This study explores the use of inter vehicle communication to enhance road safety and traffic management. A vehicle's engine control unit (ECU) manages and controls various sensor signals and determines the output in terms of torque, fuel quantity and actuator positions. The data available in the ECU is however restricted only to that particular vehicle where it was generated. This work presents a scenario where critical data from each vehicle is broadcasted and a dynamic adhoc network of vehicles is formed. The algorithms in the ECU then detect possible collisions, decide which vehicle should take action and alert the driver with the most optimum response. The analysis presented here is based on simulation data.Traffic management is achieved with modules placed along the road, which collect the broadcasted data. Modules, after analyzing traffic density and average speeds, interact with neighboring modules. This traffic information is broadcasted to all vehicles in close proximity to the traffic modules. The vehicle uses this information along with details from the navigation system to reroute the automobile to avoid high traffic areas.
I.INTRODUCTIONodern day automobiles consist of over 80 processors dealing with a plethora of information. Of these, the most important is the engine control unit (ECU), which deals with engine management, fuel management, dashboard information management, communication control and many other tasks. There is a lot of information present in the ECU especially in terms of vehicle speed, stability, acceleration, steering angle, brake position, average speed, trip meter etc.
MHowever on road, the information present in one car is restricted only to that car and is not available for other users of the road. In our system, we hope that all cars are equipped with wireless cards so that there is possibility of interaction of one car with the outside world. In this system, all cars on the road will exchange information with each other. This will enable each car to detect collisions and alert the driver, thereby enhancing the safety and comfort of driving. The exchange would happen without the knowledge of driver and the driver would be prompted only when action is required.Currently existing systems use sensors to measure the proximity of the other vehicle for assisting the drivers. The main disadvantage of such an arrangement is that the sensors have a limited resolution. Also their accuracy reduces in case of low lighting or harsh environment conditions. For current cars, the benefit of this system would be limited to driver notification through dashboard warning lights and indicators of safety situations. The dashboard would alert the user of the imminent danger and can provide suitable solutions to avoid the same. A study of rear end and chain accidents [1] showed that 28% of accidents in US were caused by short car following distance. This number was close to half (13%) in Europe and was 33% in Presented at NAECON 2009. Australia. For preventing these rear end collisions, an increas...