GPS World - May 2008 - (Page 29)

Vehicle Integration | AVIONICS & TRANSPORTATION Safety Afoot Field Testing of a Pedestrian Alert System Most vehicles sold in the future will carry a GPS receiver, a processor, and a wireless data link. Together these provide most of the hardware needed for a pedestrian alert system (PAS) that can help avoid accidents, minimizing equipage costs for the system. The PAS has both vehicle and pedestrian modules; the latter could be integrated with cell phones or other personal with electronic devices routinely carried by pedestrians. Tests indicate that the PAS can help reduce deaths and injuries caused by vehicle collisions with pedestrians, and could be adapted for bicycle safety, airport-ramp, and construction-site pedestrian safety. Bus Automobile A 4 Warning 1 Vehicle GPS Data: Position Heading Speed 3 Ped GPS Data: Position Heading Speed 2 ª Wake-Upº Signal W Pedestrian B N E S Pedestrian A Charles Rodgers, NavSpace Engineering, and Richard Blomberg, Dunlap and Associates he driver of the future may enter an automated roadway and turn the controls over to system automation. Under this scenario, a technologically based pedestrian detection and tracking system will be essential if pedestrians are to share the roadspace. Some means other than the visual acquisition of a pedestrian by a driver will be required to notify the entire system of the presence of the pedestrian. Even with humans at the controls, some alert system is needed to reduce the alarming casualties: more than 13 pedestrians killed and 167 injured per day in the United States during 2006, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics. Over the last decade these numbers have been relatively unchanged. NHTSA found that motorists' failure to detect pedestrians was often the primary crash cause. Many automobile manufacturers, also concerned about pedestrian collisions, have announced prototype detection systems as well as material and design changes to vehicles to minimize pedestrian injuries in case of a collision. However, most detection systems rely on infrared or radar technology to detect pedestrians. These can be helpful but they do not discriminate at-risk pedestrians from other people and objects in the area, so they are subject to false alerts. In addition, these systems cannot www.gpsworld.com T detect a pedestrian behind a visual screen such as an ice-cream truck or parked cars. The pedestrian alert system (PAS) described here can do that as well as prioritize pedestrians (peds) by risk. Concept of Operations The key technical requirements of the system include: All-weather, non-line-of-sight detection of peds Classification of peds according to risk of collision An effective driver alert, more than three seconds and less than eight seconds before crash Minimization of false alerts and missed detections. The opening figure illustrates the PAS concept. A vehicle (1) is equipped with a GPS/GNSS receiver, processor, and a short-range (less than a quarter-mile) radio transceiver, while both peds A and B are equipped with a compact module that contains a GPS/ GNSS receiver and a radio transceiver. As the vehicle travels along the road, the radio transmits a wake-up signal to any equipped peds in the area. Upon receiving the wake-up signal, the ped' s GNSS receiver begins to acquire satellites in a hot-start mode. When a position and velocity solution is available, it is transmitted to the vehicle, where it is determined whether an alert to the driver and the specific ped is appropriate. The processor in the vehicle uses differential GPS/GNSS algorithms May 2008 | GPS World 29 http://www.gpsworld.com

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GPS World - May 2008 Contents Out in Front Letters to the Editor Expert Advice GPS III Contract Award Now a Reality? Near-Space Location Boost RTK Crops Up in Precision Ag Safety Afoot 50+ Leaders to Watch Making a Difference with GPS Product Showcase Advertisers Index & Company Directory Marketplace Classifieds Seen & Heard

GPS World - May 2008

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