state (such as a lower beam illumination state) to another or
different beam illumination state (such as a higher beam illumination state). The headlamp
control system is operable to determine when the vehicle is traveling along a substantially curved
section of road, such as an on-ramp or off-ramp of an expressway or the like, and may adjust the
image processing and/or headlamp beam illumination state decision responsive to such a
determination. Optionally, the system may be operable to detect when the vehicle is approaching
or entering or driving along a construction zone, and may adjust the headlamp beam illumination
state decision or trigger/switch threshold responsive to such detection. Optionally, the system
may be adjustable to tailor the image processing to the particular vehicle equipped with the
headlamp control system and/or to the particular type of headlamp of the equipped vehicle, such
as to more readily discern or discriminate between detected oncoming headlamps of approaching
vehicles and reflections of light emitted by the headlamps of the equipped vehicle. Optionally,
the system may be operable to determine if the camera or image sensor is blocked or partially
blocked and may adjust the determination parameters depending on the location and/or driving
conditions of the vehicle. Coming to the WSN systems, a wireless sensor network based
controller is devised to quickly transmit sensor data between cars. With Low latency quicker
headlight intensity adjustment is allowed to minimize temporary blindness.

The sensors in WSN capture any real time data, WSN are event driven systems. The
nature of WSN is generally data centric due to the hardware and application restrictions. In data
centric architectures, information of the network flows towards a central processing point that
behaves as a gateway of the network, usually called base station. The sensor board contains an
onboard photo resistor interfaced to the ADC of a micro controller. Sensor captures the
oncoming headlight intensity data at a pre-determined sampling rate selected by the user. The
onboard processor filters and identifies the oncoming vehicle. In other words, the processor reads
the intensity of the oncoming vehicle. In response, the controller modifies vehicles own
headlight intensity. This process of updating the intensity continues until the oncoming vehicle
passes by. This wireless radio board transmits the captured light intensity data to the base station.
Both the sensing node and base station contain a radio board. The base station also contains an
interface board. This allows the board to connect to the laptop and log the data to the Posture
SQL database.

Drawbacks of existing system:

The existing system, as mentioned above, uses techniques like image processing and
WSN systems. To design a real time system using image processing becomes cumbersome. It
also gets complicated to develop them. Since the systems are real time systems, any minor glitch
in the designing is not feasible. Employing this technique is expensive and time consuming and
also the cost increases as the number of detectors used in the system increases. There are risks of
camera failing to operate or a fault in the camera causing distorted data. Such inputs may not be
processed properly which leads to undesired results. Programming for a complex real time
system is also a challenge which is also another reason why its time consuming. Repairs can also
pose a lot of problems for the end user. The system itself is expensive and if repairs occur it can
add to expenses. Coming to the WSN systems, one of the biggest disadvantages of large scale
wireless sensor networks lies on the complexity of logistics involving selective replacement of
sensors that have ran out of energy. The speed of operation is, of course, lesser than wired
networks. It is more difficult to configure than wired networks. Generally they are less secure as
they are prone to hacking. Vital information can be easily accessed without permission. The
surroundings like buildings, other vehicles in the vicinity affect the wireless systems. They also
get affected by Bluetooth. It does not reduce costs for installation of sensors. Still Costly at
large and also It does not allow us to do more than can be done with a wired system.

BLOCK DIAGRAM:

Fig(a):Block diagram of masking unit

The block diagram shown below explains that the sensor sensing the high beam as well
as the low beam lights of the opposite vehicles and guides the controlling unit which is
connected to the masking unit in front of the headlights of both the vehicles that controls the
light beam of both the vehicles either minimizing or maximizing the intensity that is required for
clear vision on road for driving.
The intensity adjustment is done such a way that the ongoing vehicle is travelling on a
high beam and the oppositely coming vehicle is also travelling on a high beam then the sensors
sense the high beam of opposite vehicle and makes the intensity of our vehicle to be
automatically adjusted such that a the beam of vehicle is focused only on roads and not above 3
feet from the road so that the driver can easily view the road clearly and the same operation is
performed by the opposite vehicle at the same time so that both drivers can have a clear vision on
road without any dazzling.
RELATED WORK:
 This Device Consists of a Headlamp mounted on a car above which the shutter is placed
for Masking. This Shutter is controlled by a Aurdino and is driven by a servomotor for various
angles to control the angle of masking based on the distance measured by the Range detector of
the opposite vehicle. Based upon the distance, the shutter will mask the Light for different levels
as level1 at farthest distance of light sensed, level2 at middle of the distance between two
vehicles and level3 at the nearest end of the vehicle’s light. After the vehicles are passed, the
shutter is released back to its original position making the masking operation as zero. To sense
the Light of the opposite vehicle, a Luminous light sensor is used and based upon the distance
measured, the Masking operation is done.

