Emergency Response: How dedicated short range communication will help in the future. Matthew Henchey and Tejswaroop Geetla, University at Buffalo

Transcription

1 Emergency Response: How dedicated short range communication will help in the future. 1.0 Introduction Matthew Henchey and Tejswaroop Geetla, University at Buffalo Dedicated short range communication (DSRC) will be an important technology in the coming years as the transportation system in the United States shifts to an advanced network of connected vehicles, sensors and communication hubs. DSRC will play a major part as one of the links that will aid in connecting the network and allowing information to flow between vehicles and roadside infrastructure. This advanced network will be crucial in improving the safety of its users in terms of both mitigation and avoidance of traffic accidents as well as improving the emergency response in the case when accidents may be unavoidable do to either user or system error. The mitigation and avoidance of traffic accidents has been the focus of much of the current research into the uses of DSRC in transportation as it will greatly improve upon the safety of users of the transportation system. For example the current state-of-the-art in several automobile manufacturers is using radar and camera technology to assess the distance between two vehicles and aiding in stopping or slowing down in order to avoid or mitigate an accident. However radar and camera technology has obvious limitations as it operates in a small range of distance and may be affected by weather and other debris. The use of DSRC in improved accident avoidance and mitigation has already been shown in the Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems (CICAS) 1. CICAS is able to look further than current technology based on radar and cameras and actually see the information about other vehicles and infrastructure in the nearby areas. This enables the vehicles to display information to drivers and aid in the decision process of what should be done in order to avoid a possible accident. This could also be integrated with active braking systems which not only notify drivers of possible collisions but aid in stopping or slowing to avoid the accident. While the mitigation and avoidance of traffic accidents is a very important to the safety of users of the transportation system, DSRC may also be used to improve upon emergency response efforts in the unfortunate event that there traffic accidents. The focus of ideas for this discussion will be on how DSRC can be used in such an event and how emergency response can be improved from this technology. It is important to note that the effects of a traffic accident can have a large impact on the transportation system, such as increased congestion, higher risks of additional accidents and negative environmental impacts due to possible chemical exposure and increased exhaust emissions from vehicles caught in the congestion resulting from the accident. 1 Last accessed on 4/28/11

2 2.0 Improved Emergency Response: An Application of DSRC Technology The overall concept of improved emergency response includes using DSRC technology in conjunction with other long range communication to create situational awareness for the emergency responders, in order to aid in assessing the accident, assessing the best options for response, and continuously providing both responders and other users of the transportation system with an awareness of their current situation. This application would aid in creating a safer environment for users of the transportation network as well as emergency responders. In order to do this there would be interdependencies and reliance upon other DSRC technologies that would have to be established prior to the emergency response application as well as data fusion techniques to create situational awareness. With a large amount of data being transmitted by on-board vehicle sensors as well as infrastructure sensors, data fusion is necessary in order to process this data and make it usable and understandable to users of the transportation system. 2.1 Users and Value to Society There are three types of users that will gain from this application. The first type of user is those who are actually involved in the accident. As accidents range from minor one car accidents to major multi-car accidents as well as accidents involving large trucks and hazardous material, it is important to understand who exactly is involved. The benefit this type of user will gain is a direct result of the improved emergency response: a faster response and initial treatment, as well as possibly an increased chance of recovery due to the improved response. The second type of user is the emergency responders. DSRC technology will enable emergency responders to receive information about traffic leading to the accident and best routes that they should take based on vehicle to vehicle communication as well as vehicle to infrastructure communication, as well as communicating with nearby vehicles that an emergency vehicle is approaching. It will also enable emergency responders to trigger traffic lights if necessary in order to improve further upon their response time. Using DSRC in conjunction with long range communication, such as cell phone systems, the emergency responders can also gain situational awareness before arriving at the scene, such as the number of people and vehicles involved as well as any possible hazardous materials involved. Upon arriving at the scene of the accident DSRC can be further used as each responder could have some type of device actually attached to them which allows them to relay information to other responders and their vehicle, which in turn could send it to response centers to prepare other responders or other organizations that will be involved.

