This report describes a data acquisition system which has been installed in a standard North American automobile for purposes of research studies into various aspects of driver and vehicle performance in real traffic situations and under various conditions of driver stress. The basic philosophy followed in instrumentation of the vehicle has been that as far as possible, no physical or mental constraints should be imposed upon the driver as a result of the instrumentation. At the present time, the principal effort is being directed toward studies of the problems associated with night-driving tasks -- that is, the ability of the driver to perceive and recognize specific targets under glare conditions imposed by an approaching vehicle which can be fitted with a variety of headlamp configurations, and the associated responses of the driver and the test vehicle. These include measurement of the driver's pulse rate and reaction times during emergency braking. However, the system is open-ended in that the pursuance of any particular line of research is limited only by the time required to develop specialized data acquisition sub-systems (analog and/or digital sensing circuits), the preparation of specialized computer programs, and such system constraints as sampling rates and system accuracies.
Abstract