Drowsy behavior detection based on driving information

Drowsy behavior is more likely to occur in sleep-deprived drivers. Individuals’ drowsy behavior detection technology should be developed to prevent drowsiness related crashes. Driving information such as acceleration, steering angle and velocity, and physiological signals of drivers such as electroencephalogram (EEG), and eye tracking are adopted in present drowsy behavior detection technologies. However, it is difficult to measure physiological signal, and eye tracking requires complex experiment equipment. As a result, driving information is adopted for drowsy driving detection. In order to achieve this purpose, driving experiment is performed for obtaining driving information through driving simulator. Moreover, this paper investigates effects of using different input parameter combinations, which is consisted of lateral acceleration, longitudinal acceleration, and steering angles with different time window sizes (i.e. 4 s, 10 s, 20 s, 30 s, 60 s), on drowsy driving detection using random forest algorithm. 20 s-size datasets using parameter combination of accelerations in lateral and longitudinal directions, compared to the other combination cases of driving information such as steering angles combined with lateral and longitudinal acceleration, steering angles only, longitudinal acceleration only, and lateral acceleration only, is considered the most effective information for drivers’ drowsy behavior detection. Moreover, comparing to ANN algorithm, RF algorithm performs better on processing complex input data for drowsy behavior detection. The results, which reveal high accuracy 84.8 % on drowsy driving behavior detection, can be applied on condition of operating real vehicles.     

Study on sloshing in cargo tanks including hydroelastic effects

The sloshing problem in cargo tanks is studied through experiments and numerical analysis. The fluid motion is described using a higher-order boundary element method and the structural response by a thin plate theory. It was found that hydraulic jumps are formed when the excitation frequency is close to the resonance frequency in the case of low filling depth. In the case of high filling depth, the flow resonates and hits the top of the tank, thus inducing a large impact pressure. The pressure on the flexible plate shows amplified initial peaks followed by oscillatory components, the frequency of which coincides with the natural frequencies of the plate in water as a result of hydroelastic effects. Received for publication on Nov. 18, 1998; accepted on May 14, 1999     

Comparative measurements on the flow structure of a marine propeller wake between an open free surface and closed surface flows

In order to investigate the effects of a free surface on the wake behind a rotating propeller, experiments were carried out in a circulating water channel for two cases: one with an open free surface and one with a closed free surface covered by a rigid plate. Four hundred instantaneous velocity fields were measured using a two-frame particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique at four different blade phases. These were ensemble-averaged to investigate the time-averaged flow structure in the near-wake region. For a surface ship, the flow behind the propeller is influenced by the hull wake and the free surface. The phase-averaged mean velocity fields show the potential wake and the viscous wake formed by the boundary layers developed on the blade surfaces. The interaction between the bilge vortices and the incoming flow along the ship’s hull deforms the wake structure. Tip vortices are generated periodically, and the slipstream contraction occurs in the near-wake region. The free surface was found to affect the axial velocity component and vortex structure behind the propeller. As the flow goes downstream, the tip and trailing vortices dissipate due to turbulent diffusion and active mixing with adjacent vortices.     

Competition for transhipment containers by major ports in Southeast Asia: slot capacity analysis

Container ports in Southeast Asia accounted for an estimated 30.0% of the world's transhipment traffic in 2004. The share of the region's transhipment trade was forecasted to increase to 32.5% in 2015. The potential offered by this large and expanding market encouraged major container terminal operators located in Port Klang, Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas to compete intensively for this business by attracting major container shipping lines that operated along key east-west sailing routes to hub at their terminals.

This paper analyses the annual slot capacity connected to the three selected ports that was deployed by all the container shipping lines in 1999-2004. The data are computed and categorized based on shipping trade routes. The study aims to shed light on port competition in Southeast Asia for transhipment containers by an in-depth and quantitative analysis.

The analysis finds that competition from Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas had a negative impact on Singapore's transhipment performance. Although Singapore continued to enjoy a dominant position as the premier transhipment hub in the region in terms of market share by both transhipment throughput and annualized slot capacity, the evidence suggested that its hold on the market appeared to be slipping, albeit gradually. Overall, Tanjung Pelepas is expected to pose the strongest challenge to Singapore's transhipment hub ambitions. Managerial implications for the ports are drawn.     

