Infrared Radiation based Night Vision Systems in Headlamps 2007-01-0606

In the last time the lighting technology evolution has created a wide variety of headlamps even more powerful and sophisticated able to yield a real benefit to drivers during night time. Despite this fact, to increase driving safety in some special case, drivers still need some additional support that can be provided by driver assistance systems. Headlamp based infrared devices are suitable for this purpose under several points of view. In this paper the development and technology for the first European system in near infrared (NIR) will be presented together with a discussion to technical differences in Far Infrared (FIR) systems. Outlook will be given for future technologies as NIR with Infrared Emitting Devices (IRED) and NIR with IR Lasers. First Results will be presented and the Efficiency as of today and the potential Improvement will be discussed. Integration strategies in Headlamps and comparison to Visible light performance will be given.