Driver Tracking in Automotive Environment Using Mobile Thermal Camera

The objective of the article is to present investigates the feasibility of driver-state assessment in a real automotive environment using a mobile long-wave infrared (LWIR) thermal camera. Unlike visible-spectrum systems, thermal imaging provides illumination-invariant and temperature-dependent information that is particularly advantageous inside a vehicle, where lighting conditions vary substantially. A handheld microbolometer (UTi260M) was used to record thermal video of a driver during prolonged, monotonous driving with a stabilized cabin temperature. Pixel-wise temperature reconstruction, spatial noise estimation, uniformity analysis, and NETD approximation were applied to evaluate thermal image quality and to quantify thermophysiological changes associated with drowsiness. The thermal recordings revealed characteristic pre-sleep markers, including head droop, reduced neuromuscular correction, elevated and spatially uniform facial temperature, and diminished thermal variability. These patterns correspond to known physiological responses to fatigue, reduced sympathetic activation, and warm cabin exposure. The analysis demonstrates that mobile thermal imaging can reliably capture early indicators of declining vigilance and can support the development of non-contact driver-monitoring systems. The findings further suggest that integrating temperature-driven alerting thresholds into mobile applications may provide an additional preventive mechanism against drowsiness-related accidents.