MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF PHYSICAL FACTORS LEADING TO DRIVER FATIGUE DURING PROLONGED DRIVING

Abstract

Prolonged driving in a monotonous environment leads to drowsiness, hinders the driver’s performance, and increasees muscle fatigue. This often results in vehicle crashes and loss of life. The aim of this study was to develop a mathematical model of the physical factors that affect driver fatigue during driving. The first objective was to identify how the physical factors of body mass index (BMI), age, and years of driving affect driver muscle fatigue during prolonged driving. The second objective was to formulate and validate a mathematical model of muscle fatigue and these three physical factors of the driver. Electromyography (EMG) signals from the trapezius muscles of ten healthy subjects were recorded for two hours of driving with a 90km/h speed limit. From the EMG signals, the median frequency (MDF) was extracted, and the slope of the coefficient was computed using linear regression. A mathematical model was developed in which the slope coefficient was set as the output and the physical factors of the driver were set as the input variables. Based on the results, it was concluded that BMI was the physical factor that most significantly influenced driver muscle fatigue during prolonged driving. This study successfully developed a mathematical model of the second-order polynomial of muscle fatigue and BMI (p<0.05 and R² = 0.85). The model was successfully validated using the regression method, whereby the residual error was less than 10%.