Driver Condition Monitoring Device Using a Smartphone with an Ear-clip Sensor

Previous research has indicated that the vast majority of traffic accidents are caused by human error. To reduce the occurrence of such accidents, the authors from Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. have developed a driver monitoring system using a smartphone. Driver signals are detected rapidly and reliably by a mobile heart rate sensor that is worn as an ear clip. Pulse wave sensors are typically sensitive to large driver movements (including arousal efforts), which may degrade their estimation accuracy. Therefore, they sought to improve the estimation accuracy by analyzing signal discontinuities in the frequency and time domains, thereby isolating the noise components in the biological signals.