Patent Application
20200357279
The present disclosure is in the field of traffic management. More particularly, the present disclosure provides systems and methods of reading traffic signals and other highway traffic data from traffic signal cabinets and controllers and detecting and reporting potential problems based on analysis of the data and other factors.
Vehicle traffic volume and bicycle-pedestrian safety are growing problems in the U.S. and elsewhere as urbanization continues, population increases, and vehicle ownership expands. Traffic on roads consists of pedestrians, bicyclists, micro-mobility vehicles, vehicles, streetcars, buses rail, and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel. Traffic laws govern traffic and regulate vehicles, while rules of the road are both the laws and the informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly and timely flow of traffic. Organized traffic generally has well-established priorities, lanes, right-of-way, and traffic control at intersections.
Traffic is formally organized in many jurisdictions, with marked lanes, junctions, intersections, interchanges, traffic signals, and signs. Traffic is often classified by type: heavy motor vehicle (e.g., car, truck), other micro-mobility vehicle (e.g., scooter, moped, bicycle), pedestrian, and autonomous vehicles. Different classes may share speed limits and easement or may be segregated. Some jurisdictions may have very detailed and complex rules of the road while others rely more on drivers' common sense and willingness to cooperate.
Organization typically produces a better combination of travel safety and efficiency. Events which disrupt the flow and may cause traffic to degenerate into disorganization include road construction, collisions, and debris in the roadway. On particularly busy roads, a minor disruption may persist in a phenomenon known as traffic waves. A complete breakdown of organization may result in traffic congestion and gridlock.
Crosswalks and other pedestrian crossings are common in populated areas and may indicate that pedestrians have priority over vehicular traffic. In most modern cities, the traffic signal is used to establish the right of way at intersections with other streets or facilities. Its primary purpose is to give each roadway approach a duration of time in which its traffic or users may travel across or through the intersection in an organized way. The intervals of time assigned for each road may be adjusted to account for factors such as differences in volume of traffic, the needs of pedestrians, or other traffic signals. Pedestrian crossings may be located near other traffic control devices; if they are not also regulated in some way, vehicles must give priority to them when in use.
Systems and methods described herein provide a computing node panel that interfaces with a traffic signal cabinet and a traffic signal controller. The computing node panel is installed into a traffic signal cabinet with a traffic signal controller and other hardware, in embodiments at an intersection of two roads, streets, or highways travelled by motor vehicles. The panel reads traffic control signals that enter the traffic signal cabinet from vehicle detection and pedestrian detection facilities; traffic signal display signals generated by the traffic signal controller; alarms associated with the operation the traffic signal facility including failure alarms, police control alarms, traffic signal cabinet door open alarms, and rail facility event alarms; and the status of equipment operating within the traffic signal cabinet such as battery back-up power equipment and traffic signal display equipment. Vehicle detection signals include those from inductive traffic signal loops, video detection or microwave equipment, or other fusion type detection systems that are used by the traffic signal controller to aid in the assignment of right-of-way at the intersection. Pedestrian detection signals include those generated from pedestrian push button controls or accessible pedestrian signal equipment. Traffic signal display signals include those leaving the traffic signal cabinet to provide displays for motorists and pedestrians including vehicle traffic signal displays, pedestrian traffic signal displays, bicycle traffic signal displays, emergency vehicle signal displays, transit displays, and dynamic traffic signal sign displays.
The panel digitizes the captured signal data and sends it wirelessly or via wired connection to a cloud-based platform provided herein. The platform analyzes the received data and may detect irregularities including evidence of malfunctioning equipment at the highway intersection or elsewhere. The panel also detects and reports when the cabinet door is open.
The platform may contact an operator of the traffic signal equipment, for example a municipal department of transportation or private contractor responsible for maintenance of the traffic signal equipment. The platform advises of potential signaling problems or malfunctioning equipment. The platform may make such contact via short message service (SMS) text, email, or other method. The platform receives data collected by the panel at the traffic signal intersection as well as global position system (GPS) data associated with tracked vehicles and other components.
The platform merely advises the municipality and maintenance contractors of actual and potential problems with signaling and data gathering hardware at a subject intersection. Neither the platform nor the panel causes the municipality to make any changes to the traffic signal cabinet, traffic signal controller or other auxiliary or peripheral devices within the traffic signal cabinet or elsewhere. Neither the panel, the platform, or any other component provided herein has any control over the actions of the traffic signal controller, or vehicle or pedestrian detection equipment.
Systems and methods of advanced traffic management also provide for advance detection notification and monitoring. Certain vehicles may receive priority under some conditions such that traffic signals may be preempted when a bus or emergency responder vehicle is approaching an intersection. If a signal were determined to be red, i.e. a stop signal, at the time the vehicle is expected to reach the signal, the traffic signal controller may cause the signal to instead become or remain green such that the vehicle may continue traveling through the subject intersection or otherwise through the signal. The decision to preempt the red signal and the action of doing so would be those of the municipality. The components provided herein would be limited to providing information.
Turning to the figures,
System 100 comprises a computing node panel 102, a panel application 104, a traffic signal controller 106, a traffic signal cabinet 108, a platform 110, and a municipality 112. The computing node panel 102 may be referred to hereafter for brevity purposes as the panel 102. Similarly, the panel application 104, the traffic signal controller 106, and the traffic signal cabinet 108 may be referred to hereafter for brevity purposes as the application 104, the controller 106, and the cabinet 108, respectively.
The panel 102 comprises at least one hardware component that is installed inside or near the cabinet 108. The panel 102 communicates via at least one of wired and wireless connection with at least the cabinet 108, the controller 106 and the platform 110.
