Intelligent and Safer Junctions, Supporting Safer Cycling

3rd – 4th November, 2016 @ Bolonga Italy

John McLaughlin jmclaughlin@tssg.org, Dr. Steven Davy sdavy@tssg.org, Frances Cleary fcleary@tssg.org, David Ryan dryan@tssg.org

Programmable Automomous Systems Unit

Introduction,

• About TSSG: TSSG is a telecommunications research institute attached to Waterford Institute of Technology, established in 1996, in South East Ireland.

• Aim: The aim of the project was to research a sensor based system to detect the presence of cyclists at roundabout junctions and devise a system to generate alerts specific to the affected area on the junction.

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Intelligent and Safer Junctions, Supporting Safer Cycling

Key Outputs

• To assess if Bluetooth Beacon Technology is suitable for cyclist detection at roundabout junctions.

• To develop a low cost, light weight system for creating alerts at the separate junctions on a roundabout based on the cyclist’s trajectory.

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Safer Cycling Use Case

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System Architecture

May 2, 2023

Cyclist Location Sensing Beacon Approach

• Tags Strategically Positioned • Signal Received by smart device carried by cyclist• The position of cyclist is computed by trilateration.

• The position of the cyclist to the Bluetooth tag is determined• When the position of the cyclist is determined in relation to at

least 3 tags the position of the cyclist is known by the system

GPS Location Sensing Approach

• This method exploits GPS technology on device held by the cyclist.

• A manifest of junctions is sent to the mobile device from the Listening Service.

• The app determines, using mathematics, the current GPS position and the manifest, the relevant junction and once within a nominal distance the application begins to stream the current GPS position to the Listening Service

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Junction Zones

• Virtual Zones added to Junction using a purposely built online map tool

• These zones are used to define the transition of the cyclist on the junction within the system.

• They form the basis of the policy and alerting system

The policies are a set of rules that, based on a transition between zones define whatalerts are sent to the junction

Policies & Alerts

Rule : [Zone 2 -> Zone 3]

ALERTS : [ Zone 5 -> Zone 7 ]

Rule : [Zone 3 -> Zone 7]

ALERTS : [ Zone 8 -> Zone 10 ]

CANCEL : [Zone 2 -> Zone 3]

Rule : [Zone 7 -> Zone 10]

ALERTS : [ Zone 2 -> Zone 3 ]

CANCEL : [Zone 5 -> Zone 7]

Findings

• At speeds of 15km and 20km the cyclist was detected.

• The height of the Bluetooth Beacons were crucial to the detection with 1.2m being the optimum.

• Sufficient rate of detection was achieved by this method to accurately detect the cyclist’s trajectory through the junction.

• The detected trajectory determined by trilateration was similar to the trajectory determined by the Garmin 500 unit that was used as a comparison.

Bluetooth Beacon Technology Assessment

Findings

• The key component to the system was the zone transition and policy system.

• GPS Based Location sensing was deemed a more stable and lower cost solution to the Bluetooth Beacon Technology

• GPS signal and adequate internet connectivity is key to the success of the system.

Development of low cost cyclist detection system

Conclusion

• For 100% cyclist detection it requires all cyclists to use the system i.e. use one of the cyclist detection mechanisms.

• Extra trials required to test the system in a real world scenario to determine if the system would be suitable in a complex urban environment.

• From a proof of concept perspective the system provides a low cost, light weight solution to making roundabout junctions more intelligent and potentially safer for cyclists

DELIVERING SCIENCE TO SHAPE YOUR FUTURE.

Any questions?