Car Industry Will Need to Work on "Smart" Sensors That Can Communicate with Each Other

DUBLIN, Ireland--Research and Markets announces the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report Strategic Analysis of the Opportunities and Implications of Automotive Sensor Fusion to their offering.

This research titled Strategic Analysis of the Opportunities and Implications of Automotive Sensor Fusion provides a detailed technology roadmap and an opportunity analysis of sensor fusion through different driving phases and different applications. In this research, expert analysts thoroughly examine the following markets: sensor fusion in entry/exit, urban driving, motorway driving, reversing, parking and adverse conditions driving phases.

In recent times, there has been a growing potential for the use of sensor fusion in different automotive application domains such as the powertrain, chassis systems, safety systems as well as comfort and convenience features. Sensor fusion improves the robustness and reliability, while enhancing the existing functionalities of different systems in a vehicle. It also creates new functionalities without additional components by utilising the information from existing sensors. Further, data fusion can be used to achieve higher system performance and improved system accuracy. For instance, while existing adaptive front-lighting systems (AFS) can function with information from the steering angle, vehicle speed and height sensors, fusing data from the navigation system can improve the accuracy and performance of the system in diverse driving conditions.

Safety and comfort are the key application areas for sensor fusion. Most vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are leveraging sensor fusion as a means to improve the features of safety and comfort systems such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, occupant protection and body electronics. "In the context of the driving phase concept, sensor fusion is expected to gain maximum priority in driving phases where the driver needs assistance from safety and comfort features to ensure riding comfort, stability and safety," states the analyst. "Thus, motorway driving, night driving, as well as driving in adverse conditions present the maximum opportunity for sensor fusion." Lighting, as well as object and obstacle detection requirements of the driver can be fulfilled considerably with sensor fusion. This is particularly crucial in motorway and night driving due to the difficult driving conditions that such driving present. In the entry/exit phase, comfort features are likely to remain the key focus and accordingly, vehicle access and security will offer immense potential for sensor fusion. In addition, the pre-crash, crash and post-crash scenarios arising due to adverse driving conditions offer significant potential for the utility of active and passive safety systems that incorporate sensor fusion.

Market Participants to Focus on ‘Smart’ Sensors to Facilitate Open Communication

Most sensors in the market are stand-alone sensors that are not open to communicating and distributing data to other vehicle systems. For instance, using information from navigation systems combined with steering angle sensors for adaptive lighting requires several interfaces and data conversions. Moreover, the absence of easy data exchange is a significant restraint that prevents fusion. "The lack of open communication ‘smart’ sensors is likely to be a major setback in the fusion of sensors," explains the analyst. "This is because of the fact that most sensors currently present in the market are not open to communication from one or more systems"

Hence, vehicle manufacturers and associated suppliers will need to work on ‘smart’ sensors that can communicate with each other and distribute information with ease. This is critical since sensor fusion increases the quality, as well as the reliability of the resultant application and improves performance accuracy. Tier I suppliers that have expertise in radar applications are likely to have an edge over new entrants in sensor fusion. Despite the higher costs involved in sensor fusion, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) plan to offset these costs by maximising the usage of sensors in a variety of applications. This will provide suppliers with opportunities to package more features and functions into a single system.