Short‐term travel speed prediction models in car navigation systems

The objective of this study is the development of the short‐term prediction models to predict average spot speeds of the subject location in the short‐term periods of 5, 10 and 15 minutes respectively. In this study, field data were used to see the comparison of the predictability of Regression Analysis, ARIMA, Kalman Filtering and Neural Network models. These field data were collected from image processing detectors at the urban expressway for 17 hours including both peak and non‐peak hours. Most of the results were reliable, but the results of models using Kalman Filtering and Neural Networks are more accurate and realistic than those of the others.     

Analysis of Tire Effect on the Simulation of Vehicle Straight Line Motion

In the dynamic simulation of vehicle straight line motion, a vehicle model usually drifts from its intended straight path even in the case of no external input. This is particularly true when a tire model based on experimental data is used. The purpose of this paper is to provide an enhancement of a basic understanding of a tire/vehicle system behavior in the straight line motion and to identify the effect of the tire on that motion. Through the analysis of a two degrees of freedom vehicle model, tire characteristic which causes a lateral drift in the straight line motion is identified. Then the results are confirmed from vehicle test and the simulations with a more complex full-car model.     

A stability analysis of tandem offloading systems at sea

In this article, we analyze the linear stability of tandem offloading systems in wind, current, and waves. The wind and current forces are evaluated with the help of published experimental data, while the hydrodynamic coefficients and wave drift forces are rigorously estimated by using a three-dimensional singularity distribution method based on potential theory. The bow hawser and mooring lines are described quasistatically by elastic catenary equations. In order to examine the linear static and dynamic stability of the system, the equations for surge, sway, and yaw are linearized. The effect of design parameters such as turret position, mooring stiffness, and hawser length and stiffness on stability is investigated based on linearized model. The stability analysis clarifies the mechanism of the limit cycle for tandem offloading systems, which is known as fishtailing motion. The theoretical results of the shape and amplitude of the limit cycle are found to be in good agreement with those of simulations and experiments.     

Comparison of Dynamic Models of Mr Damper for Hardware in the Loop Simulation of Large-Sized Buses

The present study has focused on the comparison of MR damper dynamic models for the purpose of hardware in the loop simulation. A vehicle dynamic model for large-sized bus and a control logic for MR damper was built. Two typical MR damper models, viz. Bouc-Wen and hyperbolic tangent model have been considered in this study and the advantages and disadvantages of each model on the aspect of HILS system is discussed. We discussed the limitations of each model based on the analysis of the vehicle dynamic simulation. The results showed that the existing models are not suitable for HILS system. We proposed the modified hyperbolic tangent model by adopting low-pass filters. The results from the simulation showed the advantages of the modified model which were validated through HILS system.     

Cooling and Heating Performance Improvement of Enhanced Climate Control Seats

The goal of this research is to investigate the application of low-cost climate control seats (CCSs) using a Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning system (HVAC). CCSs are being vigorously developed because demands on passengers’ thermal comfort are increasing recently. Nevertheless, current CCSs–thermo-electric devices (TED) that have been applied for both heating and cooling systems, have been used in limited luxury cars only. HVAC-type CCSs are proper for effective delivery of conditioned air due to thermal comfort and close proximity to passengers. In this study, experimental results show that HVAC-type CCSs have superior cooling performance and slightly worse heating performance than that of TED-type CCSs. In the case of HVAC-type CCSs, compared to TED-type CCSs, airflow volume was increased approximately 3.7–7.3 m³/h and surface temperature of seats was reduced by about 5 °C. And the maximum cool-down performance of HVAC-type CCSs was similar to the Base (Non HVAC-type CCSs). In addition, in passengers’ subjective evaluation, the HVAC-type CCSs, the former recorded twelve minutes to reach the comfort rate five both in cooling and heating test, meanwhile, TED-type CCSs are nineteen minutes and ten minutes each both in the cooling and heating test.     

Prediction of the maneuverability of a large container ship with twin propellers and twin rudders

The maneuvering characteristics of a large container ship with twin propellers and twin rudders were investigated using the horizontal planar motion mechanism (HPMM) test and computer simulation. A mathematical model for maneuvering motion with four degrees of freedom (DOF) for twin-propeller and twin-rudder systems was developed and included the effects of roll motion. To obtain the roll-coupling hydrodynamic coefficients of a container ship, a four-DOF HPMM system having a roll motion mechanism and a roll moment measurement system was used. At the full load condition, HPMM tests were carried out for two different 12 000-TEU container ship models, one with twin propellers and the other with a single propeller. Using the hydrodynamic coefficients obtained from the tests, computer simulations were carried out. Simulation results for the container ship with twin propellers and twin rudders were compared with the results for the container ship with a single propeller and single rudder.