Automation of Cars

Hi,

Imagine you control all the systems around just by a simple gesture and the things respond to you as if it was some magic. This could be possible with embedded systems.

The term ‘embedded systems’ is quite a complex one. Simply put, it is a combination of hardware and software that performs the component of a larger system. A few years ago embedded technology existed in stand-alone devices such as vending machines and copiers that did their jobs with little regards for what went on around them. But as technology advance to connect devices to the internet and to each other, the potential of embedded technology has increased. Home appliances, mobile phones, cars, tiny micro chips, avionics etc.., are all using embedded technology. 

As you go about the affair of living, you put your life safe and luxurious with all the available resources .Now days we all are entrenched with computers and almost all depended on them. Devices with intelligence rule the world. Imbibing intelligence to these devices is through a system called “EMBEDDED SYSTEM”. Its applications provide marvelous opportunities for ingenious use of computer technology. Almost all every system introduced into the market is an example of Embedded System. An embedded device finds applications in all segments of industrial and commercial marketplace. Home appliances, mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), cars, tiny microchips and avionics are all using embedded technology.

The current topic “Automation of car” that we are going to present is one of the fine examples of Embedded System.

Is autonomous car a myth or reality?

There are many paradigm shifts taking place due to information explosion and the concept of autonomous vehicle is one shift. The car, which is embedded, can simulate the human driver completely and direct the vehicle on the road. Autonomous vehicle has been the dream of scientists for long. Now their dream has come true as with drastic changes in technical brilliance and developments in different fields with EMBEDDED SYSTEM as pioneer. 

The term embedded system is quite a complex one. Simply it is a combination of hardware and software that forms the component of a larger system; this in turn is programmed to perform a range of dedicated functions usually with a minimal operator intervention. In embedded systems the hardware is normally unique to a given application; computer chips are embedded into the control electronics to manage the products functionality.

Embedded systems are rapidly becoming a catalyst for change in computing data communications, telecommunications, industrial control and entertainment sectors. New innovative applications in these as well as other areas such as home networking and car infotainment will roll out in the near feature. 

Advantages:

The adoptive cruise control ACC technology used in the cars from automobile makers keeps advancing to new levels of safety. In microwave radar unit there is a laser transceiver, fixed Son the front of the car to determine the distance and relative speed of any vehicle in its path, which keeps safe distances from other vehicles on the busy roads. The driver can set the speed of his car and the distance between his and other cars. When traffic slows down vehicle speed is altered using moderate braking to maintain a constant distance between his and other cars.

In advanced systems just in the case the driver over speeds or suddenly falls over and guides the car to a safe halt. And if you have programmed it right, the GPS in the car would take you to your destination .so, right from brakes to automatic traction control to air bags and fuel-air mixture control, the intelligence takes over

A few advanced car prototypes with embedded systems have been tried and tested where even if a smart thief has managed to break in through the car, the car doesn’t start up even if it does the computer I the car would lock the steering wheel and cutoff the fuel injection supply … in the mean time a signal is set to the nearest police station and the owner informing them about the thief.

Some designs now include so-called "pre-safe" systems, which sense possible collisions in advance based on emergency braking, skidding, and sudden evasive maneuvers. They will prepare a car by automatically moving the front seat either backward or forward for the safest distance from the instrument panel, adjusting the seat belt for the correct tension, and even closing the sunroof in case of a potential rollover. The idea is to "cradle" the car's occupants for maximum safety.

Indian efforts in embedded system development:

Our India too entered into the field of embedded systems and had great developments in this field. it got marvelous results in the field of “Telematics” which is a part of technology used in cars. The description about it was discussed

Total telematics experience is what they are looking for simply put telematics is the vehicles capability to communicate with the outside world and or the vehicle operator. It is a combination of telecommunication and computing
Imagine when you are busy negotiating through rush hour traffic, you get a call on your mobile. You know the call is from your office but can’t attend to it. 
“How nice it would have been if somebody would answer your phone call and at the same time guide you systematically through the traffic?”

Mistral software, which was developed in India, has text-to-speech and speech recognition technologies to give the car occupants the ultimate comfort. So whenever there is a call on your mobile. You need not get jump at the very onset of the call. Relax the computer in the cars dashboard would do the job for you. 

GPS navigation guides you through the traffic. The GPS interface in the car pinpoints your exact location on a map. In case the GPS signal cant be received due to high density of tall buildings or other magnetic interface, the ‘dead reckoning ‘ technique, which works for short durations guides you effectively. The system is also loaded with GSM/CDMA protocol standards further modified on the CANBUS standard t give uninterrupted information.

Another device called the array microphone cuts off the surrounding noise and allows the speaker to communicate effectively. The person at the other end hears the voice of the speaker without any outside interference.

To sum up, with the heights of the technology autonomous car is no more a myth. It’s a reality! We would like to present that there must be further developments in this technology to make autonomous car more common all over the world. This can be happened by making the autonomous easy to operate for the user and the designers should concentrate more in producing autonomous cars, which should not cost a lot, they should in the vicinity of customer’s budget. With this type of vehicles there will be great advantages in the coming feature. Due to speed control technique, accident free driving is possible and fuel savage is also made possible by the technique, which will make the car to travel through shortest path. In the near future, autonomous car become more common all over the world. Indian efforts in the embedded technology can assure that these autonomous cars will become cheaper and may evolve with many more advantages. So that we could find ourselves using these autonomous cars in the near feature.

Regards,
Karthik.