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Headlights that see through rain?

Posted On Saturday, July 07, 2012 at 08:54:15 AM

While driving in the rain, or when there is snow fall, visibility sometimes gets worse when the headlights are on. How would be if the beams could bend around the rain so that the driver can see what's ahead.

By not illuminating the raindrops the headlights would avoid a common problem: in heavy rain, headlights make it harder to see, not easier. Headlight beams reflect off the rain. The reflected light heads back to the driver's eyes, not to the obstacles on the road.

The prototype system, developed by the Carnegie Mellon consists of a camera, projector, and beam splitter, linked to a computer. The camera takes a picture of the raindrops at the top of the field of view.

The processor can tell where the drops are headed and sends a signal to the headlights, which adjust the beams of light they send out so that there isn't any light where the raindrop is.







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