Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Keywords:
Sensor network, IEEE 1451, Bluetooth, NCAP, STIM, TEDS, plug and play
1.
I
NTRODUCTION
The Bluetooth sensor network that is presented in this paper has been developed for an
automotive environment in order to increase the safety and the passengers comfort and to
monitor their wellness. For this purpose several sensors installed within a car have been
controlled using an IEEE 1451 standard based sensor network.
The sensor network has been implemented within a Medea+ project called Caring Cars,
with satisfactory evaluation.
As a result, some electronic boards have been developed based on the HCS08
microcontroller family, which are provided with Bluetooth capabilities. The firmware of these
devices has been implemented using the APIs and data structures defined in the IEEE 1451.0
standard. In parallel, some software libraries and their respective APIs have been created in
order to control these devices from a Linux based PC.
2.
C
ARING
C
ARS
The main goal of the Caring Cars project was to increase car safety by enabling wellness
applications in an automotive environment.
The main target was in-car safety and wellness to address the huge indirect costs of
transportation in the EU. Reports of the European Environment Agency estimate the indirect
costs of transportation at about 8% of GDP, a substantial part of which is caused by accidents.
Each year an estimated 127 thousand people are killed and about 2.4 million are injured on
roads in Europe.
It was the main goal of this project to address these costs by turning the car into a safer
and better environment.
To achieve it, the project designed an open automotive infrastructure, the basis of which
were formed by a sensor network in cooperation with a car gateway. This sensor network
consists of the sensors already available in vehicles augmented with new sensors. The Car
gateway manages and coordinates in-car devices and establishes a connection with the
external world signalling for enriched information exchange. In this way it will be possible to
improve car safety and thus reduce the costs of transportation.
By adding external communication to the infrastructure envisioned by the project it will
also become possible to use the same infrastructure to support health care applications.
This project had partners from both industry and academia to form a well balanced
consortium that has experience in providing car manufacturers and manufacturing cars
whereas it contained technical expertise on the relevant technical fields. The consortium used
this experience and knowledge to lift car safety to the next level.
