Design and Development of Control Strategy for Adaptive Front-Lighting System Suitable for Indian Road and Traffic Conditions

In year 2015, 17 people were killed every hour by road accidents in India [1]. The occurrence of road accidents is observed to be higher during night, when visibility is at its lowest. The two factors which affect visibility are insufficient illumination and glare caused by the oncoming traffic. The Adaptive Front Lighting System [AFS] is an active safety feature which addresses these problems by employing specific lighting modes for Town, Country, Expressway conditions and automatic switching between Driving Beam and Passing Beam whenever required. Matrix of LEDs or a Projector with an actuator or a combination of both is employed in achieving different Lighting modes. The projector based AFS module is preferred for implementing the AFS control logic for passing beam owing to its economic cost. It is equipped with special actuators for Swivelling and Levelling the Light Source which assist in varying the Light beam’s width and range according to the required road and traffic conditions. The developed AFS - Passing Beam algorithm was interfaced with a Utility Vehicle platform for verifying its functionality under different traffic and road conditions. This paper describes the Control algorithm and Vehicle level EE architecture developed for Adaptive Front Lighting System suitable for Indian vehicle platforms along with the outcome of the field trials at actual.