Driving drowsiness is a major cause of traffic accidents worldwide and has drawn the attention of researchers in recent decades. This paper presents an application for in-vehicle non-intrusive mobile-device-based automatic detection of driver sleep-onset in real time. The proposed application classifies the driving mental fatigue condition by analyzing the electroencephalogram (EEG) and respiration signals of a driver in the time and frequency domains. Our concept is heavily reliant on mobile technology, particularly remote physiological monitoring using Bluetooth. Respiratory events are gathered, and eight-channel EEG readings are captured from the frontal, central, and parietal (Fpz-Cz, Pz-Oz) regions. EEGs are preprocessed with a Butterworth bandpass filter, and features are subsequently extracted from the filtered EEG signals by employing the wavelet-packet-transform (WPT) method to categorize the signals into four frequency bands: α, β, θ, and δ. A mutual information (MI) technique selects the most descriptive features for further classification. The reduction in the number of prominent features improves the sleep-onset classification speed in the support vector machine (SVM) and results in a high sleep-onset recognition rate. Test results reveal that the combined use of the EEG and respiration signals results in 98.6% recognition accuracy. Our proposed application explores the possibility of processing long-term multi-channel signals.

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Sign language is intentionally designed to allow deaf and dumb communities to convey messages and to connect with society. Unfortunately, learning and practicing sign language is not common among society; hence, this study developed a sign language recognition prototype using the Leap Motion Controller (LMC). Many existing studies have proposed methods for incomplete sign language recognition, whereas this study aimed for full American Sign Language (ASL) recognition, which consists of 26 letters and 10 digits. Most of the ASL letters are static (no movement), but certain ASL letters are dynamic (they require certain movements). Thus, this study also aimed to extract features from finger and hand motions to differentiate between the static and dynamic gestures. The experimental results revealed that the sign language recognition rates for the 26 letters using a support vector machine (SVM) and a deep neural network (DNN) are 80.30% and 93.81%, respectively. Meanwhile, the recognition rates for a combination of 26 letters and 10 digits are slightly lower, approximately 72.79% for the SVM and 88.79% for the DNN. As a result, the sign language recognition system has great potential for reducing the gap between deaf and dumb communities and others. The proposed prototype could also serve as an interpreter for the deaf and dumb in everyday life in service sectors, such as at the bank or post office.

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This paper proposes a method for monitoring driver safety levels using a data fusion approach based on several discrete data types: eye features, bio-signal variation, in-vehicle temperature, and vehicle speed. The driver safety monitoring system was developed in practice in the form of an application for an Android-based smartphone device, where measuring safety-related data requires no extra monetary expenditure or equipment. Moreover, the system provides high resolution and flexibility. The safety monitoring process involves the fusion of attributes gathered from different sensors, including video, electrocardiography, photoplethysmography, temperature, and a three-axis accelerometer, that are assigned as input variables to an inference analysis framework. A Fuzzy Bayesian framework is designed to indicate the driver’s capability level and is updated continuously in real-time. The sensory data are transmitted via Bluetooth communication to the smartphone device. A fake incoming call warning service alerts the driver if his or her safety level is suspiciously compromised. Realistic testing of the system demonstrates the practical benefits of multiple features and their fusion in providing a more authentic and effective driver safety monitoring.