This document discusses event data recorders (EDRs) and transportation recorders. It provides an overview of how EDRs have evolved from flight data recorders in aviation to now being used in vehicles. The document outlines the types of data recorded by EDRs and their potential uses, including improving vehicle and highway design, providing data for regulations and litigation, and developing a driver behavior database. Current research goals are also mentioned, such as defining criteria to identify high-risk drivers and linking driver performance to EDR data.

1. -- EDR --
Event Data Recorders
Robert C. McElroy, Ph.D.
Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.
WREX 2000
September 27, 2000

2. Pandora’Box -- ???
s
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

3. International Symposium on
Transportation Recorders
•
“Transportation
Recording: 2000 and
Beyond”
• 3-5, 1999
May
•
Arlington, Virginia
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

4. 2000 NTSB
Symposium
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

5. EDR Committee
•
MSVRAC
• Committee
EDR
–
Private Passenger Cars
•
Truck & Bus
Committee
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

6. Transportation Recorders
•
Accurate data protects the public.
•
Accurate data also protects the:
–vehicle designer
–manufacturer
–operator
–regulator
–owners & stockholders of the company.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

7. NTSB Recognized
Transportation Recorders
•
Aviation
•
Railroad
•
Marine
•
Pipeline
•
Highway
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

8. Airline Safety
• Accident Rate
Fatal
per million aircraft
miles flown.
– - 0.012
1960
– - 0.001
1970
– - 0.0002
1998
• fatal incident rate
1998
is 1/16 of the 1960
rate.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

9. Flight Data Recorders
• regulation calling for FDR, 1940
First
•
Rescinded in 1944 due to lack of suitable
recorder
• commercially available FDR 1953
First
• regulation reissued by CAA in 1957
FDR
with July 1, 1958 commencement date.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

10. 1997 FDR Rule Changes
•
Transports with 11 parameter FDR, retrofit
to record 18 to 22 parameters, by 8/2001.
•
Transports manufactured after 10/91,
retrofit to record 34 parameters, by 8/2001.
•
Transports manufactured after 8/2000 -
must record 57 parameters.
•
Transports manufactured after 8/2002 -
must record 88 parameters.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

11. NTSB 3/9/1999
Recommendations
•
1/2003, new aircraft requiring CVR & FDR
be fitted with two combined voice and data
recorders, one near cockpit and one as far
aft as practical.
•
1/2005, retrofit 2-hour solid-state CVR and
10 minute auxiliary power supply.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

12. Rail Data Recorder
•
Onboard and wayside locations
•
Records engineer action & train condition
•
Records rail & environmental condition
•
Remote testing & predictive maintenance
• based & office based tools
Field
•
Integrated office & field alarm reporting
and management system
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

13. Voyage Data Recorder
•
NTSB promoted use of event recorders
since 1970’s.
•
Voyage data recorders provide accident data
and serve as a management tool.
• of world’ in weight, travels by
95% s trade,
sea.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

14. Oil & Gas
Pipeline Data Recorders
•
Large geographical area
•
Wellhead to distribution
•
Nationwide grid
•
Continuous monitoring
•
Environmental
•
Strategic movement
•
Regulatory data
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

15. Transmission System
Components
•
Pipeline
•
Valves
•
Compressors
•
Storage
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

16. Pipeline Data
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

17. NTSB Recognized
Transportation Recorders
•
Aviation
•
Railroad
•
Marine
•
Pipeline
•
Highway
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

18. Early Community Assiatance
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19. A Problem in the System
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20. Highway Accident Investigation
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21. High Risk Groups
• Drivers
Young
•
Commuter Drivers
•
Community Drivers
• Drivers
Older
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

22. Accident Statistics
Collision point of contact
percentages
REAR 20.1%
RIGHT 16.7% LEFT 17.3%
NON COLLISION +
UNKNOWN 0.9%
Does not include rollover %
FRONT 45%
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