HARDWARE COMPONENTS:
1) Rain Sensor
2) Fog Sensor
3) Defroster
4) Masking Shutter
5) Servo Motor
6) Aurdino
7) Light senser
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION:

Fig(b): Present scenario of the automobile lighting

 Fig(c): After implanting masking unit

OTHER MODULES:
Rain Sensor: With drivers exposed to an ever increasing number of distractions,
automatic rain-sensing wiper systems become an even more appealing feature, as they work to
minimize the time the driver must take his/her hands off the wheel. These systems detect droplets
of rain on the windshield and automatically turn on and adjust the wiper system in accordance to
the level of precipitation.

Fig(d):Rain Sensor Module

Fog sensor: Fog Sensor is a low price sensor for visibility. The power consumption is
low. The main application is for traffic purposes. Using so called backscatter technique it
measures the amount of water particles i.e. fog in the air that limit the visibility. A narrow beam
of red laser light comes out of an opening on the front. A detector behind a lens in another
opening is sensitive for incoming laser light in a narrow lobe that overlaps the transmitter beam.
If there are fog particles in the overlap zone light will be scattered back and reach the detector
causing a signal on the sensor raw signal output. Electrical signals: The raw signal is analog and
it is a measure of the amount of backscattered light from the overlap zone. So the more fog in the
overlap zone the more signal.
 Fig(e):Fog sensor

Fig(f):Fog Sensor Function

Light Sensor: It detects the opposite vehicle’s headlight and is programmed through
AURDINO and once the controller controls the masking unit that partially masks the headlight
of the vehicle. Depending on the intensity of light falling on the light sensor ,the masking shutter
operates ,in such a way the program is written in AURDINO.

Fig(g):Light Sensor

Servo Motor: Servos are controlled by sending an electrical pulse of variable width, or pulse
width modulation (PWM), through the control wire. The angle is determined by the duration of a
pulse that is applied to the control wire. This is called Pulse width Modulation. There is a
minimum pulse, a maximum pulse, and a repetition rate. A servo motor can usually only turn 90°
in either direction for a total of 180° movement. The motor's neutral position is defined as the
position where the servo has the same amount of potential rotation in the both the clockwise or
counter-clockwise direction. The PWM sent to the motor determines position of the shaft, and
based on the duration of the pulse sent via the control wire; the rotor will turn to the desired
position. The servo motor expects to see a pulse every 20 milliseconds (ms) and the length of the
pulse will determine how far the motor turns. For example, a 1.5ms pulse will make the motor
turn to the 90° position. Shorter than 1.5ms moves it in the counter clockwise direction toward
the 0° position, and any longer than 1.5ms will turn the servo in a clockwise direction toward the
180° position.

Fig(h):Variable Pulse width control servo position

When these servos are commanded to move, they will move to the position and hold that
position. If an external force pushes against the servo while the servo is holding a position, the
servo will resist from moving out of that position. The maximum amount of force the servo can
exert is called the torque rating of the servo. Servos will not hold their position forever though;
the position pulse must be repeated to instruct the servo to stay in position.

Fig(i):Servo Motor
Arduino:
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software.
Arduino boards are able to read inputs - light on a sensor, a finger on a button, or a Twitter
message - and turn it into an output - activating a motor, turning on an LED, publishing
something online. You can tell your board what to do by sending a set of instructions to the
microcontroller on the board. To do so you use the Arduino programming language (based on
Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on Processing.