3 The third type of users are those who will receive information from the vehicles involved in the accident that are nearby, letting them know that an accident has occurred and that they should proceed with caution. Furthermore dynamic message signs may display as well as communicate with vehicles as they pass by where exactly the accident has occurred and what type of delays they may expect on the current road. Each of these users will gain benefit from DSRC as they will transmit and receive information about the accident or nearby areas leading to the accident. Allowing all users to share information about the severity and location of the accident will help those involved in the accident to receive a better response, emergency responders to give a better response, and others to avoid the area if possible so that they do not create a burden on the response. In the case of accidents involving hazardous material, DSRC can be further used in tracking possible chemical exposure through both on-board vehicle sensors as well as infrastructure sensors. This information could then be shared with users of the transportation system and people outside of the transportation system that may be in homes or other buildings. DSRC technology could be used in informing people of necessary evacuations much more quickly than traditional means as well as giving them much more information on either in-vehicle or in-home notification devices. 2.2 Interdependencies There will be a large amount of interdependency between vehicles and transportation and non-transportation infrastructure, as well as emergency responders, using both DSRC technology and long range communication technology. This is necessary to allow information to be shared in a larger area as accidents can have a wide spread effect on a transportation system. 1. Vehicles a. On-board sensing equipment will play a crucial role in helping emergency responders understand what has happened prior to reaching the scene of the accident. These on-board sensors can communicate with the vehicle which in turn will send this information via DSRC to nearby vehicles as well as nearby infrastructure such as dynamic message signs and emergency response centers. Information sent to nearby vehicles and dynamic message signs will only be where the accident has happened and a possible severity level. In turn these vehicles can aid in the decision of continuing on the current road or finding an alternate route to alleviate congestion. Information sent to emergency responders either via DSRC if they are within the range or long range communication otherwise will be much more detailed. This could include the number of people involved, any hazardous materials involved, possible injuries

4 to expect based on vehicle speeds and crash details and the location of the accident. b. For vehicles not involved in the accident but traveling nearby DSRC technology can be used to communicate the location and speed of these vehicles to other nearby vehicles as well as infrastructure. This will help others gain a better understanding of their current situation and what they should do to either avoid or proceed past the accident. c. Emergency responders will be able to transmit their location to nearby vehicles in order to alert them that they may need to allow an emergency vehicle to pass. When at the scene of the accident the emergency vehicle can also act as a warning beacon to transmit the fact that there is an emergency and action is being taken to help those involved. Furthermore emergency vehicles could also act as communication hubs for responders which use DSRC technology to transmit data back to their vehicle about the people they are treating and in turn send that data along to the emergency response center or other organizations. Figure 1: Possible DSRC Between Users 2. Transportation Infrastructure a. Emergency response centers and dynamic message boards can be used in conjunction with each other to send information out about the accident location and severity to those not involved in the accident. This may also require the use

5 of long range communication as the response center will likely not be located near the accident. b. Traffic signals can be changed as emergency responders approach in order to further decrease the response time as well as let other drivers know why the light has been changed. c. Roadside sensors will also of great importance and can be used to assess accidents. For example the data from two acoustic sensors could be sent to a nearby data fusion mote in order to assess the location of an accident along with data sent by other vehicles and sensors. Figure 2: Possible DSRC and Long Range Communication Between Users and Infrastructure 3. Non-transportation Infrastructure a. In the event that DSRC is not able to communicate the necessary information between vehicles and infrastructure and long range communication technology is needed, cell phone systems may be needed in order to relay information about the accident. This can be seen in many current vehicle accident notification systems in use presently. b. Other emergency notification systems may need to be used in the case of a very hazardous material spill in order to notify nearby residents or buildings that an evacuation is necessary. DSRC could also be used in this sense as local hubs

6 could communicate directly with home warning systems, however this does not apply to transportation systems so this idea will not be expanded. Figure 3: Interdependency with Other Systems 4. Emergency Responders a. As previously mentioned emergency responders will greatly aid in DSRC especially while at the scene of an accident. DSRC will enable them to transmit information among themselves as well as their vehicles and in turn with emergency response centers. b. Given a hazardous material spill emergency responders could also deploy additional sensors when arriving at the scene in order to determine where the spill is going. This could aid in assessing any areas that should be evacuated, in which case dynamic message signs and vehicle to vehicle communication could be used to pass along information about avoiding or leaving an area. Figure 4: DSRC Among Emergency Responders and Emergency Vehicles

