A Low-Cost Embedded Infrared Eyelid-Closure Monitor for Driver Drowsiness with Vibrotactile Warning and GSM SMS Escalation

Drowsy driving continues to contribute substantially to road traffic injuries, yet most commercial driver-monitoring systems are targeted at high-end vehicles and rely on expensive cameras or proprietary electronics. This paper presents the design and bench-scale evaluation of a low-cost, embedded drowsiness-alert prototype that links a single physiological marker, sustained eyelid closure, to two coordinated responses: an in-cabin vibro-tactile alarm and a remote short-message notification. The system uses an infrared reflectance sensor mounted on safety goggles to monitor eyelid state, an Arduino Nano to implement a formally specified temporal decision rule, and a SIM800L GSM module powered from an isolated 4.1 V rail to deliver alerts to a pre-registered contact. Continuous eye closure of at least 3.0 s is treated as a safety-critical event. Bench tests show that the finite-state controller cleanly separates normal blinks, typically 100–400 ms, from prolonged closure, and that the single-send guard prevents spurious SMS flooding while preserving event coverage. Power-integrity measurements confirm stable operation of the microcontroller during GSM transmission, with no observed resets or communication failures. The prototype therefore demonstrates that reliable discrimination between ordinary blinking and hazardous microsleep episodes can be achieved using inexpensive, locally available components and transparent firmware logic. The work is positioned as a step toward socio-technical drowsiness interventions for older vehicle fleets and resource-constrained settings, and it motivates future field studies with diverse drivers and more demanding driving scenarios.