Enhancing Road Weather Information Through Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII)

Kevin R. Petty Ph.D. and

William P. Mahoney III

National Center for Atmospheric ResearchBoulder, Colorado

AMS Corporate Forum 2007

Weather Impacts Safety, Mobility, and Efficiency

84 49 57 21 235 24 44 55596

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Flood

Lightning

Tornado

Hurricane

HeatCold

Winter Storm

Wind

Total NWS Tracked

Adverse Road WX

Fatalities Per Year

An investigation of vehicle crashes spanning from 1995 through 2004 revealed that each year there are over 1,500,000 crashes that occur during poor weather conditions, which result in more than 690,000 people injured and nearly 7,400 fatalities*

*FHWA/Mitretek Systems

+

+NOAA Surface Weather Program

Mitigating the Impact of Weather

• A vigorous road weather research program aimed at understanding road weather phenomena and the effect of weather on safety, capacity and efficiency

• Improved modeling capabilities and forecast systems

• An integrated observation network and data management system

• Enhanced delivery and communication of road weather information

• New technologies to improve weather and road condition analyses and forecasts.

Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) has the potential to facilitate advancements in each of these areas

DEFINITION: Vehicle to Infrastructure (V-I) and Vehicle to Vehicle (V-V) communication through Dedicated Short Range Communications

(DSRC- wireless radio comm. 5.9 GHz)

What is VII?

RegionalRegionalMessageMessageSwitchSwitch

RegionalRegionalMessageMessageSwitchSwitch

SubscriberApplications

5.9 DSRC

EndUserEndUserDriverDriver

Vehicle #1 Data

Driver interface

On BoardOn BoardEquipmentEquipmentOn BoardOn Board

EquipmentEquipment

Road SideRoad SideEquipmentEquipmentRoad SideRoad SideEquipmentEquipment

DSRCVIISystem

Connects Vehicles and InfrastructureConnects Vehicles and Infrastructure

Vehicle #2 Data

Potential Rural RSE Deployment

10 min spacing @ 60 mph

Urban RSE Deployment

Detroit

2 min spacing @ 20 mph

Probe Message Processes

• Periodic Data – elements that are routinely available for collection (e.g. temperature and vehicle speed)

• Event Data – elements that are available on a irregular basis (e.g. ABS and traction control)

• Snapshot – a collection of vehicle data elements (e.g. temperature, barometric pressure, etc.) valid at a specific time▪ Periodic ▪ Event triggered▪ Start/Stop

• Event triggered and start/stop snapshots have priority over periodic snapshots

Weather-related Vehicle Data Elements• Hours of operation• Elevation • Accelerometer data• Vehicle speed• Heading• Rate of change of steering wheel• Exterior temperature• Windshield wiper setting• Rain sensor• Sun sensor• Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) radar

• Atmospheric Pressure• Ambient noise level • Headlights• Relative humidity • ABS• Traction control• Stability control• Pavement temperature• Brake

DaimlerChrysler Vehicle Data Elements andDetroit (DTX) WSR-88D Data

Diagnosing Boundary Conditions and Precipitation

2006-05-2522:12:13Z

2006-05-2522:57:43Z

Weather Data Translator (WDT)

Processing system toconvert vehicle datainto useful weather & road condition information

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

Improved High-Resolution Modeling

As weather models increase in resolution, observations will need to increase as well to better define the regional/local state of the atmosphere.

Vehicle observations can fill-in the gaps in the fixed observation network.

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

Improved identification of precipitation and precipitation type

Currently, precipitation type is determined by airport observations (METARS) which are few and far between!

Vehicle data (air temperature, and data from maintenance or patrol vehicles) would greatly improve product accuracy.

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

Improved identification of slippery pavement

Anti-lock Braking, Traction Control, and Stability Control systems are designed to monitor wheel events linked to the pavement/tire interface. By making appropriate adjustments to other onboard systems (e.g. throttle, braking, etc.) the greatest amount of traction possible is achieved.

Although these systems do not directly measure friction, it may be possible to derive information on the state of the roadway from event data.

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

Identification of Foggy Regions

The use of vehicle data (relative humidity, fog and head lamp settings, speed, and brake data) coupled with other data sets (e.g., satellite, surface analysis data) could be used to diagnose areas where fog is likely.

This product concept is challenging!

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

Improved air quality predictions

Vehicle data (type, location) could be used to replace averaged datasets to analyze and predict air quality.

Multi-scale

Regional Air

Quality Model

Multi-scale

Regional Air

Quality Model

Meteorological Data

Meteorological Data

Auto Emission Calculatio

n

Auto Emission Calculatio

n

VII Data

VII Data

Regional Air Quality Decision Support

-Current Pollution concentrations-Predicted Pollution concentrations

Regional Air Quality Decision Support

-Current Pollution concentrations-Predicted Pollution concentrations

Macro-scale

Emission Inventory

Macro-scale

Emission Inventory

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

Improved pavement conditions

Vehicle pavement temperature data could be used to fill-in observations from fixed sensor sites.

Potential Weather and Road Condition Improvements

* Identification of slippery pavement* Improved knowledge of pavement temperatures* Improved knowledge of pavement condition (dry, wet, snow covered, etc.)* Reducing radar anomalous propagation (AP)* Improved identification of virga (precipitation not reaching the ground)* Improved identification of precipitation type* Improved identification of foggy regions* Improved characterization of surface conditions for weather models* Improved weather analysis and prediction in complex terrain* Improved air quality monitoring and prediction* Improved diagnosis of boundary layer water vapor

Research Needs and Challenges

•Adoption Rates•Data Volume•Probe Message Proc.•Quality and Accuracy•Data Fusion

Research Needs and Challenges

•Adoption Rates•Data Volume•Probe Message Proc.•Quality and Accuracy•Data Fusion

Research Needs and Challenges

•Adoption Rates•Data Volume•Probe Message Proc.•Quality and Accuracy•Data Fusion

Research Needs and Challenges

•Adoption Rates•Data Volume•Probe Message Proc.•Quality and Accuracy•Data Fusion

Research Needs and Challenges

•Adoption Rates•Data Volume•Probe Message Proc.•Quality and Accuracy•Data Fusion

Road Weather Impact Products

VII enables tactical and strategic response to weather related surface transportation hazards.

New weather and road condition data (incl. VII and Clarus data) should be integrated into a seamless information database(s) to support:

• 511

• In-vehicle information

• Traveler information

• Highway operations

• Control systems

• Weather Prediction

• Road Condition Prediction

• Etc.

Improving Safety, Mobility and Efficiency