DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTANTION OF EMBEDDED AUTOMOTIVE CONTROL

SYSTEM

Case study: Uganda

Final year project report submitted to Kampala international university in partial fulfillment of

the requirement for the award of Degree

of

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

BY

FATUMA SULAIMAN

REG 1153-03114-00655

EMAIL: fatumasulaiman23@gmail.com

CONTACT: 0780123959/0701920620

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL, COMPUTER AND TELECOMMUNICATION

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCES

AUGUST 2019

i

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this report is my own work, original and has not been submitted for any

academic award by any student in the university.

FATUMA SULAIMAN

Signature………………………………………………

Date…………………………………………………….

ii

APPROVAL

I have read and hereby recommend this report entitled “DESIGN AND

IMPLEMENTANTION OF EMBEDDED AUTOMOTIVE CONTROL SYSTEM” for

acceptance by Kampala International University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the

award of the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in Kampala international

Universities.

____________________________

Mr. Ibrahim Adabara

Project Coordinator

Ibrahim.adabara@kiu.ac.ug

www.rootiancenter.com

www.eduraryschool.com

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Primarily, I would like to express my thanks to the Almighty God whom without any of this

would have been possible. More thanks goes to my supervisor Mr. ADABARA IBRAHIM for

his professional guidance and support, his valuable suggestions. Also my fellow friends who

gave ideas, technical support and spared their time to ensure my success in coming up with this

project proposal. I recognize the effort for my parents and their support to me financially, their

prayers, support, guidance and sacrifices are highly appreciated.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ......................................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL ............................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ......................................................................................................... iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... iv

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... vi

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ viii

CHAPTER ONE ....................................................................................................................... 1

1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of the study. ...................................................................................................... 3

1.2 Problem statement ................................................................................................................ 4

1.3 Objective of the study ........................................................................................................... 4

1.3.1 Main objective ................................................................................................................... 4

1.3.2 Specific objective .............................................................................................................. 4

1.4 Research questions ............................................................................................................... 5

1.5 Significance of the study ...................................................................................................... 5

1.6 Scope of the study ................................................................................................................ 5

1.6.1 Context scope .................................................................................................................... 5

1.6.2 Geographical scope ........................................................................................................... 6

1.6.3 Time scope ........................................................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER TWO ...................................................................................................................... 7

LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 7

2.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Theoretical framework ......................................................................................................... 9

2.2 Conceptual framework ....................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................... 13

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................. 13

3.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 13

v

3.1 Research design .................................................................................................................. 13

3.2 Setting and participants ...................................................................................................... 13

3.3 Data processing and analysis .............................................................................................. 13

3.4 Development of the Project Design. ................................................................................... 13

3.4.1 Hardware specification .................................................................................................... 13

3.4.2 Block diagram ................................................................................................................. 18

3.4.3 Circuit diagram ................................................................................................................ 19

3.5 Working principle ............................................................................................................... 20

3.6 Procedure ............................................................................................................................ 20

3.7 Flow chart ........................................................................................................................... 21

3.8 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 22

CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................. 23

RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 23

4.0 Results of finding ............................................................................................................... 23

4.1 System design ..................................................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER FIVE .................................................................................................................... 25

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 25

5.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 25

5.2 Recommendation ................................................................................................................ 25

5.3 Discussion and future study ............................................................................................... 26

REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 27

APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................... 29

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: light emitting diode ....................................................................................................... 14

Figure 2: Microcontroller (ATmega328p) .................................................................................... 15

Figure 3: LCD display .................................................................................................................. 15

Figure 4: Light dependent resistor ................................................................................................ 16

Figure 5: circuit diagram ............................................................................................................... 19

Figure 6: flow chart ....................................................................................................................... 21

Figure 7: system design ................................................................................................................ 24

vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

KIU Kampala International University

HVS Host vehicle

FVS Forwarding vehicles

OCC Optical camera communications

SL Street light

AFS Adoptive front light system

LEDS Light emitting diodes

DC Direct current

viii

ABSTRACT

This research work was done in the field of automotive safety. As head light are the major

important thing in night drives, intensity of head light as per sun light has to be taken care of

which is not available in automotive. This prototype of embeded automotive control system is

made by using Arduino, sensors, LEDs and other accessories. A prototype of multi featured

headlight system consisting turning headlight on, off, provides facility of automatic switching of

headlight from low beam to high intensity beam in poor weather conditions, obstacle alert and

keyless controling. Also this model eliminates the requirement of manual switch by the driver as

switching takes place automatically. This model brought three different features of headlight

system together. These features are automatic starting of headlight in night conditions, automatic

light intensity adjustment with respect to opposite light beam and automatic switch ON during

the moist weather conditions. This concept is very useful in the automobile field applications,

which provides safety of driver during driving.

The prototype has an automatic headlight intensity control system which is expected to dim the

headlight to avoid this glare. This beam causes a temporary blindness to a person resulting in

road accidents during the night. It was observed that the maximum spread angle of the headlight

was 135˚. At the time the spread light from other sources reaches the sensor, its intensity would

be very much reduced below the triggering threshold level. The sensitivity of a photo detector

determined the relationship between the light falling on the device and the resulting output

signal.

