A System for Night Video Acquisition and Synchronisation

1. Francesc Dorca Centro Técnico de SEAT A System for Night Video Acquisition and Synchronisation Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

2. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 SCHEDULE • Assessment of frontlighting systems • Classical dynamic test • Drawbacks of the classical method • The idea behind the new tool • How to use the tool • Advantages of the new tool

3. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Assessment of FL Systems During the development of a new headlamp system, the main goals of tests are to guarantee: Fulfilment of all legal prescriptions Good quality Good reliability Performance assessment

4. Assessment of FL Systems • Important headlamp’s performance • factors are: • Overall light flux, Near field lighting, • Light intensity, Lighting on the own track, • Homogeneity, Lighting on the opposite track, • Light colour, Area covered by a selected Isolux line, • Glare avoidance, Scattered light, • Width of the LB, . . . • Range reached by the LB, Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

5. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Assessment of FL Systems Therefore it is nearly impossible to evaluate and summarise the quality level of a lighting system with a single number. Nevertheless it is usually quite simple to compare two light sources and decide which one is better.

6. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Assessment of FL Systems • We want to ensure that the headlamps of a new model are better than: • these of the previous model • (Continuous performance improvement) • the competitor’s headlamps • (Benchmarking)

7. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Assessment of FL Systems • To evaluate the performance of a lighting system, two different tests are needed: • Static evaluation on the light screen • Dynamic evaluation on a test track

8. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Assessment of FL Systems With the growth of AFS systems, dynamic tests become more and more important.

9. Classical dynamic test The cars to be tested are driven in a test track by a group of experts. At the end of each driving cycle, the experts fill a single evaluation form with their impressions. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

10. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Drawbacks of the classical method The evaluation can be strongly subjective, depending on people’s mood.

11. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Drawbacks of the classical method The evaluation forms are the only existing record of the dynamic test.

12. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Drawbacks of the classical method If some specific aspect of the light distribution is criticised, the only way to verify it is to repeat the test.

13. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Drawbacks of the classical method It is nearly impossible to compare two frontlighting systems, if they were not tested on the same day.

14. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 The idea behind the new tool To keep a graphical memory of the dynamic test, the first idea would be to record a video sequence.

15. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 The idea behind the new tool We can not expect that two different drives in the same track were made exactly the same way. If we view two different sequences at the same time, these are not synchronised. We must find a way to synchronise any pair of videos. To synchronise the sequences we could use synchronisation marks at specific points of the test track.

16. How to use the tool Preparing the test Aim the headlamps of the cars Adjust the options of the camera menu Screw the camera on the holder Fix the holder on the windscreen Adjust the pitch, yaw and roll angles Put the synchronisation marks on the test track Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

17. How to use the tool Recording the sequences Record the video sequence during the drive Drive the first test car trying to keep a slow constant speed Prepare next test car . . . Repeat until the last car is driven Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

18. How to use the tool Acquiring the video sequences Start the VideoSync application On the Main Control window, select the icon of the video camera A new Cut window appears Cut the different sequences one-by-one Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

19. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 How to use the tool Annotate the sequences On the main control window, select the glasses icon Input relevant test data (date, time, driver, car model, headlamp…test track name) These data will be integrated into a database of video sequences

20. How to use the tool Synchronise the videos On the Annotation window, select the clock icon Synchronise the sequence using the sync marks on the track * There is a reference sequence for each test track on the DB Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007

21. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 How to use the tool Search, select and view video sequences Search any couple of videos on the database using an SQL-query Select the videos to be viewed among the files retrieved. It is possible to launch the VideoSync directly, selecting the screen icon on the Search window

22. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 How to use the tool View a couple of video sequences You can also select the screen icon on the Main window to launch the SyncPlayer

23. Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007 Advantages of the new tool The new tool brings us following advantages: A video sequence of each test is stored on the PC All test-relevant data are integrated into a database The review of any dynamic test performed is always possible. No matter how old or new a sequence is. The new software tool allows a more objective system evaluation We can view any 2 sequences from the DB recorded at the same test track perfectly synchronised

24. ¡ Thank you for your Attention ! Desarrollo EléctricoSeptiembre 2007