Road environment modeling using robust perspective analysis and recursive Bayesian segmentation

Recently, vision-based advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) have received a new increased interest to enhance driving safety. In particular, due to its high performance–cost ratio, mono-camera systems are arising as the main focus of this field of work. In this paper we present a novel on-board road modeling and vehicle detection system, which is a part of the result of the European I-WAY project. The system relies on a robust estimation of the perspective of the scene, which adapts to the dynamics of the vehicle and generates a stabilized rectified image of the road plane. This rectified plane is used by a recursive Bayesian classi- fier, which classifies pixels as belonging to different classes corresponding to the elements of interest of the scenario. This stage works as an intermediate layer that isolates subsequent modules since it absorbs the inherent variability of the scene. The system has been tested on-road, in different scenarios, including varied illumination and adverse weather conditions, and the results have been proved to be remarkable even for such complex scenarios.

Impact radiologique liés au transport de matières radioactives par route en Espagne / Radiological impact associated with the transport by road of radioactive material in Spain

Questions relating to the transport of radioactive materials are very much an issue of current interest due to the increasing mobility of the materials involved in the nuclear fuel cycle, commitment to the environment, the safety and protection of persons and the corresponding regulatory legal framework. The radiological impact associated with this type of transport was assessed by means of a new data-processing tool that may be of use and serve as complementary documentation to that included in transport regulations. Thus, by determining the level of radiation at a distance of one metre from the transport vehicle and by selecting a route, the associated impacts will be obtained, such as the affected populations, the dose received by the most highly exposed individual, the overall radiological impact, the doses received by the population along the route and the possible detriment to their health. The most important conclusion is that the emissions of ionising radiation from the transport of radioactive material by road in Spain are not significant as regards the generation of adverse effects on human health, and that their radiological impact may be considered negligible.

Vehicular traffic surveillance and road lane detection using radar interferometry

Speed enforcement on public roadways is an important issue in order to guarantee road security and to reduce the number and seriousness of traffic accidents. Traditionally, this task has been partially solved using radar and/or laser technologies and, more recently, using video-camera based systems. All these systems have significant shortcomings that have yet to be overcome. The main drawback of classical Doppler radar technology is that the velocity measurement fails when several vehicles are in the radars beam. Modern radar systems are able to measure speed and range between vehicle and radar. However, this is not enough to discriminate the lane where the vehicle is driving on. The limitation of several vehicles in the beam is overcome using laser technology. However, laser systems have another important limitation: They cannot measure the speed of several vehicles simultaneously. Novel video-camera systems, based on license plate identification, solve the previous drawbacks, but they have the problem that they can only measure average speed but never top-speed. This paper studies the feasibility of using an interferometric linear frequency modulated continuous wave radar to improve top-speed enforcement on roadways. Two different systems based on down-the-road and across-the-road radar configurations are presented. The main advantage of the proposed solutions is they can simultaneously measure speed, range, and lane of several vehicles, allowing the univocal identification of the offenders. A detailed analysis about the operation and accuracy of these solutions is reported. In addition, the feasibility of the proposed techniques has been demonstrated with simulations and real experiments using a Ka-band interferometric radar developed by our research group.

Influence of road noise disturbances on black vulture nesting area: Case of "Cabeza de Hierro" state in Spanish Mediterranean Central Mountain

The real and potential road influence on soundscape is considered a relevant management aspect that can assess the negative effects of massive visitants on such sensitive species -that have been living for centuries in the area-. As a first approach to the study of human disturbances sound impact, acoustic engineering tools allow us to model noise pollution caused by the main road that crosses the state ?Cabeza de Hierro? (M-604). For these preliminary results we use the French method XPS 31-133, recommend at EU level. Noise emission levels in black vulture nesting area are analyzed to understand the influence of human activities on rural areas and road management on biodiversity conservation. This approach develops a useful tool to make compatible the public enjoyment of forest services such as recreation or landscape scenary, the conservation of biodiversity as well as a suitable social and economic activity level ?timber and firewood harvesting, industry?- at the region.

¿Impact from road transport of radioactive wastes in Spain?