While driving vehicle on road during the night time, a clear perception of the road and traffic is

obligatory. The probability of accidents has been increased considerably nowadays especially

during night due to the heavy traffic and inappropriate night vision. In order to ensure safety of

the drivers and passengers, various viable techniques such as the obstacle alert system were

employed in automobiles. A lighting control system establishes communication between various

system inputs and outputs associated with lighting control with the help of central computing

device. These systems impart right amount of luminance during night. The excessive headlight

glare from the oncoming traffic deteriorates the eye sight of the driver resulting to temporary

visual impair.

1

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

Light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The

word usually refers to visible light, which is visible to the human eye and it is responsible for the

sense of sight. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700

nanometers (nm), or 400×10−9 m to 700×10−9 m, (Okrah, 2016) between the infrared (with

longer wavelengths) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths). Light can be produced by

nature or by humans. "Artificial" light is typically produced by lighting systems that transform

electrical energy into light. The human eye is a very sensitive organ. It works almost an entire

day without any rest. The human eyes are adaptable to a particular range of vision. There are two

visions namely the scotopic and photopic vision. Human eyes actually behave differently in

different conditions. During bright surroundings, our eyes can resist up to 3 cd/m2. This is the

photopic vision (Arpita K, 2018).

During dark and unlit conditions, our eye switches to scotopic vision which has a range of 30-45

μcd/m2 (Williams. E.A, 2016). It takes 4 seconds for our eyes to change from photopic vision to

scotopic vision. This is also an example of Troxler effect. As the brightness increases, the strain

to focus on an object increases. This will increase the response time of that person.

The requirement of headlight is very common during night travel. The same headlight which

assists the driver for better vision during night travel is also responsible for many accidents that

are being caused. The driver has the control of the headlight which can be switched from high

beam (bright) to low beam (dim). The headlight has to be adjusted according to the light

requirement by the driver.

During pitch black conditions where there are no other sources of light, high beam is used. In all

other cases, low beam is preferred. But in a two way traffic, there are vehicles plying on both

sides of the road. So when the bright light from the headlight of a vehicle coming from the

opposite direction falls on a person, it glares him for a certain amount of time. This causes

disorientation to that driver. This discomfort will result in involuntary closing of the driver’s

eyes momentarily. This fraction of distraction is the prime cause of many road accidents.

2

The prototype that has been designed to reduce this problem by actually dimming down the

bright headlight of our vehicle to low beam automatically when it senses a vehicle at close

proximity approaching from the other direction. The entire working of the dimmer is a simple

electronic circuitry arrangement which senses and switches the headlight according to the

conditions required.

Although, in the conventional headlamp control system, driver has control of the headlight which

can be switched from high beam (bright) to low beam (dim), this is insufficient while driving on

curved roads. Over 50% of all road traffic accidents occur at night time. The focus is to improve

visibility for the driver, thereby increasing driving safety. Various studies on swivel beam

headlamp have shown up to 300% increase in illumination of the driver’s gaze point as the

vehicle turns on a corner. The additional corner illumination results in 58% increases in the

driver’s ability to recognize an obstacle.

The requirement of headlight is a necessity during night travel. The same headlight which assists

the driver for better vision during night travel is also responsible for many accidents. The driver

has the control of the headlight which can be switched from high beam (bright) to low beam

(dim). Presently, studied changes are unfolding in automotive lighting technology. Automobile

manufacturers - together with suppliers and representatives - currently aspire to develop the

headlights of tomorrow. Freeform headlamp is one of the popular design which offers great

flexibility and compactness (Mr. Sandip, 2017).

Some of the systems proposed that, the new standard for cornering light system allows not only

the conventionally approved ON/OFF control mode interlocked with the operation of the turn

signal switch but also an automatic ON-OFF control according to the steering wheel angle.

Objective of the this kind of invention is to provide a steering wheel controlled car light pointing

system which automatically turns the lights of the vehicle to coincide the projection of the lights

with the steering direction of the vehicle.

High beam of vehicles poses a great danger during driving, this causes uncomfortable to the

person travelling in the opposite direction. He experiences a sudden blaze for a short period of

time. This is caused due to high intensity of headlight beam from the other vehicle coming

towards him in the opposite direction, we expect that person to dim the headlight beam to avoid

3

the blaze. This blaze causes a temporally blindness to a person, resulting in accidents during the

night, so we must reduce the intensity of headlight beam in order to avoid accidents during the

night.

In vehicles, alcohol sensor is suitable for detecting alcohol concentration on breathe. It has a high

sensitivity and fast response time and also it indicates whether the person wearing seat belt or

not.

1.1 Background of the study.

Back in the day when automotive headlights were invented in 1879, they were kerosene oil

burning lanterns. Over the years as technology progressed, we saw electric, halogen and xenon

lights get attached to our cars. In 2008, Audi used LED lights and in 2014 BMW came up with

laser lights.

Automotive headlights have been on road for nearly 135 years but driving at night is still

considered to be dangerous. 51% of fatalities in road accidents occur at night. 30%of people are

destructed by glare in the night. Overall about 300 billion dollars are lost per annum in social and

economic damages from road accidents.

