A GPS Based Heads Up Display System for Driving Under Low Visibility Conditions Status: CompleteReport Date: 06/09/2003 Summary: This research describes the design, development, and evaluation of a Heads Up Display (HUD) system for drivers of ground-based vehicles. The HUD, which projects visual information into the driverÿ¿s forward-looking visual field, is a conceptually ideal driver assistive device for those who must drive under degraded visual conditions. Most researchers concur that the driverÿ¿s forward-looking (i.e. preview) visual field is the most essential input for carrying out the two primary driving tasks: lane keeping and obstacle avoidance. The conformal augmented HUD was developed to provide an intuitive adjunct that provides a high fidelity reconstructed image of essential aspects of the visual field superimposed on the actual field of view. The HUD was programmed to draw appropriate perspective projections of the road boundaries as seen from the driverÿ¿s viewpoint as calculated from dynamic position measurements provided by Differential GPS (DGPS). The mismatch error between the projected and the real road boundaries was measured and analyzed. Experiments were performed using 5 Hz DGPS. Results showed that the current system can draw the superimposed images with errors of less than 0.5 degrees of visual sight angle while the vehicle was driven at various speeds along the test track. Final Deliverables: Report #2003-03 Related Materials: Related Research:
