Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 11, 2000 / Notices 60497

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA–00–8064]

Drowsy Driver Detection Device

Laboratory Validation

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Research Activity.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of

Transportation (US DOT) is seeking

partners who have the potential of

providing non-contact eye closure

monitoring sensors that can be used in

a drowsy driver detection system field

operational test. This notice describes

criteria and tests that will be applied to

each candidate sensor as part of the

determination of fitness for inclusion in

a field operational test. Manufacturers of

devices that may meet these criteria are

invited to submit a description of their

device and detailed instructions on

operations of the device to the US DOT.

Each device must satisfy the following

criteria: (1) The device must measure

the percentage of eyelid closure over

time (PERCLOS) and calculate

PERCLOS 1 and/or PERCLOS 3 (oneminute and three-minute running

averages of PERCLOS, respectively); (2)

this measurement must occur in real

time; (3) the device shall be unobtrusive

and have no physical contact with the

driver; (4) the device shall cause no

harmful emissions of any type over the

duration of the experiment; and (5) the

device operation shall include no

moving parts that could easily fail or

that would require replacement, service,

or routine maintenance by the driver.

Any device that meets the above

criteria may be included in a US DOT

sponsored laboratory research study to

evaluate the validity and reliability of

its real-time drowsiness detection

capability. Previous research has

demonstrated the feasibility of

implementing a drowsiness detection

system with physical eyelid closure as

a continuous input. A successful device

should demonstrate that it can provide

a valid measure of alertness during a

vigilance task and that this detection is

repeatable (reliability). In addition to

being valid and reliable, this device

needs to be practical, and must meet

additional standards of high sensitivity

and high specificity. Thus the device

must detect all (or nearly all) fatigue

events and fatigued vehicle operators

(high sensitivity), without false alarms

(high specificity.)

The offeror understands that the

device, if selected to participate in the

laboratory validation study, will be

provided on an as-is basis, requiring no

further engineering or development and

should be operationally ready. Second,

the analysis that is derived from this

laboratory research will be made

publicly available and the device

returned to the submittor, and third, the

offeror shall in no way interfere with the

procedures or personnel involved in

conducting or managing the study.

Furthermore:

1. Previous studies and research

involving the device may be disclosed

and provided to the government to

assist in evaluating the ‘‘fitness’’ of the

device for evaluation.

2. Selection to participate in the

laboratory validation study will NOT

constitute an endorsement of the device

by the federal government.

3. A small budget shall exist to ensure

the appropriate hookup of the device to

the experimental apparatus.

4. Involvement does not constitute a

promise of future relations with the

federal government.

The devices will be tested in a

laboratory in a double blind testing

methodology. Results will be sent back

to manufacturer for interpretation. The

US DOT is only interested in testing

devices that are operationally ready, not

devices under development.

DATES: Submit device descriptions on or

before November 27, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All proposals should refer

to Docket No. NHTSA–00–8064 and be

submitted to Docket Management, Room

PL–401, 400 7th Street, SW,

Washington, D.C. 20590. Docket hours

are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday

through Friday. Proposals may also be

sent by electronic submission. The

electronic submission procedure is

described in the Docket Management

section of the DOT’s web site: http://

www.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

Rau, Office of Vehicle Safety Research,

NHTSA, (202) 366–0418; or Mr. Robert

Carroll, Office of Research and

Technology, FMCSA, (202) 366–9109,

400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington,

DC 20590–0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The DOT has created a program titled

the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI).

The goal of the IVI program is to

increase safety on the nation’s highways

through the acceleration of the

deployment of on-vehicle safety

devices. One of the primary focus areas

of the IVI is (commercial) motor vehicle

driver fatigue. Further information on

the IVI program may be found on:

www.its.dot.gov/ivi. Additionally, the

DOT has the goal of reducing truck

involved fatalities by 50% by the year

2010. Additional information

concerning DOT and commercial motor

vehicle safety goals may be found on:

www.fmcsa.dot.gov and

www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

Further, technical conferences were

held in 1997 and 1999, to discuss

scientific validation findings regarding

PERCLOS and other eye activity

measures of alertness, and the status of

efforts to develop in-vehicle sensors to

continuously measure PERCLOS. The

conferences were the primary focus of

U.S. DOT-sponsored research over the

past decade demonstrating the validity

of PERCLOS as a measure of driver

vigilance performance and also explored

related psycho physiological alertness

measures and alertness monitoringrelated issues. The conferences

reviewed potential and appropriate uses

of PERCLOS data and ways to ensure

the active participation and acceptance

of drivers and management. The 1999

conference report, Ocular Measures of

Driver Alertness: Technical Conference

Proceedings (FHWA–MC–99–136) is

available from National Technical

Information Service (NTIS) (PB2000–

101412), telephone: (703) 605–6000.

