Home > Products & Services > Systems & Services > APD > Success Story: Assistware

Systems and Services

Success Story

Assistware Technology
SafeTrac Drowsy Driver Warning System

"BittWare has been a valuable partner, helping us achieve many milestones throughout product development. We are impressed by BittWare's SHARC expertise and commitment to Assistware's success." Todd Jochem AssistWare Technology, Vice President for Technology

The Challenge: Keeping Truck Drivers Awake

Many accidents result each year from drivers falling asleep at the wheel, and with seemingly endless hours on the road, truck drivers are especially at risk. Truck fleets are constantly looking for technologies to improve the safety of truck drivers. AssistWare Technology took on the challenge of finding a way to identify in real time when the driver is drifting off to sleep and to alert them before an accident occurs. Together with BittWare's Application-specific Products Division (APD), they implemented a solution.

The Solution: SafeTRAC

AssistWare developed a sophisticated lane-monitoring system that warns the driver when the vehicle weaves or drifts off the road. The product, SafeTRAC, is a SHARC DSP-based unit that uses a micro video camera to monitor the road using cues such as road lines, signs, and road curvatures to determine whether the driver is staying within the lane. It then gives real-time warning signals if the vehicle strays outside the lane. The original SafeTRAC design functioned well but was not portable and was too expensive. To make the product marketable, AssistWare still needed to satisfy all the design requirements, including performance, small unit size, and low cost. Design specifications demanded that they satisfy all three criteria equally and as quickly as possible to meet market demands. Back to top

The Technology: SHARC® and BittWare

Before approaching BittWare, Inc., AssistWare had ported and tested the algorithm on three competing processors. They chose the Analog Devices SHARC ADSP-21065L DSP based on its 60 MIPS performance, low cost, and ability to handle video data and processing rates. After deciding on the ADSP-21065L, AssistWare still needed to get over the size hurdle; the final board could be no bigger than 2"x 3", and it needed to handle real-time uncompressed video. They approached BittWare's APD because of BittWare's experience in both SHARC technology and video processing on the SHARC. The resulting solution from BittWare cut several months off AssistWare's delivery schedule. BittWare's APD custom designed a two-board set that included an I/O board and a processor board called the Pocket Video Processor (PVP), a low-cost 60 MIPs board that fits in a radar-detector sized box and performs all the processing functions for the application.

The PVP features:

• Analog Devices ADSP-21065L 60 MIPs DSP
• 12 digital I/O line
• 1 MB FLASH memory and 4 MB SDRAM
• NTSC video input
• Real-time clock

The I/O board features:

• Dual RS-232 UART that supports up to 230k Baud
• Eight-character LED display
• I/O connections