23. Ford & GM Type I EDR
Event Data Recorder
Ford EDR
• Taurus
2000
• Sable
2000
• F-150
2000
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

24. Airbag Deployment Algorithm
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25. Longitudinal Crash Pulse Data
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26. Numeric Data
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27. Lateral Crash Pulse Data
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28. Crash Scene
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29. Potential Uses of
Event Data
Category Potential Examples
Improve Vehicle Design/Highway vehicle systems
- airbag sensing system deployment criteria
Infrastructure highway systems
- roadside safety feature design standards
Provide a Basis for Regulatory & - offset frontal impact severity
Consumer Information Initiatives - average/extreme vehicle decel pulses
Provide Objective Data for alleged defects & litigation
Crash Reconstruction - unintended vehicle acceleration
- crash & airbag deployment sequence
Develop an Objective Driver - pre-crash driver braking/steering
Behavior Database - belt use
- vehicle speed
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

30. The Haddon Matrix
w/o EDR
Human Vehicle Environment
Pre Skid Marks
Crash
Crash Calculated Delta-V
Environment
Post Injury Collision Damage after
Crash crash
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

31. The Haddon Matrix
w/o EDR
Human Vehicle Environment
Pre Skid Marks
Crash
Crash Calculated Delta-V
Environment
Post Injury Collision Damage after
Crash crash
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

32. The Haddon Matrix
w/ EDR
Human Vehicle Environment
Belt Use Speed Conditions
Pre Steering ABS
Crash During Crash
Brake Other Controls
Crash Pulse
Air Bag Data Delta-V
Crash Pre Tensioners Yaw Location
A/B Activation Time
ACN (Automatic
Post Collision ACN ACN
Crash Notification)
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

33. GM Airbag Systems
Data Stored
1990 1994 1999
Parameter DERM SDM SDM
State of Warning Indicator when event occurred (ON/OFF)
Length of time the warning lamp was illuminated
Crash-sensing activation times or sensing criteria met
Time from vehicle impact to deployment
Diagnostic Trouble Codes present at the time of the event
Ignition cycle count at event time
Maximum Delta-V for near-deployment event
Delta-V vs. time for frontal airbag deployment event
Time from vehicle impact to time of maximum Delta-V
State of driver’seat belt switch
s
Time between near-deploy and deploy event (if within 5 seconds)
Passenger's airbag enabled or disabled state
Engine speed (5 sec before impact)
Vehicle speed (5 sec before impact)
Brake status (5 sec before impact)
Throttle position (5 sec before impact) Accident Investigations, Inc.
WREX 2000 Forensic

34. 1999 EDR Simplified
Block Diagram
Engine Speed Vehicle Speed Brake ON/OFF Throttle Pos
Sensor Sensor Sensor Sensor Pre-impact data
Serial data bus
SDM Accelerometer Warning Indicator
Low-pass Filter Airbags
Power
Ignition Switch Microcomputer Including EDR
 RAM
 32k ROM
 640 EEPROM
Driver Seat Belt Manual Pass.
Sensor Airbag Cutoff Sw.
And Indicator
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

35. EDR Data
Delta-V (mph)
0 Increasing
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 150
Time (msec)
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

36. Pre-Impact Data
1999 EDR
Brake ON
Crash Occurs
@ Time = 0
Vehicle Speed
Engine Speed
Throttle Pos
Brake OFF
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
Crash Time (sec)
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

37. Accuracy and
Resolution
Parameter Full Scale Resolution Accuracy How Measured When Updated
recorded every
Integrated
Delta V + 55.9 mph 0.4 mph ~ + 10% .010s, calculated
acceleration
every .00125s
EDR Data
vehicle speed
Vehicle speed 158.4 mph 0.6 mph +4% Magnetic pickup changes by
> 0.1 mph
RPM changes by
Engine Speed 16383 RPM 1/4 RPM + 1 RPM Magnetic pickup
> 32 RPM.
Throttle Throttle position
100% Wide Rotary
0.4 % + 5% changes by
Position open throttle potentiometer
> 5%.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

