Showing posts with label traffic. Show all posts

2011-01-21

Solar roadway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A solar roadway is a road surface that generates electricity by solar photovoltaics.

[...]

An organization called Solar Roadways, run by Scott and Julie Brusaw in Idaho, USA, has been awarded a $100,000 research contract by the US Department of Transportation.^[2] This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract will enable them to prototype Solar Road Panels.^[3]^[4]

Collected from: Solar roadway - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Solar Roadways - A Real Solution

Collected from: Solar Roadways - A Real Solution

YouTube - Solar Roadways: The Prototype

Collected from: YouTube - Solar Roadways: The Prototype

Solar Road Panel™

The Solar Roadway is a series of structurally-engineered solar panels that are driven upon. The idea is to replace all current petroleum-based asphalt roads, parking lots, and driveways with Solar Road Panels that collect energy to be used by our homes and businesses.

Each individual panel consists of three basic layers:

Road Surface Layer [...]
Electronics Layer Base [...]
Plate Layer [...]

Collected from: Solar Roadways - Introduction

YouTube - TEDxSacramento - Scott Brusaw - The Promise of Solar Roadways

Collected from: YouTube - TEDxSacramento - Scott Brusaw - The Promise of Solar Roadways

Related

Solar-powered 'smart' roads could zap snow, ice - CNN.com
- Solar cells inside its glass surface would allow the roadway to act as a giant solar power generator, fueling embedded heating elements and making plows and other snow removal equipment unnecessary.
- The heating elements would work "like in the rear window of your car," said the inventor, who intends to experiment with temperature settings during the next stages of the development process.
  Electricity generated by the highway could be used to recharge electric vehicles and to power lights and LED warning signs along the road itself.
Solar Roads Fix The Grid And Crumbling Pavement | Autopia | Wired.com
- Eventually, LEDs built into the tops of solar panels placed on highways could move lanes around, create crosswalks, display speed limits and even detect and warn drivers about road hazards like stopped traffic and crossing wildlife. Best of all, the panels could be laid down over existing asphalt.
Solar Roadways: Crackpot Idea or Ingenious Concept? | Singularity Hub
YERT: Your Environmental Road Trip - Get your license to thrive!
Solar Roadways: Energy-Generating Roads Made Out of Glass and Solar Cells : TreeHugger

2011-01-19

innowattech Alternative Energy Harvesting from Road Traffic

The Innowattech system is applicable to asphalt, concrete or composite concrete and asphalt roads. It may be installed in new roadways or while resurfacing of existing road ways is being performed. The busier the roadway the more energy is produced. Heavier vehicle produce more energy.

Collected from: YouTube - Innowattech Alternative Energy Harvesting System Roads Solution

Innowattech - Energy Harvesting Systems

has developed a new alternative energy system that harvests mechanical energy imparted to roadways, railways and runways from passing vehicles, trains and pedestrian traffic and converts it into green electricity. The system, based on a new breed of piezoelectric generators, harvests energy that ordinarily goes to waste and can be installed without changing the habitat.

Collected from: Innowattech - Energy Harvesting Systems

Collected from: YouTube - WIM

Technology |

's solution - The Innowattech Piezo Electric Generator (IPEG™) The basis for the system is the patented new breed of piezoelectric generators (IPEG™) developed by

. They have unique abilities to harvest energy from weight, motion, vibration and temperature changes.
There are specific generators for roadways, railways, runways and pedestrians.

Collected from: Innowattech - Technology

Technical Information |

IPEGs harvest energy ordinarily wasted by vehicles

For a road with embedded piezoelectric generators, part of the energy the vehicle expands on roads deformation is transformed into electric energy (via direct piezoelectric effect) instead of being wasted as thermal energy (heat).

Collected from: Innowattech :: Technical Information

Collected from: YouTube - Innovators, Episode 5, Part 4 of 4: Clean Energy Pioneers

Related

2009-10-03

Nissan Crash Avoidance like Bumblebees and Fishes

Clipped from: BBC NEWS | Technology | Robot fish could prevent crashes

Robot fish could prevent crashes
Robots that mimic the behaviour of fish have been developed by Japanese car firm Nissan, who believe the technique can be used in crash avoidance systems.
The tiny robots, called Eporo, can move in a fleet without bumping into their travelling companions.
It is the second time the firm has looked to the animal kingdom for inspiration for its designs.
Last year, the manufacturer unveiled its BR23C robot, which was modelled on the behaviour of bumblebees.

