Finally! After all the development that's gone on, I can finally bring you the final Heads Up Display!
Now annoyingly due to Covid-19 I haven't been able to finish as well, I would initially have hoped for, but given everything going on I'm still pretty pleased with the result.
Let me walk you through everything:
What is the H.U.D.?
The Heads Up Display is the part of the bike kit that alerts the driver to being in a blind spot. The camera positioned over the front wheel feeds information via Bluetooth to the H.U.D. and warns the rider of their position.
The H.U.D. has three positions of warning; Blind Spot Left, Blind Spot Straight Ahead and Blind Spot right. Each of these warnings has been pictured below.
The HUD does not show any unnecessary information out with a warning. The point behind this is to minimise the chances of distracting the rider as much as possible. Since the HUD is battery powered, when it gets to 10% battery, it will start showing an empty battery symbol. This will give the rider enough time to charge the HUD before its next journey.
To give you a better idea of how the Heads Up Display will look, here are some videos demonstrating the warnings in action:
To ensure the HUD is as adjustable as possible, it connects to the helmet using a screw tightened clip. This clip can be placed almost anywhere around the front of the helmet, with the screws adding that bit extra adjustability, depending on where the rider wishes to attach the display.
The HUD slides onto the clip, locking into place and ensuring its secure for the journey ahead. If the rider wishes to remove it at any point, they can do so by pressing back on the tab at the top and sliding the HUD off. Were the rider to find themselves in a high-pressure situation, the HUD could become slightly distracting. To get around this, the alerts can be muted by the quick action button fitted to the handlebars, meaning that no warnings will flag up on the display. Since the top half of the HUD is transparent, it's almost invisible to the rider when not on, minimising any chances of distraction through the rest of the journey.
The HUD has been designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, both for the rider and others. Below is a photo of how the entire Blind Spot Detection Kit would look on a bike. Barely noticeable!
How Does the H.U.D Work?
The display works by reflecting the image from an LCD screen up on to the transparent display. The reflected image is then passed through a lens to adjust it to a particular focal point. This makes the icon appear like its a distance away from the helmet, and not right in front of the riders eye. This helps the rider to focus on any information shown on the display. In my designs, I've fitted the HUD with a Lithium-Ion battery. These batteries are rechargeable, and relatively small so are perfect for the HUD. The battery can last around 3 hours on a charge and have an overall life span of about 3-5 years (about 200-500 charge cycles). The back of the HUD is held in place by screws, which allows access to the components inside should something need to be repaired.
The power button is located on the side of the HUD. By having it there rather than the front reduces the chances of it being knocked when the helmet is off, and running down the battery when the kits not in use. Due to coronavirus, I haven't been able to build a prototype of the HUD, but I have researched how it would be possible. By using an LCD screen, potentiometer, resistor, Arduino Nano and other materials such as a mirror and lens, a HUD prototype should be possible. Below I have attached the schematics for the HUD prototype.
And there we have it! That's the Blind Spot Detection HUD. Overall I'm pretty pleased with how this part has turned out, despite all the challenges presented along the way. I'm pretty disappointed that I never got the chance to make it real, but given everything going on at the moment I'm still happy with what I've got. Thank you for reading!
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