Optalert
Optalert is an Australian business founded by sleep expert Dr Murray Johns[1] who invented a personal safety device for transport workers to detect and prevent drowsy driving.
Fatigue monitoring systems
[edit]Optalert's fatigue monitoring system uses infra-red light to measures a driver’s levels of alertness continuously and objectively in real time. It is the first validated system that provides early warning signs of drowsiness.[2] It includes a pair of glasses connected to a small computer processor in the vehicle. The glasses emit and detect low levels of infrared light to sense movements in the eyes and eyelids.[3] These movements are fed into a computer that measures a driver's drowsiness and sounds an alarm when the movements show the driver is becoming drowsy.
Scientific validation
[edit]Optalert's technology has been scientifically validated by Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) to prove its accuracy and reliability.[4] Universities in Sweden and Professor Charles Czeisler from Harvard Medical School have also published articles validating the technology.[5]
Use
[edit]Optalert supplies transport and mining companies in Asia, Africa, South America and Australia including BHP, Toll, BIS Industries, Oz Minerals, WestNet Energy and Sutherland’s Transport.[6]
Optalert Reports
[edit]The company has launched a service called Optalert Reports. It takes information from an onboard computer connected to a driver’s glasses to create an activity summary and travel log over a period of days or months. It can be used to identify potential risks and plan work schedules based on avoiding risk.[7][unreliable source?]
Awards
[edit]Optalert won an Australian Design Mark in the 2007 Australian Design Award.[6] It was a finalist in the 4th Annual Australian Mining Prospect Awards.[8]
Optalert also received a Bronze in the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA's) International Design Excellence Awards 2007.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "Home". mwjohns.com.
- ^ "Sunglasses detect fatigue". 17 August 2007.
- ^ Hi Tech Glasses Can Read Driver Fatigue The Daily Telegraph [dead link]
- ^ "Mining Technology Australia - Optalert". Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
- ^ [1] [dead link]
- ^ a b "Melbourne sleep expert Murray Johns markets his drowsiness monitor Optalert | The Australian". Archived from the original on 26 November 2010.
- ^ "Optalert - Fatigue Management - Mining Technology". www.mining-technology.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
- ^ Limited tickets for the award dinner Mining Australia [dead link]
- ^ "2007 IDEA Winners: Business & Industrial Products". Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.