7 In order to better illustrate the interdependencies among all of these features please refer to the following figure. This figure shows how vehicles, infrastructure and people will communicate in the event of an accident to allow everyone to better understand the situation. Figure 5: Emergency Response Application Example Essentially the overall system will include many aspects that are already being considered and developed but use it in order to aid in emergency response. Rather than just using DSRC technology to allow users to gain a better understanding of the transportation system and what is happening nearby it will actually aid in improving emergency response. 3.0 Reliance on DSRC and other DSRC Applications As mentioned previously there is a fairly high reliance on DSRC technology as well as DSRC applications that have already been started. For example CICAS is a great application in which the emergency response application can use as a platform to build upon. Rather than just focusing on intersections however the emergency response approach would like to see a much greater involvement and have information about vehicle location and speed available to surrounding vehicles. Combining current technologies used for collision mitigation and avoidance as described in the introduction with DSRC technology is likely the next path in this

8 approach. This could provide real time communication between all vehicles that are within range. Building up to the emergency response application will likely include steps that are already under way using DSRC technology given the age of CICAS. The emergency response application looks to benefit from all of the steps needed, such as vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication, that will likely be developed in the future due to the move towards more advance transportation systems. These systems will not only aid in emergency response but will be responsible for increased safety, reduced congestion and improved quality of life for users of the transportation system. 4.0 Future Needs for Implementation Prior to implementing the emergency response application there are many other areas that must be further studied, including data fusion, user volunteered information, sensors and DSRC devices. 4.1 Data Fusion With the large number of sensors and infrastructure that will be needed in order to implement many ideas that are being developed to use DSRC technology, one important need that goes along with the emergency response application is data fusion. All of this data from DSRC will need to be processed prior to be delivered to human users as they will not be able to understand and organize the data to make effective decisions. Data fusion as a tool can be used to combine data coming from various sources to produce useful and understandable information. On a large network of roadside infrastructure facilities with various sensors the usage of data fusion becomes necessary. DSRC acts as one of the links that will aid in connecting the network and allowing information to flow between vehicles and roadside infrastructure. This data from DSRC can be combined with data from other infrastructure sensors using data fusion. The output from data fusion will be complete and informative for emergency response. Data fusion will aid in processing large amounts of data in order to present a situational awareness model to users of the transportation system. This model will enable users to make better decisions which in turn can affect the safety of the entire system. 4.2 User Volunteered Information To better understand and assess an actual accident there will be a need in the future to figure out exactly what information is shared with emergency responders and other users of the system. Due to privacy issues it is likely that user information will have to be volunteered for things such as user health conditions, blood type, etc. in order have an even greater

9 understanding of the type of response needed at the accident scene. This could also aid the data fusion and decision makers in determine what type of response is needed. Users would have to feel that this information is secure and would only be accessed by the appropriate people. 4.3 Sensors and other DSRC Devices A study of different sensors that could be used in vehicles as well as transportation infrastructure would also be needed in order to determine the benefits for including different sensors into the overall emergency response application. These sensors could also be used in helping users of the transportation system when there is no accident present, such as traffic count sensors which would help to suggest alternate routes users should take due to congestion on roadways that they would otherwise use. With respect to DSRC technology sensors would also have to have the capability of transmitting data from their location to the appropriate place whether it is a vehicle or infrastructure. 5.0 Potential Impact of the Emergency Response Application This application would be a driving force behind many other DSRC applications that are being considered or even developed currently. It would pull from many other applications in order to provide situational awareness to all users of the transportation system. When other DSRC applications may fail in preventing accidents, this DSRC application will be used in order to create an improved emergency response as well as notify users of what exactly is going on in the area. Another area of improvement and impact on society is when exactly the emergency responders begin their travel to the accident site. With data fusion and DSRC technologies it is possible to get the right information to emergency responders much more quickly through the use of DSRC devices. Whether it is a computer within an emergency vehicle or at the emergency response center that must communication via a long range communication device, information could flow much more quickly than current practices. For example if the location of the accident was directly transmitted to an idle emergency response unit along with information about what to expect on arrival directly from the vehicles involved, this location could be immediately programmed into a GPS unit upon receiving the transmission. The responders would also be able to prepare themselves prior to reaching the scene and would be able to see if there were other emergency responders in the area that were also called to respond. In the future this could be developed into something that may have an even greater impact: disaster management. DSRC technology could be used to aid in evacuations in the case of severe weather or other environmental disasters by sending out information through channels that are set up to aid in safety and congestion relief as well as the emergency response application.