With technology advancements in headlamps, nowadays many companies are focused on adding

adaptive headlights. They help the drivers see better on dark curves or corners. The headlights

adjust on steering wheel movement and vehicle speed to illumination the road ahead. (Aditya

and Eeshan Bashir 2018)

The demand for autonomous vehicles is increasing gradually owing to their enormous potential

benefits. However, several challenges were encountered on roads for example vehicle

localization, are involved in the development of autonomous vehicles. A simple and secure

algorithm for vehicle positioning is proposed herein without massively modifying the existing

transportation infrastructure. For vehicle localization, vehicles on the road are classified into two

categories: host vehicles (HVs) are the ones to estimate other vehicles’ position and forwarding

vehicle (FVs) are the ones that move in front of the HVs. The FV transmits modulated data from

the tail (or back) light, and the camera of the HV receives that signal using optical camera

communication (OCC). In addition, the streetlight (SL) data is considered to ensure the position

accuracy of the HV. Determining the HV position minimizes the relative position variation

4

between the HV and FV. Using photogrammetry the distance between FV or SL and the camera

of the HV is calculate by measuring the occupied image area on the image sensor. Comparing

the change in distance between HV and FV, the position of FVs are determined. The

performance of the proposed technique is analyzed, and the result indicate a significant

improvement in performance. The experimental distance measurement validated the feasibility

of the proposed scheme.

1.2 Problem statement

The traditional vehicle headlamp light system does not provide illumination in right direction

and at precise angle on curvature road, due to these constraints, a need of alternative solution and

advancement in the traditional technology arises which will focus light in all the required sides

of the vehicle during taking a turn.

Motorists face a huge problem due to high beam light which falls directly onto their eyes when

driving at night or during foggy conditions. There is medical effect associated with these

phenomena. This effect includes temporary blindness, glare, fading effect of image and

sometimes causing accident leading to loss of many lives. This effect contributes to a

terminology known as Troxler Effect. Troxler effect is used to describe a kind of temporary

blindness. It is otherwise known as the ‘fading effect’. A study shows that if our eyes are

exposed to a very bright light source of around 10,000 lumens, we experience a glare. This glare

is produced due to over exposure of the rods and cones inside our eye. Even after the source of

glare is removed, an after-image remains in our eye that creates a blind spot. This phenomenon is

called Troxler effect.

1.3 Objective of the study

1.3.1 Main objective

To design and implement an automotive embedded control system for safety

1.3.2 Specific objective

1. To design an automatic headlight conditioning system for automotive.

2. To design an obstacle control and alert system

3. To design an automatic keyless entry system

5

4. To create prototype of an automotive safety and security system which has all above

features together.

1.4 Research questions

1. How to design an automatic headlight conditioning system for automotive

2. How to design an obstacle control and alert system

3. How to design an automatic keyless entry system

4. How to implement the design prototype of an automotive safety and security system

which has all the above features together.

1.5 Significance of the study

1. The study helped in minimizing the effect of blindness and other problems to persons

who drive in the night. It also helped to improve safety on roads as well as providing

comfort for road users thus reducing on the level of accidents developed during night

drives.

2. The study helped to analyze road conditions

3. The study helped to identify situations in which adaptive road illumination system could

enhance visibility and there by substantially improve safety.

4. The study ensured comfort for road users.

1.6 Scope of the study

The study was intended to come up with an embedded automotive control system that will

prevent on the number of accidents on roads and provide or assure safety while on roads.

1.6.1 Context scope

The whole study focused on designing and implementing an embedded automotive control

system which included an automatic headlight conditioning system, design an obstacle control

and alert system, design an automatic keyless entry system, create prototype of an automotive

safety and security system which have all above features together.

6

1.6.2 Geographical scope

The geographical scope of the study was concentrated along all Uganda roads on which people

drive each day.

1.6.3 Time scope

This study covered only a few months that’s is from May to August.

7

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

Drivers are facing a huge problem due to this high beam light which falls directly onto their eyes

from coming vehicle during driving. There are many medical facts which support their problems

of night driving. When the bright light from the headlight of a vehicle coming from the opposite

direction falls on a person, it glares him for a certain amount of time. This causes disorientation

to that driver. This will create discomfort to driver which results in closing of driver eyes for

certain interval of time. This fraction of distraction is the prime cause of many road accidents. In

the medical world, Due to the bright light falls onto the eyes of driver, it creates temporary

blindness for the driver known as Troxler effect. It is also known as the ‘fading effect’. A study

shows that if our eyes are exposed to a very bright light source of around 10,000 lumens, we

experience a glare. This glare is produced due to over exposure and cones inside our eye. Even

after the source of glare is removed, an after-image remains in our eye that creates a blind spot.

This phenomenon is called Troxler effect. There are many accidents caused due to Troxler effect.

This is more than enough to cause a disaster on the road. This Troxler effect is across all ages.

Any one exposed to sudden bright light experiences this Troxler effect. Murlikrishnan (Feb-

2014) worked on Headlights of vehicles pose a great danger during night driving. The drivers of

most vehicles use high, bright beam while driving at night. This causes a discomfort to the

person travelling from the opposite direction. He experiences a sudden glare for a short period of

time. This is caused due to the high intense headlight beam from the other vehicle coming

towards him from the opposite direction. He was expected to dim the headlight to avoid this

glare. The system of headlight control automatically switches the high beam into low beam thus

reducing the glare effect by sensing the approaching vehicle. The construction, working and the

advantages of this prototype model is discussed in detail in this paper Sushil Kumar Choudhary

et.al. In their research observed the headlamp glare is an issue that has grown in terms of public

awareness over the past decade. High beam of headlight of an on-coming car has blinding effect

and decreases visibility during night driving dangerously. The drivers of most vehicles use high,

bright beam while driving at night. These researchers expected that the dim headlight avoid this

glare. This glare causes a temporary blindness to a person resulting in road accidents during the

8

night. This model concept eliminates the requirement of manual switch by the driver which is not

done at all time. This concept is very useful in the automobile field applications (Mr. Sandip S.

