Smart Traffic Signs With Traffic & Weather Sensors For Driver Alerts

Ever get trapped during a pileup or have a mishap with one during bad weather? Researchers in Poland have created smart road signs that use built-in Doppler radar, video & acoustic radar & weather stations to monitor road traffic and conditions to warn drivers in real-time of hazards and stop collisions on highways.

During the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America which can be held virtually between December 7–10, 2020, Andrzej Czyzewski of Gdansk University of Technology will describe his applied research project to develop autonomous road signs with built-in acoustic radar devices. His session, “Comparing traffic intensity estimates employing passive acoustic Radar & microwave Doppler Radar sensor,” are going to be persisted on December 7 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern U.S.

“We can calibrate an acoustic vector sensor, so it can often use to measure highway traffic volume & count vehicles by analyzing the noise, they emit as they go by,” said Czyzewski. “Our work also allows a comparison of the efficiency of microwave versus acoustic radar methods.”

Signals obtained by Doppler radar can be used as a reference source.

“Although, the acoustical vector sensor, the embodiment of acoustic radar has lower accuracy than Doppler radar at vehicle counting & isn’t ready to measure vehicle speed with the precision, it has key advantages over Doppler sensors,” he said.

The main advantages are that it doesn’t emit any signals & isn’t susceptible to electromagnetic interference like Doppler sensors. An acoustical vector sensor also makes it possible to analyze audio signals to provide an assessment on road conditions, whether it’s wet or dry.

As a part of this project, signs are designed, which will be placed on a mobile stand or hung above the road. They display dynamically updated recommended speeds which are determined automatically by an electronic module mounted within the road sign.

The signs communicate by V2X technology, which is additionally referred to as vehicle-to-everything, a Wi-Fi derivative designed for fast-moving objects that lets Bluetooth enabled smartphones & cars talk to each other.

This technology was poised to be unrolled earlier this year, “but the pandemic has slowed production,” Czyzewski said.