ROAD NAIL: EXPERIMENTAL SOLAR POWERED INTELLIGENT ROAD MARKING SYSTEM

Dragan Samardžija – Nikola Teslić – Branislav M. Todorović
– Erne Kovač – Dorde Isailović – Bojan Miladinović

   Driving in low visibility conditions (night time, fog or heavy precipitation) is particularly challenging task with an increased probability of traffic accidents and possible injuries. Road Nail is a solar powered intelligent road marking system of wirelessly networked signaling devices that improve driver safety in low visibility conditions along hazardous roadways. Nails or signaling devices are autonomous nodes with capability to accumulate energy, exchange wireless messages, detect approaching vehicles and emit signalization light. We have built an experimental test-bed that consists of 20 nodes and a cellular gateway. Implementation details of the above system, including extensive measurements and performance evaluations in realistic field deployments are presented. A novel distributed network topology discovery scheme is proposed which integrates both sensor and wireless communication aspects, where nodes act autonomously. Finally, integration of the Road Nail system with the cellular network and the Internet is described.

Keywords: road safety, smart roads, wireless sensor network, vehicle-to-infrastructure

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