Jadhav, (2017)). In order to enhance night time driving safety, this paper work aims to project

the headlamp lights at required position of road in accordance with steering action. A proposed

system for automatic headlamp position control system consist of potentiometer as sensing unit,

MCS 51 microcontroller as control unit and three headlamps as actuation unit. (Prof. Pratik

Ashok Patil, march 2017). According to road accident surveys, majority of the accidents occur in

dark. Visibility in dark is significant issue for safe driving. Therefore careless drivers continue

using a high beam even though approaching vehicle is observed. These high beams create glare

for approaching drivers which then causes temporary blindness. To solve this problem, nighttime

vehicle detection has a great importance. This paper reviews various attempts made to solve the

problem, need of study, currently implemented relevant systems and related work, different

approaches to solve problem and various applications. (Pushkar Sevekar Student, January 2017).

When these headlights shine brightly, they cause a temporary blindness to a person, resulting in

road accident during night. To avoid such incidents, we are designing a prototype of automatic

headlight intensity control system. The obstacle alerting system helps the driver parking the

vehicle during day and night time without colliding the vehicle with obstacles. (M.M, June-

2016). This generation vehicle required advanced technology for controlling vehicle to provide

safety and as they will able to reduce the amount of wiring harness inside a vehicle. By avoiding

the usage of wires in the vehicle, vehicle weight will reduce, then engine performance, fuel

economy, and reliability will improve (S. K Javeed, 2017). Headlights aren’t the most

complicated tech, even in newer cars with fancy systems like adaptive headlights, but there are a

handful of different points of failure that could result RPTin the situation that it describing. The

easiest way to keep the battery from dying is to straight up disconnect it. If it never done that

before, then it’ll just want to make sure that it disconnect the negative cable (typically black)

instead of the positive cable (typically red) to avoid even the possibility of a short circuit. Once

the battery is disconnected, the headlights will turn off, and the battery won’t die. The other way

to shut the headlights off is to remove the appropriate fuse or relay. (Dr. S Senthil Kumar, Jan-

Feb 2018). During night time when two vehicles approach each other in opposite directions, the

high intensity of the head light creates an effect called “Troxler Effect” .This effect creates a

temporary blindness for few seconds which eventually leads to tragic accidents. Thus the beam

9

intensity has to be varied for the safety purposes. This system will sense the light intensity of the

ambience and thereby helps in altering the intensity of the vehicle on which it is mounted. (I. Abi

preethi, Oct -2016). Specifically, we aim to automatically control its beam state (high beam or

low beam) during a night-time drive based on the detection of oncoming/overtaking/leading

traffics as well as urban areas from the videos captured by the camera. A three-level decision

framework is proposed which includes various types of image and video content analysis, an

SVM-based learning mechanism and a frame-level decision making mechanism. Both video and

context information have been exploited to accomplish the task. (Pankanti, November 5, 2009,)

2.1 Theoretical framework

This invention relates to vehicle headlamp systems and in particular to a system for

automatically controlling the switching of the headlamps between the low beam and high beam

settings. Improved automotive control systems have freed drivers from performing a number of

tasks that formerly required manual operations. Such systems relieve drivers from the

distractions of these auxiliary systems and often results in improved concentration as well as

reduced driver fatigue. One such system which has seen limited use is an automatic headlamp

dimmer system for controlling the headlamps of a vehicle. In particular, an automatic headlamp

dimmer system is designed to automatically dim the headlamps (switch from high beam to low

beam) in the presence of lights from other vehicles. Since a vehicle's headlamps should be

dimmed for both on-coming traffic as well as traffic being approached from behind, it is

necessary for an automatic headlamp dimmer system to accurately sense both the presence of

another vehicle's headlamps or tail lamps. While numerous automatic headlamp dimmer control

systems have been developed, in general, these systems have had serious drawbacks due to poor

performance, complexity or cost.

These shortcomings, particularly in the area of performance, have been directly responsible for

the limited use of automatic headlamp dimmer systems to date. Since these systems must sense

light from headlamps as well as tail lamps from other vehicles, a key performance requirement is

the system's capability to distinguish this light from extraneous in-coming light. Examples of

such unwanted light include reflections from road signs, light from street lamps, or light from

vehicles on other roadways. The problem of avoiding false responses to extraneous light signals

10

is especially troublesome when it is considered that the intensity of these extraneous light signals

can be many times greater than the intensity of the light signal from a tail lamp. As a result, some

prior art systems simply do not attempt to detect valid tail lamp signals, but rather are designed

to respond only to the light from on-coming headlamps which, of course, presents a much

stronger signal. Other systems with sufficient sensitivity to detect the light from tail lamps are

susceptible to false triggering which degrades performance and leads to a lack of driver

confidence in the system. As a result, users frequently disable the systems entirely and revert to

manual control.

Spurious responses in automatic headlamp dimmer systems are also encountered in the presence

of overhead flashing lights. Such flashing may be produced, for instance, by blinking overhead

traffic lights, or by blinking construction lights or arrows. These flashes, when detected by

conventional automatic headlamp dimmer sensors, can cause the system to undesirably cycle

between high and low beams in synchronization with the flashing light. A similar situation is

also encountered when windshield wipers are operated if the light sensor for the automatic

headlamp dimmer system is positioned behind the windshield within the sweep of the wipers.