Clipped from: Nissan looks to the Bumblebees for tips on crash avoidance — Autoblog

Nissan looks to the Bumblebees for tips on crash avoidance

Volvo has its locusts, Nissan has its bees. With 300-degree vision via compound eyes and instantaneous reflexes, bees don't run into things the way cars do. Nissan wants to halve the rate of car crashes by 2015, versus the company's 1995 tally, and is using bees to come up with a new generation of crash-avoidance systems that will be able to respond to obstacles in ways superior to humans.

Clipped from: YouTube - 2008 Nissan to Demonstrate Crash Avoidance Robot

2008 Nissan to Demonstrate Crash Avoidance Robot

Clipped from: NISSAN | Crash Avoidance Robotic Car Inspired by Flight of the Bumblebee

September 26, 2008

Crash Avoidance Robotic Car Inspired by
Flight of the Bumblebee
-- Nissan Exhibits for CEATEC Japan 2008* --

In flight, each bee creates its own oval-shaped personal space which in fact closely resembles Nissan's Safety Shield concept.
But more crucially, it is the bee's compound eyes, capable of seeing more than 300-degrees that allows the bumblebee to fly uninterrupted inside its personal space. In order to recreate the function of a compound eye, engineers came up with the idea of a Laser Range Finder (LRF).
The LRF detects obstacles up to two meters away within a 180-degree radius in front of the BR23C, calculates the distance to them, and sends a signal to an on-board microprocessor, which is instantly translated into collision avoidance.

Clipped from: Nissan robot car concept avoids accidents by mimicking fishes — Autoblog Green

Nissan robot car concept avoids accidents by mimicking fishes

Using two laser range finders mounted so that it has a 288-degree field of vision, Nissan's new Eporo robot cars can travel along at speeds of 1.4 km/h (less than one mile per hour), constantly changing direction as needed to maintain a safe distance from one another. The Japanese automaker suggests that such "Safety Shield" technology could eventually be applied to cars and trucks to help prevent accidents and traffic jams.

Gallery: Nissan Eporo robot cars

Clipped from: NISSAN | Nissan EPORO Robot Car "Goes to School" on Collision-free Driving by Mimicking Fish Behavior

October 1, 2009

Nissan EPORO Robot Car "Goes to School" on
Collision-free Driving by Mimicking Fish Behavior
- Advanced Robotic Concept Debuts at CEATEC JAPAN 2009 -

EPORO Robot Car

So what do a bumblebee and a school of fish have in common? Bothdemonstrate extraordinary "anti-collision" abilities, navigating instinctively and intelligently through challenging terrain by detecting and avoiding obstacles - just as future Nissan safety vehicles may have the capability to do. But where bees - and the BR23C robot car - are likely to travel alone, the schooling behavior of fish, or a group of vehicles, presents a far greater challenge in terms of collision avoidance. In developing EPORO, three rules of fish behavior were applied to its driving control.

Fish Behavior Rules
AREA 1: Collision Avoidance
Change traveling direction without colliding with other fish.
AREA 2: Traveling Side-by-Side
Travel side-by-side with other fish while keeping a certain distance between each fish (to match the speed).
AREA 3: Approaching
Gain closer proximity to other fish that are at a distance from them.

Sources:

Related:

2009-04-07

The GM / Segway Project P.U.M.A

Clipped from: GM / Segway Project PUMA Concept - Auto Shows | Automotive News Blog at CARandDRIVER.com - Car News Resource

GM / Segway Project PUMA Concept - Auto Shows

A seemingly unlikely pair, General Motors and Segway, have teamed up to create a new type of personal transport vehicle. Dubbed Project PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) and introduced at the New York auto show, the two-wheeled electric vehicle is essentially an upsized and modified Segway scooter with seating for two.

Clipped from: Revealed: The two-wheeled electric car that will 'never crash' | Mail Online

Revealed: The two-wheeled electric car that will 'never crash'

The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility, or PUMA, project also would involve a vast communications network that would allow vehicles to interact with each other, regulate the flow of traffic and prevent crashes from happening.

