Sensing Solutions for Child Presence Detection
Radio-based life-saving technology to sense occupants
Awareness around the importance of not activating airbags for seats occupied by children in child seats has significantly increased since the 1990s, resulting in hundreds of children’s lives being saved.
What is not so well known is that 836 children since 1990 have died from vehicular heatstroke in the United States alone. This issue is not specific to the U.S. – cases have also been documented in several other countries.
Sadly, this is a situation that could happen to anyone.
All it takes is a change in the daily routine distracting the parent or caregiver - particularly when the child is ‘out of sight’ on the rear seat of the car, there is a misunderstanding between parents about who will take the child out of the car, or if a child climbs into an unlocked car.
The interior temperature of a vehicle can reach a critical level in 15 - 20 minutes and, as children are affected by heatstroke faster than adults, the results can be deadly.
VitaSense is a system that detects children left in vehicles and provides this information to the vehicle’s warning systems. It detects occupants, including new-borns, based on their movements or breathing – even when they are sleeping.
Using low-power radio frequency (RF) technology, VitaSense transmits a signal that is then reflected by occupants or objects. As, due to their movement, occupants modify these reflected signals differently, the system is able to discriminate between them and inanimate objects.