Design Description
and Storyboards
The Sonopticon Project
Part II: Initial Prototype

Emergency Vehicle
Startup and Collision Avoidance | HUD and Noise Cancellation | Construction and Blind Spot | Shutdown

56K High Bandwidth
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28K Low Bandwidth
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Emergency Vehicle Detected

Detecting the presence of an emergency vehicle (most likely via a GPS network, though this is not part of our project) the HUD displays a semi-transparent map representing the approaching vehicle's position relative to the driver. Since active noise cancellation is engaged, a synthesized, dopplerized siren sounds to give the driver a spatial sense of the vehicle's location should she not attend to the visual information.


Visual Confirmation

The driver turns for visual confirmation of the approaching vehicle. (As if the Sonopticon could err?) Note that the icon representing the emergency vehicle moves relative to its actual position. Also, as the vehicle approaches the siren becomes louder and the radio is correspondingly attenuated by the smart mixer.
Vehicle Passes

As the vehicle passes, the radio volume is brought back up to its previous level. The siren is faded into the distance (remember that, due to the active noise cancellation, the actual siren is never heard). The HUD display will deactivate once the emergency vehicle reaches a safe distance ahead of the driver.
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Comments and Evaluation



Last Modified: 11.11.97
John Tolva