Such placement is desirable because the sensor is not exposed to exterior debris, and further

because the sensor's view is likely to be as unobstructed and clear as the driver's view. However,

when the windshield wipers are operated, the sensor's field of view is periodically occluded by

the wiper blade. This may cause the headlamp dimmer system (when in the low beam mode) to

cycle to the high beam mode while the wiper is obstructing the view, and conversely to return

back to the low beam mode when the wiper is not obstructing the sensor's field of view.

Obviously, cycling of the automatic headlamp dimmer in response to flashing lights and

windshield wiper activity is highly annoying and contributes to the low usage of such systems. It

is accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved automatic

headlamp dimmer system that is responsive to both the headlamps and tail lamps of other

vehicles, and yet is able to reliably distinguish between valid light signals and extraneous light

signals. It is another primary object of the present invention to provide an improved automatic

headlamp dimmer system that is able to disregard blinking lights from stop lights and the like

and thereby avoid spurious activation of the headlamp dimmer in response thereto. It is also an

object of the present invention to provide an automatic headlamp dimmer system which has its

11

light sensor mounted behind the windshield, with the sweep of the windshield wipers in its

optical field of view, and yet which is non-responsive to the operation of the windshield wipers.

Generally, these objects are accomplished by providing a system that is sensitive to light only in

the near infrared region, and which excludes other wavelengths including light in the visible

region. More particularly, it has been determined that light from headlamps and tail lamps

contains a significant amount of signal information in the infrared region. On the other hand,

light from extraneous light sources such as street lamps, reflections from road signs, etc.,

predominate in the visible region and contain very little signal information in the infrared band.

Accordingly, by responding only to light in the near infrared region, the signal to noise ratio of

the present system is greatly enhanced, thereby enabling the system to accurately recognize a tail

lamp signal in the presence of extraneous light signals several orders of magnitude greater in

intensity.

Additionally, the automatic headlamp dimmer, according to the present invention, is able to

detect the presence of a spurious periodically varying light signal and temporarily disable its

switching capabilities to effectively ignore the spurious signal. In one embodiment of the present

invention, the automatic headlamp dimmer system is provided with the capability of determining

if periodic variations in the input light signal are characteristic of variations expected by

operation of the vehicle's windshield wipers. If the received signal exhibits a predefined

repetitive pattern, the system will respond by not allowing switching from low beam to high

beam to occur during the time that the wipers block the field of view of the sensor. Benefits and

advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this

invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the

appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

2.2 Conceptual framework

Vehicle and passenger safety has prime importance in automobile manufacturing. An accident

occurs during night time and many of them are due to intense focus of headlight beam or due to

poor atmospheric conditions. By keeping this point on focus it is needed to develop headlight

system which will automatically adjust light intensity in poor or intense light conditions during

night. Also headlight system should automatically start during poor weather conditions like

12

excessive moisture. Current work is focused on vehicle safety by using multi featured automatic

headlight system.

The existing conventional light system does not provide illumination in the right direction and at

the precise angle. The objective of this paper is to design and build an Adaptive Front Light

Control System Prototype. The literature concludes that, the headlamp swings in horizontal

direction by sensing steering angle and vertical by sensing distance between subject vehicle and

next vehicle. According researcher, in most cases, the late recognition of objects in the traffic

zone plays a key role. In order to provide enhanced nighttime safety measures, the researcher

aims to design and build a prototype of steerable headlights by adapting a conventional static

headlamp.

Another referenced literature presents the automatic headlight switching system switches the

high beam lamp to low beam as soon as it senses a vehicle approaching from the opposite

direction and switches it back to high beam when the cars pass each other. The design minimizes

accidents occurring at night time as a result, the glare helps to controls headlamp automatically

for the automobile. The research even aims to improve visibility for driver and to achieve a

significant increase in safety and driving safety. This flexible front light of automobiles is to

illuminate road ahead in the night at corner. AFS (adaptive front-lighting system) is used to

detect information about corner in advance with help of sensor which detects the information

sends relative information to motor. Accordingly motor adjust headlamps to get the lighting

beam which is suitable for the corner. A smart solution to automated headlamp presents the

hardware of movable headlight system for vehicles. The headlamp orientation control system

rotates the right and left headlights independently and keeps the beam parallel to the curved

roads to provide better visibility to driver at night time. In this system use of rack and pinion

arrangement gives to the optical axes on which headlight are mounted so tie rod arms are moved

with steering arm that give predefined motion to the wheel as well as headlights.

13

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter indicates the methodology in terms of materials and methods that was used in this

system design in details including the design, system testing.

3.1 Research design

The research was based on the existing literature to achieve the objectives of the research project

3.2 Setting and participants

The research was geographically conducted in Kampala Uganda especially around places of

Kansanga and Kabalagala where traffic increases mostly during night times and since people

involved in these places tend to drive carelessly and don’t mind whether their locks are locked

properly, like drinking while driving and careless on how much light they approach while

driving in the night.

3.3 Data processing and analysis

This aimed at extracting the requirements from all the collected data and to give it meaning for

designing the system utilizing both the qualitative and quantitative analysis techniques. The data

collected was analyzed basing on the objectives of the study. Data was analyzed or studied for

consistency basing on the concepts of the literature review and interpreted to provide

requirements for embedded automotive control system.