Transports of radioactive wastes in Spain are becoming issues of renewed interest, due to the increased mobility of these materials which can be expected after the building and operation of the planned central repository for this country in a near future. Such types of residues will be mainly of the medium and high activity classes and have raised concerns on the safety of the operations, the radiological protection of the individuals, the compliance with the legal regulations and their environmental consequences of all kind. In this study, relevant information for the assessment of radiological risk of road transport were taken into account, as the sources and destination of the radioactive transports, the amount of traveling to be done, the preferred routes and populations affected, the characterization of the residues and containers, their corresponding testing, etc. These data were supplied by different organizations fully related with these activities, like the nuclear power stations, the companies in charge of radioactive transports, the enterprises for inspection and control of the activities, etc., as well as the government institutions which are responsible for the selection and location of the storage facility and other decisions on the nuclear policies of the country. Thus, we have developed a program for computing the data in such a form that by entering the radiation levels at one meter of the transport loads and by choosing a particular displacement, the computer application is capable to calculate the corresponding radiological effects, like the global estimated impact, its relevance to the population in general or on those people living and driving near the main road routes, the doses received by the most exposed individuals (e.g. the workers for loading or driving the vehicle), or the probability of detrimental on the human health. The results of this work could be of help for a better understanding and management of these activities and their related impacts; at the same time that the generated reports of the computer application are considered of particular interest as innovative and complementary information to the current legal documentation, which is basically required for transporting radioactive wastes in the country, according with the international safety rules (like IAEA and ADR).Though main studies are still in progress, as the definite location for the Spanish storage facility has not been decided yet, preliminary results with the existing transports of residues of medium activity indicate that the radiological impact is very low in conventional operations. Nevertheless, the management of these transports is complex and laborious, making it convenient to progress further in the analysis and quantification of this kind of events, which constitutes one of the main objectives of the present study for the radioactive road mobility in Spain.

The Road from Community Ideas to Organisational Innovation: A Life Cycle Survey of Idea Management Systems

This paper introduces a new emerging software component, the idea management system, which helps to gather, organise, select and manage the innovative ideas provided by the communities gathered around organisations or enterprises. We define the notion of the idea life cycle, which provides a framework for characterising tools and techniques that drive the evolution of community submitted data inside idea management systems. Furthermore, we show the dependencies between the community-created information and the enterprise processes that are a result of using idea management systems and point out the possible benefits.

Dynamic analysis of road vehicle-bridge systems under turbulent wind by means of Finite Element Models

When an automobile passes over a bridge dynamic effects are produced in vehicle and structure. In addition, the bridge itself moves when exposed to the wind inducing dynamic effects on the vehicle that have to be considered. The main objective of this work is to understand the influence of the different parameters concerning the vehicle, the bridge, the road roughness or the wind in the comfort and safety of the vehicles when crossing bridges. Non linear finite element models are used for structures and multibody dynamic models are employed for vehicles. The interaction between the vehicle and the bridge is considered by contact methods. Road roughness is described by the power spectral density (PSD) proposed by the ISO 8608. To consider that the profiles under right and left wheels are different but not independent, the hypotheses of homogeneity and isotropy are assumed. To generate the wind velocity history along the road the Sandia method is employed. The global problem is solved by means of the finite element method. First the methodology for modelling the interaction is verified in a benchmark. Following, the case of a vehicle running along a rigid road and subjected to the action of the turbulent wind is analyzed and the road roughness is incorporated in a following step. Finally the flexibility of the bridge is added to the model by making the vehicle run over the structure. The application of this methodology will allow to understand the influence of the different parameters in the comfort and safety of road vehicles crossing wind exposed bridges. Those results will help to recommend measures to make the traffic over bridges more reliable without affecting the structural integrity of the viaduct

Some past decision theory models for euro construction model codes and for road drainage in Spain, and modest hints with multi-criteria methods for agro and environmental assurance

The authors are from UPM and are relatively grouped, and all have intervened in different academic or real cases on the subject, at different times as being of different age. With precedent from E. Torroja and A. Páez in Madrid Spain Safety Probabilistic models for concrete about 1957, now in ICOSSAR conferences, author J.M. Antón involved since autumn 1967 for euro-steel construction in CECM produced a math model for independent load superposition reductions, and using it a load coefficient pattern for codes in Rome Feb. 1969, practically adopted for European constructions, giving in JCSS Lisbon Feb. 1974 suggestion of union for concrete-steel-al.. That model uses model for loads like Gumbel type I, for 50 years for one type of load, reduced to 1 year to be added to other independent loads, the sum set in Gumbel theories to 50 years return period, there are parallel models. A complete reliability system was produced, including non linear effects as from buckling, phenomena considered somehow in actual Construction Eurocodes produced from Model Codes. The system was considered by author in CEB in presence of Hydraulic effects from rivers, floods, sea, in reference with actual practice. When redacting a Road Drainage Norm in MOPU Spain an optimization model was realized by authors giving a way to determine the figure of Return Period, 10 to 50 years, for the cases of hydraulic flows to be considered in road drainage. Satisfactory examples were a stream in SE of Spain with Gumbel Type I model and a paper of Ven Te Chow with Mississippi in Keokuk using Gumbel type II, and the model can be modernized with more varied extreme laws. In fact in the MOPU drainage norm the redacting commission acted also as expert to set a table of return periods for elements of road drainage, in fact as a multi-criteria complex decision system. These precedent ideas were used e.g. in wide Codes, indicated in symposia or meetings, but not published in journals in English, and a condensate of contributions of authors is presented. The authors are somehow involved in optimization for hydraulic and agro planning, and give modest hints of intended applications in presence of agro and environment planning as a selection of the criteria and utility functions involved in bayesian, multi-criteria or mixed decision systems. Modest consideration is made of changing in climate, and on the production and commercial systems, and on others as social and financial.

