NextPerception succesfully concludes its first cycle with a variety of pilot validations

Writer: Johan Plomp

The NextPerception project is working on a variety of sensing and analytics solutions for human monitoring in health and automotive domains. A total number of 18 pilots evaluated demonstrators developed for Integral Vitality Monitoring (6), Driver Monitoring (2) and Safe and Comfort at Intersections (10). Each of these demonstrators included innovative perception sensor solutions (FMCW & UWB radar, IMU, LiDAR, camera, and wearable sensors) and analytics for unobtrusive monitoring of physiological parameters and behaviour of elderly people, drivers, vulnerable road users, and people exercising or sleeping. Additionally, solutions were developed and tested for accurate positioning in indoor and outdoor environments. Experiments also included platform solutions to facilitate sensor fusion and perform analytic computations in a distributed sensing environment.

The NextPerception project is organized in two cycles, roughly dividing the project duration of three years in half. Each cycle includes a definition phase, where objectives are defined and requirements are set, a development phase working on the realization of the technical components, an integration phase combining the components into demonstrators, and a piloting phase, where the demonstrators are tested in laboratory environments or with end users.

The pilots in the first cycle showed the feasibility of the technologies for the intended use, helped to collect valuable data for further development, and indicated needs for improvement. In particular, novel remote sensing solutions using e.g. radar technology proved to be suitable to follow a person’s heart rate, heart rate variability (indicating e.g. stress) and breathing rate, and a combination of remote sensing solutions and positioning allows for accurate detection of pedestrians and cyclists in traffic and the development of proactive safety improving strategies.

In the second cycle, the technologies will be iterated and go beyond the state of the art, opening new opportunities for a safer and healthier society. The pilot validation report is the first public deliverable of NextPerception, and provides a comprehensive overview of the use case demonstrators and their validation. This gives insight both in the work and results of the project, as well as the eventual breakthroughs to be expected as final outcome of the project. The results were first presented at the project booth at EFECS 2021.

For more information, please contact project coordinator Johan Plomp (johan.plomp@vtt.fi) or visit our website