SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

IVS Facilities

Cooperative Systems

Multiagent Systems Engineering (MaSE)

IntelliDrive^SM Technology

Autonomous/Automated Systems

Mobile Robotics Engineering

Active Vehicle Safety and Autonomy (AVSA) Consortium (www.avsa.swri.org)

Mobile Autonomous Robotics Technology Initiative (MARTI™)

Publications

Cooperative systems represent the coordinated interaction of heterogeneous systems to accomplish a unique objective or mission. These heterogeneous systems could be passenger vehicles working with an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) deployed along a roadway or they could be an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) interacting with human-driven vehicles in a military convoy. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is conducting cooperative systems research; exploring how vehicles will interact with other vehicles, infrastructure, and variable road users; determining what data will be important; and defining how traffic management centers, automobile manufacturers, mission commanders, the warfighter, and the travelling public will use the data. Several of these programs are:

• IntelliDrive^SM technology

• Integrating dynamic vehicle probe data into an advanced traffic management system

• Maintaining device anonymity while disseminating information in a 3-D plane

• Development of a heavy-duty probe data system

• Vehicle platoon and wireless adaptive cruise control

• Unattended sensor integration

• Multi-Agent Systems Engineering (MaSE)

• Cooperative sensor sharing

• Cooperative convoy operations

Cooperative Convoy Operations

The concept of vehicle's cooperating through advanced reliable communications can be applied to military environments as well. SwRI has developed a cooperative convoy operations system that allows a convoy of military vehicles to coordinate with a UGV, instructing it to lead upon command and follow where appropriate in various convoy formations.

SwRI engineers developed MARTI™ for commercial applications, including convoy operations, using off-the-shelf components.

Emergency Braking

An example of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system is emergency braking, whereby a lead vehicle notifies a trailing vehicle of a quick stop. Advanced notice of this action is envisioned to reduce the number of rear-end collisions.

SwRI is developing applications that will allow vehicles to alert approaching vehicles of traffic situations, such as in an emergency braking scenario, to help prevent secondary incidents that often occur.

Notification of Emergency Vehicle Trajectory

Vehicle-to-infrastructure communication has the potential to extend traveler information down into individual vehicles thereby notifying drivers of various conditions. In the example below, an ambulance is communicating with a roadside device thereby "informing the intersection" of its trajectory. The infrastructure then disseminates this information to vehicles that may not have otherwise known this was to occur.

Emergency response vehicles with right-of-way, such as ambulances or fire trucks, could alert vehicles nearing an intersection that they were approaching, to more safely and efficiently pass through traffic.

For more information about cooperative vehicle systems capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Ryan D. Lamm at rlamm@swri.org or +1 (210) 522-5350.

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Southwest Research Institute^® (SwRI^®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 12 technical divisions.

November 02, 2009