ROAD: Domestic Assistant and Rehabilitation Robot

This study introduces the concept design and analysis of a robotic system for the assistance and rehabilitation of disabled people. Based on the statistical data of the most common types of disabilities in Spain and other industrialized countries, the different tasks that the device must be able to perform have been determined. In this study, different robots for rehabilitation and assistance previously introduced have been reviewed. This survey is focused on those robots that assist with gait, balance and standing up. The structure of the ROAD robot presents various advantages over these robots, we discuss some of them. The performance of the proposed architecture is analyzed when it performs the sit to stand activity.

Energy- and environmentally efficient road management: The case of the Spanish motorway network

Transport is responsible for 41% of CO2 emissions in Spain, and around 65% of that figure is due to road traffic. Tolled motorways are currently managed according to economic criteria: minimizing operational costs and maximizing revenues from tolls. Within this framework, this paper develops a new methodology for managing motorways based on a target of maximum energy efficiency. It includes technological and demand-driven policies, which are applied to two case studies. Various conclusions emerge from this study. One is, that the use of intelligent payment systems is recommended; and another, is that the most sustainable policy would involve defining the most efficient strategy for each motorway section, including the maximum use of its capacity, the toll level which attracts the most vehicles, and the optimum speed limit for each type of vehicle.

Improving the analysis of road pricing acceptability surveys by using hybrid models

Several international studies have analyzed the acceptability of road pricing schemes by means of an attitude survey in combination with the results of a stated choice experiment using both a descriptive analysis and a discrete-choice model with binary choice (?accept? or ?not accept? the toll). However, the use of hybrid discrete choice models constitutes an innovative alternative for integrating subjective attitudes and perceptions deriving from the survey of attitudes with the more objective variables from the stated choice experiment. This paper analyzes the results of applying these models to measure the acceptability of interurban road pricing among different groups of stakeholders (road freight and passenger operators, highway concessionaires, and associations of private car users) with qualitatively significant opinions on road pricing measures. Our results show that hybrid models are better suited to explaining the acceptability of a road pricing scheme by different groups of stakeholders than a separate analysis of the survey of attitudes and a discrete-choice model applied on a stated choice experiment. A particular finding was that the strong psycho-social latent variable of the perception of fairness explains the rejection or acceptance of a toll scheme by road stakeholders.

Contribution of the noise radiated by a single vehicle to the road traffic noise

El ruido del tráfico rodado supone aproximadamente la mitad del ruido global ambiental. Las técnicas de control de ruido habitual en emisión (límites de emisión de vehículos) e inmisión (barreras acústicas, doble acristalamiento) no han sido suficientes para disminuir significativamente las molestias por el tráfico rodado en las últimas tres décadas. El efecto positivo de estas técnicas de control ha sido contrarrestado por el aumento de la densidad del tráfico. Por otra parte, la molestia del ruido del tráfico está altamente correlacionada con los niveles máximos de ruido (MNL), producidos por lo general por conductores agresivos. Sin embargo, los sistemas actuales de medición de ruido de tráfico se basan en una valoración global, por lo que no son capaces de discriminar entre los conductores silenciosos y ruidosos. Por lo tanto, en esta tesis se propone un sistema de medida de ruido en el campo cercano, que es capaz de medir la contribución de cada vehículo individual al ruido del tráfico rodado, permitiendo la detección de los conductores ruidosos. Este trabajo describe también una combinación de investigaciones analíticas y experimentales para la identificación de los conductores responsables de la generación de niveles máximos de ruido. El sistema se basa en dos micrófonos embarcados, uno para el ruido del motor y otro para el ruido de rodadura. Con el fin de relacionar estas mediciones de campo cercano con el ruido de los vehículos radiado al campo lejano, se desarrolla un procedimiento completo para la extrapolación del ruido medido por los micrófonos de campo próximo a las posiciones de campo lejano, usando una combinación de predicción analítica y mediciones experimentales. Las correcciones para los niveles extrapolados se deben a factores atmosféricos, al término de divergencia esférica y a las condiciones de absorción de la superficie de propagación. Para el micrófono situado próximo al motor, es necesario también caracterizar las propiedades acústicas del capó del motor. Ambos niveles de ruido se extrapolan de forma independiente a la posición de campo lejano, donde se realiza una comparación entre la predicción y mediciones para confirmar que la metodología es fiable para estimar el impacto a distancia del ruido de tráfico

