HIGHWAY FOG WARNING SYSTEM

DENSE FOG HAS OFTEN BEEN A CAUSE OF TRAGIC ROAD ACCIDENTS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COST EFFECTIVE HIGHWAY FOG DETECTION SYSTEM WHICH MONITORS ROAD VISIBILITY AND PROVIDES WARNINGS TO MOTORISTS THROUGH ROADSIDE DISPLAYS OR RADIO COMMUNICATION IS PROPOSED FOR DOT 94-FH7. THE PROPOSED OPTICAL SENSOR MEASURES SCATTERED LIGHT FROM FOG PARTICLES. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL BE FOCUSED ON DETERMINING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE SENSOR IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE FOR THE APPLICATION. COMPUTER ALGORITHMS DESIGNED TO DETERMINE ROAD VISIBILITY BY DISCRIMINATING BETWEEN LARGER PARTICLES (SUCH AS RAIN OR SNOW) AND FOG USING SENSOR DATA AND OTHRE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION, WILL BE DEVELOPED. THE BEST MEANS OF TRANSFERRING WARNING SIGNALS TO MOTORIST WILL ALSO BE EVALUATED. THE RESULTS OF THE EVALUATIONS WILL BE USED AS A BASIS TO BUILD AN ADVANCED VERSION OF THE PROTOTYPE SENSOR SYSTEM. FIELD TESTS USING THIS PROTOTYPE SYSTEM WILL BE CARRIED OUT IN PHASE II. SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE SYSTEM INCLUDE VIRTUALLY NO MAINTENANCE AND VERY LOW POWER REQUIREMENTS BECAUSE OF THE SIMPLE AND UNIQUE DESIGN OF ITS SENSOR UNITS.