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An electronic measurement system called PCMAN has been developed by the Institute of Ergonomics of the Technische Universität München to carry out body and posture measurements. PCMAN can produce model-like, three-dimensional images of a body quickly, reliably and precisely. The resulting data can be computer-processed using the CAD human model RAMSIS. PCMAN works with several images taken from different directions. From these, three-dimensional coordinates can be calculated by measuring corresponding points on the frames. The RAMSIS grid model can also be fitted into the subject's body measurements and posture. This is done by over-laying RAMSIS on the bitmaps of the subject and adjusting it to the subject's exact shape by changing the body surface and the location of the joints. PCMAN works with standard cameras operating at 25 frames per second.

The ergonomic design of automobiles has changed over in the last years. It is increasingly being transferred from the usage of two-dimensional templates of the human shape to computer-aided manmodels. So far these models were mainly used for static anthropometric investigations on the drivers workplace. Dynamic questions can be answered only very insufficiently. In the context of this work a methodology was developed to precalculate target directed human movements in a motor vehicle environment with the CAD-manmodel RAMSIS. A new two-piece model was developed. In this model dynamic boundary conditions, so called dynamic restrictions, for any movement in a car are determined, concerning outside parameters. In the following, the entire bodyposture is determined by a statistical posture probability model, considering these dynamic restrictions. A control theory of human movements was derived from the field of neurophysiology.

Some systems like the ESP already exist to support the driver for the stabilization of the vehicle. But the next generation of active safety system will have to deal with a wider environment of the vehicle, to go closer to the limit of the vehicle dynamic etc. With such a complexity the systems will also have to take into account their own limits and to reduce their actions when they have a low confidence, e.g. when sensors are degraded. This article describes firstly a virtual driver and secondly a decision control that fuses their command depending on their confidences in order to improve the reliability of the command level.