Remote detection of heterogeneously spread alcohol vapors in the cabins of moving vehicles

Abstract

This study concerns remote detection of alcohol vapors in cabins of moving vehicles. By means of a simplified description of propagation of two combined laser beams differently absorbed in alcohol vapors and in vehicle windowpanes, difficulties in detecting alcohol vapors in vehicle cabins using classical differential absorption method are demonstrated. Unreported in the literature, this method of remote detection of alcohol vapors in the air exhaled by a driver or a passenger in moving vehicles is proposed. The method uses two combined laser beams that illuminate different zones in the car cabin through the same windowpane. Based on the correlation between the spread of the transmission of these zones and the alcohol concentration in the air exhaled by a drunken person, it is possible to determine if the alcohol exists in the exhaled air. The effectiveness of the presented method is confirmed experimentally. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License.