3.4 Development of the Project Design.

Under the development process, the following hardware and software components were used and

the process explained below which aimed to the intended objectives.

3.4.1 Hardware specification

Transformer

A transformer is a passive electrical that transforms electrical energy between two or more

circuits. A varying current in one coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux,

14

which in turn, induces a varying electromotive force across a secondary coil wound around the

same core.

In the study, a 12V transformer was used to supply the required amounts of voltages to the

system.

LED

LED is a semiconductor device made of silicon that emits photons as a byproduct when current

passes through it. LEDs are based on semiconductor diode, when diode is forward biased

(switched on), electrons recombine with the holes and energy is released in the form of light.

FIGURE 1: LIGHT EMITTING DIODE

A LED was used to bring out the properties of a headlamp where it dims whenever high beam

approaches it and remains with the same intensity incase the approaching beam is less. This

helped to bring out the real concept of headlamps in two approaching cars driving along side

during night times.

Microcontroller

The Atmel 8-bit AVR RISC-based microcontroller combines 32 KB ISP flash memory with

read-while-write capabilities, 1 KB EEPROM, 2 KB SRAM, 23 general purpose I/O lines, 32

general purpose working registers, three flexible timer/counters with compare modes, internal

and external interrupts, serial programmable USART, a byte-oriented 2-wire serial interface, SPI

serial port, 6-channel 10-bit A/D converter (8-channels in TQFP and QFN/MLF packages),

programmable watchdog timer with internal oscillator, and five software selectable power saving

modes. The device operates between 1.8-5.5 volts. The device achieves throughputs approaching

1 MIPS per MHz. The choice of this type of microcontroller is influenced by the number of ports

and internal memory that the component poses, enough ports to connect all of the components of

15

the project and the enough memory for buffering and store fingerprints scan samples for

simulation purposes.

FIGURE 2: MICROCONTROLLER (ATMEGA328P)

LCD display

The liquid crystal display is an electronic device attached to a microcontroller to interact with the

outside world using input and output devices that communicate directly with human being.

Common LCDs connected to the microcontroller are: 16×2 Display (16 characters per line by 2

lines) and 20×2 (20 characters per line by 2 lines).

LCD has a very popular standard that allows us to communicate with the vast majority of LCDs

regardless of their manufacturers called the HD44780U. This HD44780U standard refers to a

controller chip which receives data from the external source (in this case, 8051) and

communicates directly with LCD. [16]

FIGURE 3: LCD DISPLAY

16

Resistors

A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical

resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow,

adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines,

among other uses. High power resistors that can dissipate many watts of electrical power as

heat, may be used as part of motor controls, in power distribution system, or as test loads for

generators. Fixed resistors have resistance that only change slightly with temperature, time or

operating voltages. Variable resistors can be used to adjust circuit elements (such as a

volume control or a lamp dimmer). Or as sensing devices for heat, light, humidity, force, or

chemical activity.

LDR

Light-dependent resistor alternatively called an LDR, photo resistor, photoconductor, or

photocell, is a variable resistor whose value decreases with increasing incident light intensity. An

LDR is made of a high-resistance semiconductor. If light falling on the device is of high enough

frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor give bound electrons enough energy to jump

into the conduction band. The resulting free electron (and its hole partner) conduct electricity,

thereby lowering resistance.

.

FIGURE 4: LİGHT DEPENDENT RESİSTOR

A photoelectric device can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. In intrinsic devices, the only available

electrons are in the

17

valence band, and hence the photon must have enough energy to excite the electron across the

entire band gap. Extrinsic devices have impurities added, which have a ground state energy

closer to the conduction band - since the electrons don't have as far to jump, lower energy

photons (i.e. longer wavelengths and lower frequencies) are sufficient to trigger the device.

When light shines onto the LDR its resistance falls and current flows into the base of the first

transistor and then the second transistor. When the light level is low the resistance of the LDR is

high. This prevents current from flowing to the base of the transistors. Consequently the LED

does not light.

Proximity sensor

A proximity sensor is a sensor able to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical

contact. A proximity sensor often emits an electromagnetic field or beam of electromagnetic

radiation (infrared, for instance), and looks for changes in the field or return signal. The object

being sensed is often referred to as the proximity sensor’s target. Different proximity sensors

targets demand different sensors. For example, a capacitive proximity sensor or photoelectric

sensor might be suitable for a plastic target; an inductive proximity sensor always requires a

metal target.

Proximity sensors can have a high reliability and long functional life because of the absence of

mechanical parts and lack of physical contact between the sensor and the sensed object.

Proximity sensors are always used in machine vibration monitoring to measure the variation in

distance between a shaft and its support bearing. This is common in large steam turbines,

compressors, and motors that use sleeve-type bearing.

In the study, the sensor was used to provide a message to the system that there is a car

approached then the LDR receives the message ready to prepare the LED do its work.