The vigilance task testing will be

conducted in a controlled laboratory

environment, similar to the previous

work sponsored by NHTSA and

FMCSA. A detailed description of this

previous research, as well as the

findings, can be obtained from the

report entitled ‘‘Evaluation of

Techniques for Ocular Measurement as

an Index of Fatigue and the Basis for

Alertness Management’’ published by

the US DOT/NHTSA Report #DOT HS

808–762 is also available from NTIS. A

summary in the form of an FMCSA

Technical Analysis Brief may be found

on http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/

safetyprogs/research/researchpubs.htm.

Each device will be tested on sleep

deprived subjects who will remain

awake for 42 hours, while working on

a computerized test battery every two

hours. The tests include a 20 minute

psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) each

two hours. PVT performance lapses

refer to the times when a subject fails to

respond to a task in a timely manner

(i.e. <500 msec.); lapses will be recorded

for each minute for the entire 20

minutes.

PVT lapses will be used as the

validation criteria variable because

driving is a vigilance task requiring

psychomotor reactions, and

psychomotor vigilance has been

previously validated in medical

research to be very sensitive to fatigue

60498 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 11, 2000 / Notices

from night work and sleep loss. Thus,

PVT lapses are a valid index for

evaluating candidate technologies.

Additionally: (1) Each device will be

time locked in real-time to PVT

performance to permit coherence

estimates for minute-to-minute

fluctuations and bout-to-bout

fluctuations in alertness-drowsiness

across the entire 42 hour period of

wakefulness; (2) suppliers of devices

will have no knowledge of PVT lapse

data during the course of their

extracting drowsiness/alertness scores

from their devices, while the researchers

will have no knowledge of the device’s

scoring algorithm. This double blind

procedure will be maintained

throughout data acquisition and

analysis; (3) to further optimize the

reliability of coherence estimates,

technology suppliers will also be

unaware of the timing of data

acquisition; and (4) processed data

(drowsiness scores) received from

device manufacturers and PVT lapse

data (criterion vigilance performance

scores) from the researcher will be

electronically forwarded to an

independent professional statistician for

calculation of coherence results.

The independent coherence results

will be used as the basis for assessing

the validity of the submitted device. The

non-obtrusiveness and ease of use by

the subject driver of the device will be

assessed by the researchers during the

laboratory phase of this research and be

noted. Additionally, the device must be

‘‘ready-to-use’’ with clear instructions

on how to operate the device. This

means that the laboratory researchers

will not have to do any engineering or

re-configuring of the devices in order to

use them in the laboratory validation.

Results from this program will be

important criteria in the selection of

devices eligible to participate in the

planned IVI Operational Field Test of

Drowsy Driver Technology planned to

begin in late FY 2001.

Technology Submission Instructions

Submit proposed device descriptions

to the U.S. Department of

Transportation’s Public Docket

Management Room at the address listed

above. The submission should include

the following:

1. A detailed description of the

device, along with operating

instructions.

2. It should be no more than 10 pages

in length.

3. Any existing evidence of objective

validity, reliability, sensitivity, or

specificity is encouraged to be

submitted. This information DOES NOT

count toward the 10 page length limit.

4. Three copies of your submission.

5. Your name, address, phone number

and e-mail address.

6. DO NOT submit your device at this

time.

7. Applications, once submitted,

become the property of the US DOT.

Joseph N. Kanianthra,

Acting Associate Administrator for Research

and Development, National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration.

[FR Doc. 00–26015 Filed 10–10–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Customs Service

[T.D. 00–69]

Annual User Fee for Customs Broker

Permit and National Permit; General

Notice

AGENCY: Customs Service, Department

of the Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of due date for broker

user fee.

SUMMARY: This is to advise Customs

brokers that for 2001 the annual user fee

of $125 that is assessed for each permit

held by an individual, partnership,

association or corporate broker is due by

January 19, 2001. This announcement is

being published to comply with the Tax

Reform Act of 1986.

DATES: Due date for fee: January 19,

2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michael S. Craig, Broker Management

(202) 927–0380.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

13031 of the Consolidated Omnibus

Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (Pub.

L. 99–272) established that an annual

user fee of $125 is to be assessed for

each Customs broker permit and

National permit held by an individual,

partnership, association, or corporation.

This fee is set forth in the Customs

Regulations in section 111.96 (19 CFR

111.96).

Customs Regulations provides that

this fee is payable for each calendar year

in each broker district where the broker

was issued a permit to do business by

the due date which will be published in

the Federal Register annually. Broker

districts are defined in the General

Notice published in the Federal

Register, Volume 60, No.187, September

27, 1995.

Section 1893 of the Tax Reform Act of

1986 (Pub. L. 99–514), provides that

notices of the date on which a payment

is due of the user fee for each broker

permit shall be published by the

Secretary of Treasury in the Federal

Register by no later than 60 days before

such due date.

This document notifies brokers that

for 2001, the due date for payment of

the user fee is January 19, 2001. It is

expected that annual user fees for

brokers for subsequent years will be due

on or about the twentieth of January of

each year.

Dated: October 4, 2000.

Bonni G. Tischler,

Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field

Operations.

[FR Doc. 00–25977 Filed 10–10–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4820–02–P