Photonics Spectra - March 2009

Searching for a smoother ride

BOSTON – Potholes had better watch out.

Their days of delivering jarring jolts to cars could be shortened if sensor technology being developed under a grant to

Northeastern University pans out. The goal is to develop inexpensive sensors that will be attached to common vehicles. A combination of acoustics and radar will monitor conditions below and on the surface of roads. When a problem is detected, global positioning technology will fix the general location of the vehicle.

But the precise determination of where

a pothole or other problem is located will its five-year run. The goal is to develop be the purview of cameras and perhaps techniques and products to monitor the lasers, said Dr. Ming L. Wang, a professor nation’s roads and infrastructure, which of civil and environmental engineering at the American Society of Civil Engineers Northeastern and principal investigator of recently estimated needs $2.2 trillion in the Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded repairs.

Roaming Sensors project. “[The sensors] The multisensor technology envisioned will be used to pinpoint the exact location as a result of the project will ride on deliv-of the abnormality while the vehicle is ery trucks, buses, and possibly even pas-moving at regular speed.” senger cars, if the cost of the technology

The project recently received a $9 mil- can be held low enough. From these mov-lion federal research grant that will fund ing perches, the sensors will collect data

on roadway conditions, transmitting the information wirelessly to processing locations, where the nature of specific problems and the appropriate responses will be determined.

For the scheme to work, the sensor modules cannot be costly – a challenge given that they must detect problems, pin-point their locations and communicate this information. Furthermore, the monitoring must be done without distracting drivers or burdening vehicles. Such requirements are one reason why radar and acoustics are current front-runners for the sensing technology, but Wang said that the group would consider a video camera with the right characteristics.

He added that current camera technology is not up to the task. Research into and development of the sensor modules is under way. The first products resulting from these efforts are expected in about three years.