autoregion international - Edition 1/2020

24 Driving the business of saving people’s lives By Silvia Martin - Communications Expert at IEE S.A., 1 rue du Campus, Bissen, Luxembourg Developing, manufacturing and supplying sensors that are used in hundreds of millions of cars across the Globe is a complex position to be in: At the crossroads among changing legislation, safety talks, automotive trends, political climate, etc. The variables are countless and constant adaptation is required. IEE S.A. has been successfully facing and addressing the industry challenges with its innovative sensing solutions for over 30 years now. Active and passive automotive safety are the most important activities in which IEE is involved and where the largest part of its product portfolio is centred. Occupant detection and occupant classification, passenger and child safety, a PACE-Award recognition (the highest in the field) for its hands-off detection system supporting assisted and automated driving – the IEE advanced sensors solutions certainly con- tribute to an overall safe and comfortable driving experience. IEE’s seat-belt reminder sensor mat (SBR), for instance, one of the best-known and longer standing products on the market, is directly involved in triggering the life-sav- ing buckle-up alarm signal, both for front and rear car seats. Its precise mission is to detect if the seat is occupied. In case the identified occupant is not belted the vehicle is set to react to it and release the familiar warning light and audible sound reminding passengers to fasten their seat belts. The three-point seatbelt celebrated 60 years of existence this year. The IEE sensors for seat belt reminders have been a part of this journey, helping to save lives for over 20 years since the invention of such systems that encourage drivers and passengers to use it. Further on building safety systems, Body- Sense is an in-house developed occupant classification technology for smart airbag deployment. This enables the vehicle to recognize whether a seat is occupied or not, and it is also capable to detect if the occupant is a person or a child seat. This differentiation made through accurate classification has a crucial impact espe- cially in the US market where legislation requires that advanced airbag systems must ensure children are not harmed by an airbag deployment. The airbag system must always be correctly informed about the seat occupancy situation and switch on and off automatically as the case requires. This helps preserve its intended safety functionality: safe deployment to protect an adult’s life in case of collision, non-de- ployment to avoid endangering a baby in a car seat. Another area in which IEE is proficient is child presence detection through low- power radio frequency (RF) technology. The dedicated product, VitaSense, has been developed to address the problem of children left unattended in a car, vulnera- ble and exposed to potential heat stroke. This year alone, 52 children died of vehic- ular heat stroke in the US. Placed on the car ceiling above the rear seats, VitaSense can detect the slightest breathing motion of a sleeping baby, even if covered with a blanket. The child presence information enables the vehicle to engage a series of warning notifications towards a receiver, ranging fromflashing lights or sound alerts to text messages sent to the caretaker’s smartphone or even automatically alerting rescue services. “We have a long tradition of working with our customers over the years to create, test, enhance and ultimately bring to mar- ket the sensing solutions that respond best to their needs. We also try to attend the most relevant conversations involving ve- hicle safety decision makers to anticipate what comes next. These, in the fast-paced, ever-changing automotive landscape, are essential ingredients to maintaining a lead- ership status. Looking back, in the present and future, we get a lot of satisfaction knowing that our job is to make sensors that save people’s lives. It is a big responsi- bility, but also a highly rewarding one,” says Michel Witte, CEO and President at IEE. Images: © IEE S.A. Hands Off Detection https://t1p.de/8sjv VitaSense https://t1p.de/hbsi IEE S.A www.iee-sensing.com S H A R E