Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

Sony’s Jerome Avenel looks at how advances in imaging technology are helping improve safety. On the 24th March 1999, a Belgian truck transporting flour and margarine through the 11.6km Mont Blanc tunnel caught alight when a cigarette stub entered the engine induction snorkel, lighting the paper air filter. The fire left over 30 dead and many more injured. At the time, the Mont Blanc tunnel disaster was the world’s worst tunnel fire.

Mitsubishi Electric has launched the production model of its direct view narrow pixel pitch (NPP) LED screen. The VS-15NP160 (15-NP) is designed for control rooms and other indoor applications. A new anti-burn feature is said to allow static graphics to be displayed without adversely affecting performance or lifespan. The 15-NP is rated for 100,000 hours of continuous operation, with its anti-burn feature.

EEE Innovations (EEE) and VTT Technical Research Centre (VTT) of Finland have launched a software-based solution that detects black ice which it claims can reduce fuel consumption by 20%. It is available for heavy vehicles but can also be used for private vehicles. The solution aims to detect slippery road conditions in real time and has also been piloted in an EU-level project. Data gathered from the vehicles is refined and sent out to other motorists. The driver guidance system can be installed as a

US-based Johnson Controls’ latest Illustra Flex 3MP mini-dome, bullet and box cameras have P-iris lenses and TrickleStor technology and are said to provide optimal image quality and reliability coupled with Illustra IntelliZip compression technology. The embedded Illustra IntelliZip technology monitors and adjusts system streaming parameters, matching the camera’s field of view activity and automatically adjusting video quality when motion is detected to ensure detail quality is maintained. TrickleStor all

Geographic information system specialist Esri is to collaborate with advanced driver-assistance systems software provider Mobileye in a venture aimed at improving safety for road users in urban environments. This will see Esri’s mapping, analysis and visualisation integrated with Mobileye’s Shield+ product. Shield+ will stream road safety data retrieved from city fleets into Esri’s ArcGIS platform meaning incidents of pedestrians and cyclists being detected in blindspots can be viewed on the Mobileye

Allied Vision has extended its Prosilica GT Large Format camera platform with three new models which incorporate the 12K, 16K and 25K version of ON Semiconductors’ Python sensors with in-pixel Correlated Double Sampling (IP-CDS) global shutter technology. The Prosilica GT5120 uses ON Semi’s Python 26.2 Megapixel, 32.6mm diagonal 25K sensor while the Prosilica GT4096 has the 16.7 Megapixels version (Python 16K) and the Prosilica GT4090 uses the 12.5 Megapixels Python 12K. Contained in a thermal housing to

Sony’s Stephane Clauss looks at the imaging requirements in tunnels. In the event of a fire inside a tunnel, the dispersion of gases and heat is prevented, creating extreme temperatures that have led to many deaths. Following tragic incidents including Mont Blanc, European legislation requires longer tunnels to be fitted with incident and smoke detection systems.

Escort has announced the launch of what it claims to be the first radar and laser detector designed for connected cars (CCs) to alert drivers of the latest ticket threats in real-time. Through built in Wi-Fi, the Escort Max 360c (EM360) updates drivers through the vehicles on board connection. The EM360 connects directly to the CC’s Wi-FI and automatically connects to the real-time ticket-protection network, Escort Live (EL), without needing the smartphone to connect to the detector. It is designed with