Using Bluetooth Low Energy Technology to Alert Motorists Approaching Work Zones

March 8, 2018

About the Presentation

This seminar discussed the technology of providing in-vehicle messages to heighten drivers’ awareness of safety-critical and pertinent work-zone information to reduce risky behavior around work zones. The in-vehicle system makes use of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, which uses considerably less power than earlier Bluetooth versions and has enabled many intelligent transportation applications. In this case, low-cost BLE beacons can be deployed in or ahead of a work zone.

The seminar also described how a smartphone app was developed to trigger non-distracting, auditory-visual messages in a smartphone mounted in a vehicle within range of the BLE work-zone tags. Messages associated with BLE tags around the work zone can be updated remotely in real time and as such may provide significantly improved situational awareness about dynamic conditions at work zones, including awareness of workers on site, changing traffic conditions, or hazards in the environment.

Webcast

About the Speaker

Chen-Fu Liao is the senior systems engineer at the Minnesota Traffic Observatory, University of Minnesota. His research focuses on using ITS technologies to assist people with vision impairment in finding their way. His other research activities include connected vehicles, incident decision-support systems, database management and data mining, freight performance measures, and developing undergraduate and graduate curriculum tools to support transportation education and training.