The interurban DRAG-Spain model: the main factors of influence on road accidents in Spain

This paper presents the results of applying DRAG methodology to the identification of the main factors of influence on the number of injury and fatal accidents occurring on Spain’s interurban network. Nineteen independent variables have been included in the model grouped together under ten categories: exposure, infrastructure, weather, drivers, economic variables, vehicle stock, surveillance, speed and legislative measures. Highly interesting conclusions can be reached from the results on the basis of the different effects of a single variable on each of the accident types according to severity. The greatest influence revealed by the results is exposure, which together with inexperienced drivers, speed and an ageing vehicle stock, have a negative effect, while the increased surveillance on roads, the improvement in the technological features of vehicles and the proportion of high capacity networks have a positive effect, since the results obtained show a significant drop in accidents.

Comparasion of road traffic emission models in Madrid (Spain)

Many cities in Europe have difficulties to meet the air quality standards set by the European legislation, most particularly the annual mean Limit Value for NO2. Road transport is often the main source of air pollution in urban areas and therefore, there is an increasing need to estimate current and future traffic emissions as accurately as possible. As a consequence, a number of specific emission models and emission factors databases have been developed recently. They present important methodological differences and may result in largely diverging emission figures and thus may lead to alternative policy recommendations. This study compares two approaches to estimate road traffic emissions in Madrid (Spain): the COmputer Programme to calculate Emissions from Road Transport (COPERT4 v.8.1) and the Handbook Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA v.3.1), representative of the ‘average-speed’ and ‘traffic situation’ model types respectively. The input information (e.g. fleet composition, vehicle kilometres travelled, traffic intensity, road type, etc.) was provided by the traffic model developed by the Madrid City Council along with observations from field campaigns. Hourly emissions were computed for nearly 15 000 road segments distributed in 9 management areas covering the Madrid city and surroundings. Total annual NOX emissions predicted by HBEFA were a 21% higher than those of COPERT. The discrepancies for NO2 were lower (13%) since resulting average NO2/NOX ratios are lower for HBEFA. The larger differences are related to diesel vehicle emissions under “stop & go” traffic conditions, very common in distributor/secondary roads of the Madrid metropolitan area. In order to understand the representativeness of these results, the resulting emissions were integrated in an urban scale inventory used to drive mesoscale air quality simulations with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modelling system (1 km2 resolution). Modelled NO2 concentrations were compared with observations through a series of statistics. Although there are no remarkable differences between both model runs, the results suggest that HBEFA may overestimate traffic emissions. However, the results are strongly influenced by methodological issues and limitations of the traffic model. This study was useful to provide a first alternative estimate to the official emission inventory in Madrid and to identify the main features of the traffic model that should be improved to support the application of an emission system based on “real world” emission factors.

Emission factors from road dust resuspension in a Mediterranean freeway

Particulate matter emissions from paved roads are currently one of the main challenges for a sustainable transport in Europe. Emissions are scarcely estimated due to the lack of knowledge about the resuspension process severely hampering a reliable simulation of PM and heavy metals concentrations in large cities and evaluation of population exposure. In this study the Emission Factors from road dust resuspension on a Mediterranean freeway were estimated per single vehicle category and PM component (OC, EC, mineral dust and metals) by means of the deployment of vertical profiles of passive samplers and terminal concentration estimate. The estimated PM10 emission factors varied from 12 to 47 mg VKT?1 (VKT: Vehicle Kilometer Traveled) with an average value of 22.7 ? 14.2 mg VKT?1. Emission Factors for heavy and light duty vehicles, passenger cars and motorbikes were estimated, based on average fleet composition and EPA ratios, in 187e733 mg VKT?1, 33e131 VKT?1, 9.4e36.9 VKT?1 and 0.8e3.3 VKT?1, respectively. These range of values are lower than previous estimates in Mediterranean urban roads, probably due to the lower dust reservoir on freeways. PM emitted material was dominated by mineral dust (9e10 mg VKT?1), but also OC and EC were found to be major components and approximately 14 e25% and 2e9% of average PM exhaust emissions from diesel passenger cars on highways respectively.