VPWS

On Nov 8th, there was an accident on Agra-Mathura express way which was due to snow/fog. If you haven't watched it, watch the video below, before reading further:

• The accident was due to weather conditions i.e. dense fog mixed with polluted air
• The accident was due to poor/no visibility.
• After accident happened between first two vehicles, others hit them because they couldn't see those vehicles which met with the accident.
• In addition, People hasn't followed traffic rule of switching on fog lights/hazard flashers.

So, everywhere accident cause is mostly the same "VISIBILITY" and nature can't be beaten.

This scenario can be circumvented using technology. here is my serendipitous thought which came from the above reasons.

• When a car is moving, we can get its location using GPS.
• An object's existence can be found using doppler effect, sound reflection.
• In the cockpit display EGPWS displays air craft's position w.r.t current terrains with help of preloaded maps.

We can use them as below:

• We can use google maps for getting the road maps of current GPS location. 
• We can combine doppler effect and reflection of sound waves/light waves to measure the distance of an object vehicle from your vehicle as below:


• We can have devices may be 4, on four sides of a vehicle which and emit/receive a sound/light wave.
• Based on the reflection speed and time taken for travel, we can approximate the position of an object from the our's.
• Taking the GPS location we can graphically show on a map their vehicle and other vehicle scaled distances, to give an awareness to the driver about the traffic and warn if necessary.
• 
• A minimum of 17 mts required for reflection to work properly. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H1abPcHFwk)
• Doppler effect can be combined with above sound reflection, to know existence of an object and  use reflection later can be an optimisation.
• We would need to handle the below issues:
• Reverberation: when a wave hits and object reflected wave hits another etc. how to handle it?
• Wave identification: I have sent 10 waves in a direction. Wave 1 reflected immediately due to near by object. each wave was sent at (lets say) 3 degree inclined from wave 1 origin. then due to difference in angle of projection, wave direction differs so some can hit and come back some take longer time. how to identify which was sent in which direction. so, it will become complex when multiple objects found near by. need find a way for this like use different wave length's etc depending on the scenario.
• Road Bends: Need to think of handling turns/road bends. 
• We can join the above two into a display and show the user in a display like an EGPWS and warn the driver about the near by vehicles/possible hit.

If we can assist with next 5-10mins it would be good enough and beyond that it would be tough to get accurately as well. a car travelling at 60 kmph, would couver 5 kms in 5 mins which is very good amount of distance on a road way.

so, the final display i am assuming to be like NFS game minimap display.

This is the initial thought. Need to do perform some research about possibility of identifying vehicle using above method and consider the time taken for reflection and rendering and the distance our vehicle in that time. All should happen in nano seconds. so, careful while choosing the technology and hardware.

Need to look for ?market? & adaptability - will update it later.

I call it VPWS  - Vehicle Proximity Warning System.

EGPWS was successful because FAA mandated it, we cant expect that in on-ground vehicles. Rules can't be imposed, only customer should adopt it.

At the end, a system device should be required to prevent accidents happening due to fog/smoke as humans don't follow the rules. They don't even follow thumb rule of driving, don't go when you can't see.

OR

We can think a bit different here. we may not need maps. Just have a sensor, which measures visibility of the driver and turn on the hazard lamps automatically. It serves the purpose i hope.

Need handle below conditions:

• Cleaning: Visibility prediction/measuring device should also be cleaned periodically which often cant be expected. so need to device a automatic way.
• When fog is dense even hazard flashes can't help, in that case the VPWS comes handy.

If i think deeply,

1. Idea 1 - map idea - gives a feel that it will help you, your safety.
2. Idea 2 - blinkers idea - give a feel that you need to install to help others (of course which in turn helps him/her)