According to InScience scientists and engineers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) tested an innovative technological system in the Detroit area in April 2009. The study will ultimately help protect cars and drivers from being surprised by black ice, fog, and other hazardous weather conditions.
The prototype system is designed to gather detailed information about weather and road conditions from moving cars. NCAR’s road weather system is part of IntelliDrive. IntelliDrive is a national initiative overseen by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use new technologies to make driving safer and improve mobility.
The project included collecting information from 11 specially equipped cars in the Detroit area. Test drivers in Jeep Cherokee’s, Ford (F) Edge’s, and a Nissan Altima were on the prowl for adverse conditions. They sought out heavy rain and snow to collect, store and transmit data. The test vehicles used sensors to collect data about weather conditions such as temperature, pressure, and humidity.
An on-board digital memory device recorded that information, along with indirect signs of road conditions. They recorded events like the cars windshield wipers being switched on or activation of the anti-lock braking system. The information was transmitted to a central database. There the information was integrated with other local weather data and traffic observations, as well as details about road material and alignment. The processed data will then be used to update motorists in the area when hazards are present and, when appropriate, suggest alternate routes. Engineers analyzed the reliability of the system by comparing data from the cars with other observations from radars and weather satellites.
Sheldon Drobot, the NCAR program manager in charge of the project told Inscience, “The system will tell drivers what they can expect to run into in the next few seconds and minutes, giving them a critical chance to slow down or take other action.”
Not only will the system provide motorist warnings/ It will alert emergency managers to hazardous driving conditions. The alerts would help state highway departments efficiently keep roads clear of snow. It can also help meteorologists refine their forecasts by providing them with continual updates about local weather conditions.
The tests helped the NCAR team refine its software to accurately process data from motor vehicles. “The results look very encouraging,” Drobot says. “The tests show that cars can indeed communicate critical information about weather conditions and road hazards.”
One of the biggest challenges for NCAR is how to process the enormous amounts of data that could be generated by about 300 million motor vehicles. “It’s not enough to process the information almost instantaneously,” says William Mahoney, who oversees the system’s development for NCAR. “It needs to be cleaned up, sent through a quality control process, blended with traditional weather data, and eventually delivered back to drivers who are counting on the system to accurately guide them through potentially dangerous conditions.”
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.