Sensor-Friendly Highways: Investigation of Progressive Roadway Changes to Facilitate Deployment of AHS
James A. Misener, Paul Griffiths, Lee Johnson, and Andy Segal

Intelligent “driver assistance” systems that use forward-looking sensors can be supplemented by vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-highway cooperative elements to comprise a “sensor-friendly” highway environment that would enhance these systems' efficiency and safety.

We describe experiments and results from prototypes of three of the potentially nearest term means to realize a cooperative collision avoidance system, which we regard as the first step toward sensor-friendly highways. We describe three potential systems:

· Light Emitting Diode Brake Light Messaging
· Roadside-Mounted Corner Cubes, and
· Passive License Plates.

These technologies all focus on improving the signal-to-noise ratio of a collision avoidance sensor. The LED brakelight messaging and passive license plates increase the signal, by making it easier to detect real vehicles on the roadway (and, in the case of LED brakelight messaging, to provide information on the trajectory of that vehicle). Corner Cubes serve to mark clutter, such as bridge abutments or overpasses, that cannot be moved.

We believe that while experimental results point toward the need for further proof-of-concept refinements, these systems potentially represent technologically sound cooperative vehicle-roadway components, and that indeed, “sensor friendly” systems, when put to the test, can eventually translate into significant benefit in terms of lives saved.

We have identified the current limitations of autonomous sensing systems in target/background discrimination with cluttered highways. Based upon this, and by limiting ourselves to “sensed” (and not wireless) systems, we have conceived relatively inexpensive vehicle-highway cooperative systems to allow those limitations to be mitigated.

Emphasis has been placed on 77 GHz (millimeter wave) automotive radar sensors – a sensor type which is in current use and when improved, will result in improved longitudinal safety products in the near-to-mid term, up through the longer term vision of full vehicle-highway automation. We introduce the concept of sensor-friendly highway systems, describe roadside signatures, and using these as bases, discuss our concepting and experiments several cooperative vehicle-highway concepts.

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