The application 104 executes at least partially on the panel 102. The application 104 scans the cabinet 108 and the controller 106 and gathers data about green, yellow, and red signals illuminated by the controller 106 and cabinet 108. The application 104 also scans for data about vehicle detection loops, pedestrian buttons, video detection data, active status alarms, and traffic signal control displays.
The application 104 digitizes the data it has captured such that it may be transmitted wirelessly or via wired connection to the platform 110 and processed there. Such digitization may convert the captured data into formats such that the data may be processed by server and network applications. The data may be transmitted wirelessly to server and network applications.
The platform 110 may be cloud-based and comprise at least a plurality of networked computers situated at one or more geographic locations. The platform 110 receives the digitized data from the panel 102 and performs various statistical and other operations on the data.
The platform 110 analyzes the data to detect problems in hardware or software associated with the controller 106, the cabinet 108, loops, pedestrian access devices, and detection equipment such as cameras. Loops, which are often submerged in pavement, may be accidentally cut during road maintenance operations or infrastructure improvements or may be damaged by ice and salt during winter months.
When analysis by the platform 110 suggests a potential malfunction or performance issue with any of these components, the platform 110 may contact the municipality 112 and provide advice of such situation. The municipality 112 may act on such advice as it sees fit, for example by dispatching a crew to the site to check on the controller 106 and other assets.
The municipality 112 may be a traffic or public works department of a city, town, county or other public body with responsibility for managing signaling and other traffic-related operations at intersections and elsewhere. In an embodiment, the municipality 112 may not be a public body and may instead be a private entity, for example a maintenance company operating or maintaining signaling facilities under contract with a public body. The term municipality 112 as used herein includes both public and non-public entities managing traffic-related assets.
The platform 110 also receives GPS information to assist in advance detection notification and monitoring for vehicles seeking passage. Vehicles such as buses may carry GPS tracking devices or trackers allowing their locations and therefore movement to be tracked. Tracking may be done by various third-party services unrelated to the municipality 112 or a party operating the panel 102 and platform 110.
When a bus, for example, is known to be a predetermined distance from a traffic signal, the third-party service may report the bus's location to the platform 110. The platform 110 may determine, based on data received from the panel 102, that the signal will be red or yellow at the time the bus is expected to reach the intersection protected by the signal. A policy may be in place to submit a request for the bus to “get a green” or receive passage when it reaches the intersection regardless of the signal's normally scheduled state at the time.
The platform 110, having received the GPS information about the bus's location and speed in some embodiments, may send a request to the municipality 112 to pre-empt the signal's scheduled state. The municipality 112, based on receiving the request and based on other information such as traffic flow at the intersection, weather, time of day, and day of the week, may cause the signal to be green when the bus reaches the intersection. In doing so, the municipality 112 causes the controller 106 to take this action without involvement by the panel 102. Hence, the bus may not be required to stop or even reduce its speed and may therefore pass unimpeded through the intersection.
The advanced detection notification and preemptive changing of signals described above may be provided for buses, police, fire, ambulances and other vehicles. It may in some embodiments be provided for bicycles and other micro-mobility vehicles such as scooters or mopeds.
The detection loops 214 may be induction loops submerged in pavement that detect the presence and movement of vehicles. The pedestrian buttons 216 are accessed by pedestrians to request walk signals at intersections. Preemption priority 218 is functionality in the cabinet 108 and elsewhere to cause the controller 106 to change signaling for various reasons, for example for a vehicle that may be given a green signal when a red or yellow signal is normally scheduled. The traffic signal load bay 220 is functionality that controls signal outputs.
While the system 500, the system 600, the system 700, and the system 800 shown in
Systems and methods also provide for certain pedestrians and others carrying mobile devices to request preemption priority to, for example, request a “walk” signal at a crosswalk. A person in a wheelchair may be unable to physically activate a pedestrian button to request a walk signal. The person may access an application or app provided herein on his/her mobile device and make such a request. The request may be received by at least one of the panel 102 and the platform 110 and forwarded on to the municipality 112. The municipality 112 receives the request and unilaterally decides whether to cause the controller 106 to display or sound the walk signal as requested.
Systems and methods further provide for monitoring railroad crossings and other railroad environments. The panel 102 may be modified where necessary to function with barrier operation, signaling and other controller hardware situated at or otherwise associated with railroad crossings where motor vehicles may pass. The panel 102 scans controller data and transmits the data via wired and/or wireless connection to the platform 110 that may in turn communicate with railroad personnel and regulatory agencies. When an accident occurs, the data gathered by the panel 102, which is recorded, may be helpful in reconstructing events leading up to the accident, the accident itself, and events taking place after the accident.
Systems and methods provide for time stamping the two minutes of traffic signal activity before a railroad event, during, and two minutes after to help with accident reconstruction. In embodiments, the time stamps may be applied at other time intervals before and after a railroad incident. Time stamping and other data associated with the incident is stored in files for use by agencies and other authorized parties.
Systems and methods may also provide for monitoring utility pump stations for pumping water captured by sewers and other facilities, particularly during periods of inclement weather. The panel 102 may be modified as necessary to monitor voltage levels of pumps moving large volumes of water. When voltage level of a pump is determined to have changed materially, the panel 102 may forward this scanned information to the platform 110 which may in turn forward this information to public works personnel. Such presence and operation of the panel 102, the platform 110, and associated hardware and software may be of value when a pump station is not manned and prompt detection of voltage level problems with pumps may alleviate or prevent flooding.