18

3.4.2 Block diagram

Vehicle on the road

Beam reduce to low

intensity

Switching circuit

Sensor sensing the

high beam

Approaching vehicle

reduces to a low beam

Approaching vehicle

with high beam

Signal conditioning

Signal conditioning

Wireless

transmitter and

receiver

19

3.4.3 Circuit diagram

FIGURE 5: CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

Basic embedded automotive control systems work through sensors which detect how much light

is there outside, how proper obstacles are set and how automatic the system can be. These

sensors are located on the dash of the vehicle mostly. The headlights turn on when the sensors

detect a certain level of darkness (darkness means the level of light).When light fall on the LDR

depending on the intensity of its current flows through it. If the intensity is low, there is more

resistance to the flow of current and when it is high resistance is low hence more current passes

through it. Depending upon the values given by the sensor i.e. LDR used the program for

Arduino, if the condition in the program is satisfied by the program then output is given in the

form of LED. Consider a situation when there is dark and vehicle is moving along round and

crosses the vehicle from opposite side. LDR gives analogy signal when light from opposite

vehicle solved incident on it and LED to switching on the lights. So main purpose was to avoid

glaring at night which is caused due to not using deeper will be by this automatic head light

system. Which is helpful to avoid accident. In this prototype multi-featured embedded

automotive control system was created in this following cases,

Case 1- Introduced an automatic switch on and off of headlamp while driving.

20

Case 2- Conversion of bright light to dim light according to light intensity of vehicles coming

from opposite direction.

Case 3- Used proximity sensor for detection of approaching vehicle, bright light get turning on

automatically according to light intensity.

Case 4- Obstacle alert system that prevents headlamp from operating automatically.

3.5 Working principle

The LDR acts as a variable resistor. Therefore, the LDR and the two resistors form a potential

divider network which will decide the current in the circuit. Thus, this balanced network gives a

trigger to the gate/base of the transistor. The design of this particular circuit gets a trigger if there

is a voltage imbalance in the circuit due to change in resistance of the LDR from the light source.

The source required for the operation is 12 V DC supply and the DC source is then taken from

battery. However, in real-time application, this can be substituted from the car’s own battery

pack. The headlights, LDR and transistor are all connected to the same DC supply.

3.6 Procedure

During a night drive, the head lamp will not switch on automatically if the door is open or not

closed properly. If the door is closed ensuring safety of the driver for a safe drive, the headlamp

will be automatically turned on. As a vehicle is moving and approaching another vehicle from

opposite direction, the LDR will sense the light intensity of the approaching vehicle. If the

intensity of the approaching vehicle is high, then the light or beam of the headlamp will reduce

and increase or goes back to normal after the two vehicles by passing each other, and if when

intensity of the light of the approaching car is low, then the beam of the headlamp will remain

the same.

This project works on the light intensity of the vehicle coming from opposite direction and

control of all obstacles that may prevent the system from operating. Basically adjusting the

vehicle intensity as well as lowering the intensity i.e. dimming and brightening of headlight

system and its control is done automatically.

Automatic headlamps are a modern convenience in many of today's cars. They eliminate the

need for the driver to manually switch on or off the headlamps in most driving situations. The

names of the automatic headlamp option differ between car manufacturers, but they perform the

21

same service for the driver. Their secondary features set one automatic headlamp option apart

from the others. The automatic headlamps are activated through a photoelectric sensor which is

embedded into the instrument panel.

3.7 Flow chart

No

Yes

No

Yes

FIGURE 6: FLOW CHART

REDUCE BEAM

BEAM REMAINS

THE SAME

PROXIMITY

SENSOR

Enter car

Buzzer alert

HEAD LAMP ON

END

Is door

closed?

Start

Is beam

high

22

3.8 Summary

The prototype that has been designed, reduces accident problems of much glare to driver’s eyes

by actually dimming down the bright headlight of our vehicle to low beam automatically when it

senses a vehicle at close proximity approaching from the other direction.

Another feature of the system is automatic obstacle alert. When there is any obstacle that

prevents the headlamp from operating, an alert system will be activated. Many difficulties are

faced during driving vehicle. In this case, the problems that are being caused by drivers during

night drives has been reduced.

23

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS

4.0 Results of finding

The circuit had been designed to be a working model operating automatically. When a vehicle is

not encountered by an opposite vehicle, it can travel with high beam. Once it encounters an

opposite vehicle, each of the two vehicles senses the opposite vehicle’s light. Thus if either of the

vehicles are using high beam, it switches to low beam. If the headlight is already in low beam,

then no change occurs. As the vehicles cross each other, the intensity of light falling on the

sensor decreases and the headlights switch back to their original mode. But all this will not

happen if there is an obstacle that is not allowing the system of headlight control to operate. For

example, in this design, an obstacle where the door is not closed properly will not allow the

headlight control system to start, it’s only when the door is closed properly that the headlight

control system will start operating as programmed. The question of other sources of light around

the road like sign boards, street lights and buildings was considered. But as LDR was used as the

source and the placement of the device was highly directional, it was not affected by any other

light sources which might be present in the vicinity. Moreover, the light from the vehicle’s

headlamp is always of a distinct nature. The maximum spread angle of the headlight is always

135˚. The other sources are located far away from the road and hence their spread angle would

be very high. Hence by the time the spread light from other sources reach the sensor its intensity

will be very much reduced below the triggering threshold level. The sensitivity of a proximity

sensor was considered to be the relationship between the light falling on the device and the

resulting output signal.

24

4.1 System design

FIGURE 7: SYSTEM DESIGN

25

CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 Conclusion

Glare during driving is a serious problem for drivers and therefore caused by the sudden

exposure of our eyes to a very bright light of the headlights of vehicles. This causes a temporary

blindness called the Troxler effect. Eventually this has become the major reason for accidents

occurring at night and also during bad conditions such as rainy and foggy conditions. The driver

should turn down the bright lights immediately to avoid glare to the other person, however they

find it difficult to do. Hence, the idea for the design and development of a prototype circuit

called the embedded automotive control system. It enables the driver to use high beam light

when required and also automatically switches the headlight to low beam when it senses a

vehicle approaching from the opposite side with the same beam. Thus, the implementation of this

device in every vehicle does not only avoid accidents but also provide a safe and a comfortable

driving. A server module could be included to this system for receiving and storing headlight

rays parameters information in a database application.

