Driver Drowsiness Detection System

Abstract

A Drowsy Driver Detection System has been developed, using a non-intrusive machine vision based concepts. The system uses a small monochrome security camera that points directly towards the driver's face and monitors the driver's eyes in order to detect fatigue. In such a case when fatigue is detected, a warning signal is issued to alert the driver. This report describes how to find the eyes, and also how to determine if the eyes are open or closed. The algorithm developed is unique to any currently published papers, which was a primary objective of the project. The system deals with using information obtained for the binary version of the image to find the edges of the face, which narrows the area of where the eyes may exist. Once the face area is found, the eyes are found by computing the horizontal averages in the area. Taking into account the knowledge that eye regions in the face present great intensity changes, the eyes are located by finding the significant intensity changes in the face. Once the eyes are located, measuring the distances between the intensity changes in the eye area determine whether the eyes are open or closed. A large distance corresponds to eye closure. If the eyes are found closed for 5 consecutive frames, the system draws the conclusion that the driver is falling asleep and issues a warning signal. The system is also able to detect when the eyes cannot be found, and works under reasonable lighting conditions.