PB designing infrastructure for connected vehicle project

Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has been selected to design and supervise deployment of technology infrastructure for a US Department of Transportation (US DoT) pilot programme to study the potential of operating connected vehicles on the streets and highways of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Called the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment project, the $15 million research effort is being undertaken by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and its partners on behalf of the US DoT.
April 24, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
2693 Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has been selected to design and supervise deployment of technology infrastructure for a 2364 US Department of Transportation (US DoT) pilot programme to study the potential of operating connected vehicles on the streets and highways of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Called the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment project, the $15 million research effort is being undertaken by the 5186 University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and its partners on behalf of the US DoT. The programme will deploy connected vehicle technologies in Ann Arbor and data from the model deployment will be used to evaluate the potential for this technology to revolutionise automobile safety.

The advanced technology will be tested in a year-long study, which will involve the installation of wireless devices in up to 3,000 vehicles, to allow communication among the vehicles, and between the vehicles and the surrounding roadside equipment. During the deployment US DoT will evaluate the effectiveness of connected vehicle technology to prevent crashes in an everyday environment. Connected vehicle communication is based on Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC).

PB’s role will be to oversee  the infrastructure elements of the project, ensuring that all 29 roadside equipment installations are planned, engineered, procured, installed, integrated, and remain operational according to an extremely aggressive schedule.

Infrastructure will include roadside radio transmitter equipment at 21 signalised intersections, three curve locations, and five freeway sites, a robust communications backhaul network using both wireless and fibre, and facilities to process data and to showcase the system. Infrastructure also includes the replacement of signal controllers and specialised converters along two major corridors that will broadcast signal phase and timing data to vehicles via the DSRC network.

At the conclusion of the model deployment test, Parsons Brinckerhoff will assist the US DoT and UMTRI in any follow-up experiments and/or decommissioning of the roadside equipment.  The project is scheduled for completion in December 2013.
Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Developments in workzone safety systems
    February 8, 2012
    Raising awareness of safety in highway work zones is a global issue, and various initiatives highlight this as Patrick Smith reports. So seriously is work zone safety taken in the United States that each year since 1999 a special week has been set aside to highlight it. Each year in April, National Work Zone Awareness Week is held to bring national attention to motorist and worker safety and mobility issues in work zones.
    Read More
  • Large-scale Australian trial of all-seeing truck driver hazard warning system
    April 24, 2014
    In Australia, New South Wales state government agency Transport for NSW is to conduct a large-scale trial of a system that ‘sees’ around corners and over the crest of hills, warning truck drivers of hazards up to 1km away. The trial of the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) technology will run for five years, using 95 MK4 anti-collision devices provided by Cohda Wireless communicating with roadside hardware on a dedicated 5.9GHz frequency. The first phase will launch in mid-2014, with 30 v
    Read More
  • The GRSF: breaking down barriers
    December 17, 2020
    Improving road safety can be expensive, especially for low- to middle-income countries. The Global Road Safety Facility has been working hard to alleviate the situation
    Read More
  • TISPOL Conference: autonomous vehicles high on safety agenda
    February 2, 2017
    Safety and autonomous vehicles exercised the minds of some of Europe’s senior police officers at the recent TISPOL European Traffic Police Network Conference in the UK. The European Union looks like missing its target of halving the number of people killed on its roads each year by 2020. Just when European police forces are trying to get back on target, along comes the autonomous vehicle with all its inherent safety issues.
    Read More

Highlighted Content