5.2 Recommendation

The light intensity parameter should be within the human vision comfort zone so as to avoid

blind spot to the driver at night and to be less prone to accidents usually occurring due to excess

glare of headlamps. If such methods are implemented by manufacturers, the device will

automatically switch to low beam from high beam as per the headlight intensity of approaching

vehicle.

The following criteria must be considered when placing the device in a real vehicle:

1. It should be kept at a safe place, protected from external environment like rain, and dust.

2. The placement of this circuit should be in line with the eye of the driver, so that it responds

exactly in the same way how a driver would react to the bright light.

3. The circuit should have a constant supply whenever the headlights are turned ON.

4. It should be compact and easy to install

26

5.3 Discussion and future study

The use to headlights on automobiles has involved a compromise between providing enough

light for drivers to see the road ahead and avoiding the excessive light that produces glare. This

system eliminates human error from the scenario, which in turn allows the driver to focus on

safely navigating the road instead of manually adjusting headlight settings. Technology has

brought changes to headlight, interior surfaces, and the highway environment that directly reduce

glare or indirectly reduce the effect of glare on the driver. In future the concept of this project

will be used in auto vehicles and no doubt it will be of great and universally adopted.

27

REFERENCES

1. Dr. S Senthil Kumar, S. K. (Jan-Feb 2018). Automatic Headlight Control with Central

Locking System. International Journal of Trend in Scientific, Volume - 2 | Issue – 2.

2. I. Abi preethi, P. M. (Oct -2016). EMBEDDED PROTOTYPE FOR AUTOMATIC

HEADLIGHT INTENSITY CONTROL. International Research Journal of Engineering and

Technology (IRJET), 1100.

3. M.M, K. (June-2016). Automated headlight intensity control and obstacle alerting system.

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), Volume: 03 Issue:

06.

4. Pankanti, Y. L. (November 5, 2009,). Intelligent Headlight Control Using Camera Sensors.

IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, NY.

5. Prof. Pratik Ashok Patil, S. S. (March 2017). Automatic Headlamp Illumination Control.

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Vol. 6, Issue 3.

6. Prof. Pratik Ashok Patil, S. S. (March 2017). Automatic Headlamp Illumination Control.

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science,, Vol. 6, Issue 3.

7. Pushkar Sevekar Student, D. o. (January 2017). Night-time Vehicle Detection for Automatic

Headlight Beam Control. International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887),

Volume 157 – No 7.

8. S. K Javeed, B. .. (2017). Automated Safety Control Blind Zone Alert System. International

Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology., 303.

9. Mr. Sandip S. Jadhav, P. A. ((2017)). A Multi Featured Automatic Head Light Systems

Prototype for Automotive Safety. International Journal of Engineering Research and

Technology, 777.

10. Arpita K, Akhila M Jain and Avi Kumae R, (2018), International Journal of Engineering

Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181 Published by, www.ijert.org NCESC -

2018 Conference Proceedings

28

11. Okrah. S.K, Williams. And Kumassah. F, E.A (2016), International Journal of Emerging

Technology and Innovative Engineering Volume 2, Issue 4, April 2016 (ISSN: 2394 –

6598).

12. R. Kanai, Y. Kamitani and U. Utrecht, Time-locked Perceptual Fading Induced by Visual

Transients, unpublished.

13. http://automotivelectronics.com/adaptive-headlights-in-cars/

29

APPENDICES

CODING FOR FUTURE PURPOSES

#include <SPI.h>

#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

#define RST_PIN 9;

#define SS_PIN 10;

int ledpin = 9;

int ldrpin = 1

int value = 0;

int proximitySensor;

boolean doorOpened = false;

// Create instances

MFRC522 mfrc522(SS_PIN, RST_PIN);

LiquidCrystal lcd(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

void setup() {

Serial.begin(9600)

30

// Initiating

SPI.begin()

lcd.begin(16, 2)

}

void loop() {

value = analogRead(ldrpin);

value = constrain(value,400,500);

value = map(value,400,500,255,30);

Serial.println(value)

analogWrite(ledpin, value)

delay(100);

int proximitySensor = analogRead(A0);

if (proximitySensor < 200) {

return

value = analogRead(ldrpin);

value = constrain(value,400,500);

31

value = map(value,400,500,255,30);

}

// If door is open...

else {

Serial.println(value)

analogWrite(ledpin, value)

lcd.clear()

lcd.setCursor(0, 0);

lcd.print(" Driver");

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);

lcd.print(" Door is Open ");

while ("") {

proximitySensor = analogRead(A0);

if (proximitySensor < 200) {

doorOpened = true;

}

}

doorOpened = false;

delay(100)

myServo.write(10);

printNormalModeMessage();

}

else () {

proximitySensor = analogRead(A0);

if (proximitySensor < 200) {

doorOpened = true;

}

32

void printNormalModeMessage() {

delay(100);

lcd.clear();

lcd.print(" Driver");

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);

lcd.print(" Door is Closed");

}