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Browsing by Author "Vaughan, Elijah W."

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    Multi-Incident Response Vehicle
    Vaughan, Elijah W.; Wiens, John; English, Michael; Frye, Jacob (Safe-D National UTC, 2023-07)
    The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) project team led a collaborative effort with Neaera Consulting Group to develop and integrate a Multi-Incident Response Vehicle (MIRV) into the Safely Operating Automated Driving Systems (SOADS) vehicle. The MIRV vehicle will be applied as one technical solution to how automated driving systems can be designed to interact safely with public safety in challenging scenarios. This project explored whether a MIRV can extend the perception of an ADS to beyond the vehicle by providing eyes on the ground for better situational awareness, deploy flares to secure a scene surrounding a driverless vehicle, and communicate with emergency, safety, and police personnel. The MIRV will be docked underneath the SOADS F-150 vehicle and can be automatically deployed for both autonomous operation and remote teleoperations. Control and supervision of the MIRV will be possible through the cloud, accessible via mobile device and remote fleet management software. The MIRV will potentially demonstrate a new application of autonomous technology in transportation that could greatly improve safety by performing dangerous tasks, allowing passengers to remain safely in the vehicle while it is disposed on the roadway, or perform necessary functions outside the vehicle when there are no passengers at all.
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    Smart Work Zone System
    Talledo Vilela, Jean Paul; Mollenhauer, Michael A.; White, Elizabeth E.; Vaughan, Elijah W.; Burdisso, Daniel (Safe-D National UTC, 2022-10)
    In the previous Safe-D project 04-104, a prototype wearable Personal Protective Equipment vest that accurately localizes, monitors, and predicts potential collisions between work zone (WZ) workers and passing motorists was developed and demonstrated. The system also notifies the worker when they’re about to depart geo-fenced safe areas within WZs. While the design supported a successful functional demonstration, additional design iteration was required to simplify, ruggedize, and reduce per unit costs to increase the likelihood of broader adoption. In addition, two new useful components were identified that support a more effective deployment package. One of these components is a Base Station that provides an edge computing environment for alert algorithm processing, consolidates communications of individual worker positions via a 4G link to a cloud computing environment, and can be coupled with a local roadside unit to support the broadcast of WZ information to connected and automated vehicles. The second component is a Smart Cone device that was added to help automatically define safe area boundaries and improve communications reliability between workers and the Base Station. This entire package was developed to support a broader scale deployment of the technology by the Virginia Department of Transportation.