38. Vetronix EDR
Retrieval Tool
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

39. Type II Event Data Recorders
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

40. North American Crash
Analysis Center
• is the North
FAI
American Crash
Analysis Center for the
VDO - UDS accident
data recorder.
–
United States
–
Canada
–
Mexico
•
World Wide Analysis
Network
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

41. UDS System Functions
Sensors and Status Inputs
Up to 10 status inputs:
ignition, brake, lights,
directional indicator, blue
light, seatbelt, air bag, etc.
Wheel speed
Transversal acceleration
Vehicle direction
Longitudinal acceleration

42. Reconstruction Analysis
Tachometer speed
Calculated speed
Blocking area
Stopping area
Distance scaling
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

43. LMS -- MACBOX
•
Secure a “ s eye view”
driver’ of digital imagery
•
Digital images from the driver’s perspective within a
sixty-second window.
– to,
Prior
– of impact &
Point
– crash.
Post
• time crash information
Real
•
Encrypted & transmitted intra-net or extra-net
•
Stored in database for future use
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

44. Mobile Accident & Aggression Camera
MACBOX
ENCRYPTED ACCIDENT
CELLULAR/PCS/SMR
IMAGE & MOTION ACCIDENT
DATA UPLOAD IMAGE DATA
WEB
SERVER BASE
POST-
POST-
ACCIDENT
BLACK BOX * SUCCESSIVE IMAGES IMAGES
HE WLETT Ve tra
c
PACKARD Offic e
FLEET OWNER
INTERNET
Collision of Bus with Car “triggers”
triggers” PRE-
PRE-
the system, captures all image data prior ACCIDENT POINT OF
to and after accident occurrence IMAGES IMPACT
IMAGE HE WL T
ET
PACKA RD
Ve tra
c
Offi ce
HEWLETT Ve ctra
O ff c e
i
PACKAR D
GOVERNMENT AGENCY
ALTERNATE: INSURANCE COMPANY
DOWNLOAD & (Adjuster views image data “
immediately”
immediately”
SECURE DATA after accident)
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

45. Technology will assist in
driver performance assessment challenge
by being ...
•
Objective.
• discriminatory.
Non
• effective.
Cost
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

46. Eyewitness Drive-Cam
•
Driver’ video
s eye
• seconds before
10
• seconds after
10
• & Manual events
Auto
•
Simple installation
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

47. Type II EDR Research
Current Research Sites
•
Florida Atlantic University
•
Georgia Tech
• A&M
Texas
•
Virginia Tech
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

48. Research Goals
•
Define objective criteria to identify high risk
drivers.
• driver assessment criteria to driver
Link
performance.
•
Develop specific recommendations applicable to
driver competency.
•
Investigate factors that may affect driving
behavior of individuals.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

49. Objectives
•
Validate tiered assessment for screening at-
risk driving performance.
•
Define criteria for event programming of
EDR technology.
•
Establish threshold for collision events that
require EMS notification.
•
Establish linkage of EDR data with
vehicular damage and personal injury
outcomes.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

50. Objectives -- Continued
•
Evaluate and compare data input gain from
post-crash OEM EDR technologies and next
generation recorders that can provide pre
crash input.
•
Provide summarized data to support public
policy recommendations.
•
Compare driver performance assessment
using on-road testing simulators and EDR
technology
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

51. WHO BENEFITS?
Drivers
Occupants
Other Motorists
EMS
Dispatch Legal Community
Law Enforcement Insurance Industry
Health Care Professionals DHSMV
Highway Engineers
Crash Reconstructionists
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

52. Vision
•
Provide drivers, of all ages, feedback about
their driver performance to decrease their
crash risk potential.
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.

53. Future
• is a revolution not evolution.
EDR
WREX 2000 Forensic Accident Investigations, Inc.