Fig(j): Aurdino UNO

Aurdino Architecture: Arduino’s processor basically uses the Harvard architecture where the
program code and program data have separate memory. It consists of two memories- Program
memory and the data memory. The code is stored in the flash program memory, whereas the data
is stored in the data memory. The Atmega328 has 32 KB of flash memory for storing code (of
which 0.5 KB is used for the bootloader), 2 KB of SRAM and 1 KB of EEPROM and operates
with a clock speed of 16MHz.
 Fig(k):Aurdino Architecture

Aurdino pin diagram:

Fig(l):Aurdino pin diagram

Arduino Uno consists of 14 digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM
outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header, and a reset button
Power Jack: Arduino can be power either from the pc through a USB or through external source
like adaptor or a battery. It can operate on a external supply of 7 to 12V. Power can be applied
externally through the pin Vin or by giving voltage reference through the IORef pin.

Digital Inputs: It consists of 14 digital inputs/output pins, each of which provide or take up
40mA current. Some of them have special functions like pins 0 and 1, which act as Rx and Tx
respectively , for serial communication, pins 2 and 3-which are external interrupts, pins
3,5,6,9,11 which provides pwm output and pin 13 where LED is connected.

Analog inputs: It has 6 analog input/output pins, each providing a resolution of 10 bits.

ARef: It provides reference to the analog inputs

Reset: It resets the microcontroller when low.

Masking Shutter: Masking shutter is used to mask the light intensity, this masking shutter is
controlled using servo motor. The controller controls the masking unit that partially masks the
headlight of the vehicle.

Fig(m): Masking Shutter

Defroster: Defrosters that utilize a vehicle’s HVAC system are sometimes referred to as
“primary” defrosters or defoggers since they are designed to clear front and side windshields,
and they work via two main principles.

In order to melt ice that has accumulated on the windshield, activating a primary defroster causes
the HVAC system to draw in fresh air, pass it through the vehicle’s heater core, and then direct
the warm air through dashboard vents so that it hits the front windshield and side windows.

In addition to defrosting windows, these primary systems can also “defog” by removing
condensation from the inner surface of the windows.
In order to accomplish this, a front window defroster will typically pass air through the air
conditioning system to remove moisture from it.

Fig(n): Defroster

Advantages of proposed system:

The proposed system is a simple and effective way to achieve the desired results. The
entire system is automatic hence the driver does not have to multitask while he is driving. It not
only provides respite from the glare caused by headlamps it also helps in improving the visibility
by defrosting the windshield, clearing it when rain falls on it or even turning on the fog lamps
automatically for that matter.

This is highly cost effective and easy to design. No complicated techniques are used
which is what makes is easy to design and less time consuming. The parts used to design are
highly durable and this reduces repairs. Since these are wired systems, it is faster and efficient.
Surroundings do not affect the working of this system. The automatic head lamp control unit
does not simply mask the high beam from the vehicles headlamps but this masked beam of light
is reflected back on the road for better view of the road.

This, as a result, does not waste any light coming from the headlamps. So this avoids the glare
caused by our vehicle to other drivers and also increases the range of the headlamps. All in all
the system provides a safe journey for the automobiles users.

Data Flow Diagrams:

Masking unit:

Fig(o): Flow Chart of Masking Unit

 RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
We have presented a simple, low cost and easy to install design for an intelligent automatic Mask
the controller for the high beam light. This system will provide the driver with a stress free driving
experience at night time. The proposed automatic on/off controller will turn off the high beam
light when it detects an incoming car lights. Therefore, the driver will be no more afraid of
dazzling other drivers when he uses the high beam light when he needs it. The system was built
and tested on a real car driving at night time.
The experimental results show that the system can detects an incoming car lights from about 150
meters away. This distance will provide a safety margin from being dazzling other drivers and
easily can be adjusted. Moreover, the system turn off the high beam light when there is enough
lighting on the road such as inside cities and fully lighted roads. Along with this, automatic control
of fog sensor, rain sensor and defroster is provided to get more clear vision on driving and a stress
free driving.