Dummy helps pedestrian recognition system development

A collaboration between the UK's Transport Research Laboratory (TRL; Wokingham, UK) and innovITS ADVANCE (Nuneaton, UK) has led to the creation of a pedestrian target which will help developers of automotive safety systems test and certify their products in a more accurate and repeatable manner.

“Pedestrian detection systems are already increasingly being incorporated into new vehicles, but the automotive industry is largely lacking in dummy systems providing a realistic representation of human form and gait to the vehicle’s on-board sensor systems,” says innovITS ADVANCE business development manager Steven Warner.

The new TRL-innovITS ADVANCE mobile pedestrian target is based around a free standing dummy that moves under remote control with a programmable range of speed and acceleration settings. The dummy emulates the leg motion associated with a normal walking or running gait and can currently be configured for three body sizes: a 50th percentile adult male and adult female, and a 6 year old child. The unit moves on a low profile base unit which is invisible to vehicle systems.

“By collaborating with innovITS ADVANCE we have been able to create a packaged solution that is likely to be attractive to those researching and developing pedestrian detection technologies. This is likely to range from tier 1 organizations and automakers developing and implementing new systems to highways authorities,” says Richard Cuerden, TRL technical director, vehicle safety.

innovITS is the UK ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Centre for Excellence for Transport Telematics and Technology for Sustainable Mobility. It was set up by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) as a non-profit making organization in 2005.

innovITS ADVANCE is the result of collaboration between innovITS, the automotive design and development organization MIRA (Nuneaton, UK) and TRL.

-- by Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design