Coordinated, progressive vehicular headlight glare reduction for driver safety using wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Driving at night is one of the leading causes of traffic related deaths. The lack of adequate light at night impairs a driver, preventing him/her from being able to judge distances between objects accurately as well as preventing a driver from recognizing various objects on the street and avoiding them. Additionally, high intensity light from the headlights of oncoming vehicles causes temporary blindness, leading to accidents. In our proposed research, we measure the intensity of light incident on a vehicle (say V1) from an oncoming vehicle (say V2). If the light intensity is above a certain threshold - calibrated a-priori - then vehicle V1 automatically requests the oncoming vehicle V2 to reduce its light intensity. The reduction in light intensity is automatically done by the oncoming vehicle V2 by lowering its light beam fractionally so as to satisfy the first vehicle's (V1's) request, while still maintaining adequate light for the driver of oncoming vehicle (V2). This process may need to be repeated several times before two vehicles cross each other. Thus an optimal headlight attenuation is achieved which satisfies both parties, thereby improving visibility and traffic safety.