Gabriel DeRuwe and Dr. Richard Wall Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

1. Pedestrian Navigation and Integration with Distributed Smart Signals Traffic Controls Gabriel DeRuwe and Dr. Richard Wall Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

2. Presentation Outline • Infrastructure issues • Problem statement • Required infrastructure modifications • Solution research • Testing results IECON 08

3. Smart Signals ResearchAdvanced Pedestrian Assistant • What is it: • A handheld device for activation of pedestrian calls • Provides orientation and guidance information to user while in intersection • Interacts with traffic controller to protect user • Why is it needed: • 4.3 million Americans are severely visually impaired • Incidence increases with age • By 2010, expect there to be 20 million visually impaired persons over age 45 IECON 08

4. Problems Identified • Infrastructure Problems: impediments for vision and mobility impaired • Inaccessible Pedestrian Button • Difficult to find • Unusual intersection geometries • Difficult to know if you’ve gone off course IECON 08

5. Infrastructure Problems: ergonomics Problems Identified Difficult to re-orient after pushing the button • Difficult to observe pedestrian signals • Difficult to know when to cross IECON 08

6. Eliminate need for finding the Pedestrian Call Button Inform the intersection where the user wishes to cross Provide the user with the state of the Pedestrian Signals Goals – Solve the problem IECON 08

7. Track user in the cross walk Provide navigational cues to the user Extend walk time to ensure that the user reaches their destination Goals – Solve the problem IECON 08

8. NTCIP Smart Signals • Ethernet Distributed control • Uses NTCIP MIB objects • Safety Critical Network based upon IEEE 1588 PTP • Utilizes 200MB Ethernet over power line for field wiring • Uses existing infrastructure and wiring IECON 08

9. -Ped Controller Communicates with TC - Ped Controller Communicates with Ped Buttons - Ped Button Communicates with remote device System Integration IECON 08

10. Smarts Pedestrian Signals Software Pedestrian Call • Information Flow Diagram • 220 ms network update Control Network NTCIP based communication -Encrypted Ethernet over Power line Communications (BPL)- IECON 08

11. Technology Selected – Custom Less than 1.5 in by 3.5 in Operate 5 days on a 9V battery Electronic compass Standard GPS Standard radio modem (IEEE 802.15.4) Hardware costs less than $250 IECON 08

12. Technology Selected – Nokia 6210 • Nokia 6210 Navigator • Existing hardware • Magnetic Compass • GPS • Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1) • Software APIs IECON 08

13. Remote Pedestrian Call • Pedestrian call placed • Pedestrian signal information displayed on phone • Red for solid hand • Green for walk symbol • Yellow for flashing hand 9/29/2014 IECON 08 13

14. Green – Crosswalk Yellow – Immediately outside of crosswalk Red – Danger zone GPS Tracking IECON 08

15. GPS Tracking Testing • Slow LED blink in “green” region • Rapid LED blink outside of “green” region • Returns to slow LED blink rate when user returns to “green” region • LED off when user reaches destination 9/29/2014 IECON 08 15

16. 20 trials of walking 24 feet in a straight line Black lines indicate the edges of a cross walk (8 ft.) All of the trials tracked the user within the cross walk GPS Tracking Results IECON 08

17. User travel waypoints: (7, 20) ft North, East (0, 40) ft North, East 25 Trials Average < 4ft off at destination GPS Tracking Results IECON 08

18. Research continues on methods for assisting at risk pedestrians in safely crossing signalized intersections Technology is promising but not reliable Nokia cell phone integrates navigational and orientation with communications Infrastructure is needed to enable this technology Conclusion IECON 08