Smart Eye Pro

Smart Eye Pro is a head and eye tracking system designed for use in the vehicle’s cabin. Thanks to its versatility, it can be used in measurements conducted for the majority research projects. The system provides information on head position and viewing direction in three-dimensional (3D) space. The advantage of the device is personalization – tracking is done using the personal profile of the examined person. The profile can be created automatically, without operator intervention, semi-automatically or manually. Smart Eye Pro works with an advanced passenger car driving simulator, owned by the Motor Transport Institute. In addition, the device is remote, which allows it to be implemented in a real vehicle during field tests.

Smart Eye Pro tracks head movement and direction of sight from a distance of 0.4m – 3.0m from the examined person. Due to this fact, it does not require putting sensors on the research participant, and as a result does not cause discomfort during tests and minimizes the impact of corrective glasses on the results obtained. The range of motion and measurement area depend on the choice of lens, camera locations and the number of illuminators. For a wide field of view, the system is scalable from 2 to 8 cameras, enabling 360-degree head and eye tracking. The wide arrangement of optical sensors both horizontally and vertically allows to support even the most complex applications. 

Smart Eye Pro, owned by the Laboratory of Transport Psychology and Driving Simulators ITS, consists of the following hardware components:

  • a computer with a software system that manages the operation of the other elements of the set,
  • 3 VGA 60 Hz cameras (expandable), connected via a Gigabit Ethernet interface, designed for observation of the examined person in the infrared,
  • 2 infrared illuminators (expandable),
  • contextual camera, allowing to show and record the preview of the situation and gaze direction,
  • Exponator-7 device, used for synchronizing cameras and triggering infrared illuminators,
  • Gigabit Ethernet switch,
  • calibration checkerboard, used for automatic precise detection of camera positions during the calibration process,
  • device for measuring the position of real world objects in virtual space, which allows an automatic description of the objects that the examined person looks at.

The Smart Eye Pro application is used to configure the system and control tracking and measurements. The device collects output for the head and both eyes. A total of about 140 variables, including eye tracking, head tracking (6 degrees of freedom), eyelid tracking, pupil measurement (pupilometry), blinks, fixations, saccades, etc. In addition, the system provides information on related qualitative measures. The data is collected in real time and can be sent using TCP, UDP or saved as a simple text log file. The software enables initial analysis of input data and their visualization.

Smart Eye Pro is used in simulator tests of motor vehicles, and also allows conducting field tests with the use of real vehicles. The Smart Eye World Model module allows you to build real 3D models of the operating environment to detect the sight focus point of the examined person. Utilizing infrared radiation (IR), Smart Eye Pro is completely insensitive to ambient light, making it applicable in research at all levels of darkness and sunlight. Smart Eye Pro is a device that combines many functionalities, which allows its effective use in various areas of research:

  • traffic behavior and safety,
  • human-machine interface (HMI),
  • UX (User Experience) research,
  • fatigue and distraction studies.