The prototype runs on a lithium-ion battery and uses Segway's two-wheel balancing technology, along with dual electric motors. It's designed to reach speeds of up to 35mph and can run 35 miles on a single charge.

A design sketch of the Project PUMA prototype, being developed by General Motors and Segway

Clipped from: YouTube - GM and Segway Project PUMA

GM and Segway Project PUMA

Clipped from: YouTube - Project P.U.M.A. (HD)

Project P.U.M.A. (HD)

Clipped from: P.U.M.A. – Segway Advanced Development

Think of it as a digital solution to an analog problem. Segway’s P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility) prototype represents the shift that’s needed for the future of transportation. It values less over more; taking up less space, using less energy, produced more efficiently with fewer parts, creating fewer emissions during production and operation, all while offering more enjoyment, productivity, and connectivity.
Sources:

Nokia GPS Phones -- Real Time Traffic Information

Nokia has developed software that allows data to be received from GPS enabled phones, which is then compiled and interpreted into traffic flow patterns. The plans are currently at concept stage, with a demonstration recently taking place as a joint venture between Nokia, California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT), CalTrans, and Berkeley's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

textually.org: Nokia GPS Phones to Fight the Traffic Plague

"This is really the first time that you can take an urban system, like a big city, and try to see in real time how it lives, how people move and what's happening in the city," says Carlo Ratti from MIT.

"In the city for example you've got taxis with GPS, you've got buses with GPS, and also you've got mobile phones.

"If you take that information and you apply artificial intelligence and algorithms to it, then you can understand very interesting things about the urban system," he says.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Beating congestion with mobiles

Related:
Article - TechJournal South - The Southeast's Source for Technology Business News
Lg Elec, Nortel to Set Up Jv to Provide Telecom Systems"
Concepts: Nokia GPS Phones to Fight the Traffic Plague

2008-02-07

Traffic in Vietnam (pictures)

Some photos clipped from an article in the One Mans Blog about the crazy traffic in Vietnam

clipped from onemansblog.com

One Mans Blog

Absolutely Crazy Vietnamese Transportation

clipped from onemansblog.com

2008-01-12

A Self-Fulfilling Digg-Prophecy

An article about how to arrive at the front page of Digg demonstrating its own method

clipped from mixedmarketarts.com

Top 10 Reasons This List Will Be Popular on Digg

Top 10 lists can always be seen on Digg’s homepage, and to give you an example — here are ten things that will help this post become popular on Digg.

10. Digg users will enjoy this list.

9. This article is one page long.

8. This article references Digg.

7. This article was submitted by a top Digg user.

6. This article is unique.

5. This page is hosted on a high bandwidth server.

4. This article is only interesting to tech savvy individuals.

3. This article has a live Digg button on the post.

2. This article has a creative title.

1. This article is in list format.

clipped from mixedmarketarts.com

The Digg Effect Case Study

Traffic:

2008-01-06

MIT’s RoboScooter

Clean, green, silent, and compact!

The research group Smart Cities at the MIT Media Lab has a very cool retractable scooter concept (The RoboScooter). A lightweight, folding, electric motor scooter designed to provide convenient, inexpensive mobility in urban areas while radically reducing the negative effects of extensive vehicle use – road congestion, excessive consumption of space for parking, traffic noise, air pollution, carbon emissions that exacerbate global warming, and energy use.

MIT’s RoboScooter - Ecofriend

2007-12-23

Traffic jam mystery solved by mathematical model

“When you tap your brake, the traffic may come to a full stand-still several miles behind you..."

clipped from www.physorg.com

Traffic jam mystery solved by mathematicians

The team developed a mathematical model to show the impact of unexpected events such as a lorry pulling out of its lane on a dual carriageway. Their model revealed that slowing down below a critical speed when reacting to such an event, a driver would force the car behind to slow down further and the next car back to reduce its speed further still.

The result of this is that several miles back, cars would finally grind to a halt, with drivers oblivious to the reason for their delay. The model predicts that this is a very typical scenario on a busy highway (above 15 vehicles per km). The jam moves backwards through the traffic creating a so-called ‘backward travelling wave’, which drivers may encounter many miles upstream, several minutes after it was triggered.

The research team now plans to develop a model for cars equipped with new electronic devices, which could cut down on over-braking as a result of slow reactions.

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