Abstract
The present paper aims to describe the conceptual idea to use cars as sensors to measure and acquire data related road environment. The parameters are collected using only standard equipment commonly installed and operative on commercial cars. Real sensors and car sub-systems (e.g. thermometers, accelerometers, ABS, ESP, and GPS) together with other “implicit” sensors (e.g. fog lights, windscreen wipers) acquire and contain information. They are shared inside an in-vehicle communication network using mainly the standard CAN bus and can be collected by a simple central node. This node can also be available on the market without too expensive costs thanks to some companies which business is devoted to car fleet monitoring. All the collected data are then geolocalized using a standard GPS receiver and sent to a remote elaboration unit, exploiting mobile network technologies such as GPRS or UMTS. A large number of cars, connected together in a diffuse Wireless Sensor Network, allow the elaboration unit to realize some info-layers put at the disposal of a car driver. Traffic, state of the road and other information about the weather can be received by car drivers using an ad hoc developed mobile application for smartphone which can give punctual information related to a specific route, previously set on the mobile phone navigator. The description of some experimental activities is presented, some technical points will be addressed and some examples of applications of the network of cars “as sensors” will be given.
Highlights
Detailed information about traffic, state of the road and weather along a specific route a car is going to take, areHow to cite this paper: Allegretti, M. and Bertoldo, S. (2014) Cars as a Diffuse Network of Road-Environment Monitoring Nodes
The first car turn on the fog lights, the information is sent to the central elaboration unit and the driver of the second car, who has previously set his route on the application, receive the alert for the fog in the 10 kilometers on his smartphone, so he can reduce its speed and turn on the fog lights on his car
The feasibility of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) made by cars was described
Summary
State of the road and weather along a specific route a car is going to take, are. Since 2004 the Remote Sensing Group (RSG), the local unit of Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Fisicadelle Atmosfere e delle Idrosfere (CINFAI) at Politecnico di Torino, started to develop a first fully operational ( experimental) network of short range X-band mini weather radars Their low cost, the lack of any special requirements for installation, practically maintenance-free and the possibility to be remotely controlled with software adjournments, allow their installations almost everywhere. The new conceptual idea of a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for meteorological purposes, traffic and roads monitoring can be technically feasible because, presently, cars are already provided with a set of sensors, systems, and technologies which are commonly used to improve car and passengers’ safety and comfort: ABS (Antilock Breaking System), ESP (Electronic Stability Comfort), tire pressure control and accelerometers, thermometers to give the passengers the indication of the temperature outside the vehicle and possibly turn on or off the automatic air-conditioner and rain sensors, on newer cars, to automatically turn on the windscreen wipers. It is to note that the central collector on the WSN car can be already installed in common commercial cars
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