Cost Effective, Power Efficient, Wireless Sensor Network Based Highway Incident Detection & Warning System

More than 52% of U.S. urban highway congestion is a direct result of highway incidents. Federal and State transportation authorities are searching for quick, cost-effective and efficient highway incident detection and warning systems. Several solutions have been proposed but none could satisfy requirements of transportation authorities. Central Signal's research and development, grounded in more than 25 years of transportation industry experience and funded by federal agencies, has produced a successful prototype incident detection system. USDOT SBIR Phase I funded efforts have verified that wireless magnetoresistive sensors are most suitable for this application. The prototype system detects and responds to incidents within 5 seconds. Conventional systems detection and response times are on the order of 5 minutes. This significant improvement in incident detection - system response will reduce the number of highway incident secondary crashes. The proposed research will produce a modular highway incident detection and warning system utilizing magnetic vehicle sensors, wireless communications, and sensor dedicated power systems. Effectiveness of the system will be evaluated by productive simulation tools. Field testing the system will demonstrate its operation, effectiveness and potential for commercial success.