Drivers and passengers are at risk of injury or death if their vehicle breaks down on a motorway due to the high speeds and large number of passing vehicles.
Stopped or stranded vehicles are often not reported for many minutes, and even then, the reported location is often vague or inaccurate. Throughout this time there exists the serious risk of collisions and secondary incidents. Accidents are most likely to occur during adverse weather conditions when visibility is reduced. Therefore, a sensor is needed that is accurate, reliable in all weathers and fast to react; preventing minor breakdowns turning into major incidents.
Our solution: SVR-500
Our Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) solution uses radar technology to rapidly detect stopped vehicles on all road types in any weather and light level. It raises an alert within seconds of the incident occurring. Unlike other systems, the SVR-500 SVD radar can be mounted at any height and has a 360-degree coverage over all lanes, hard shoulders and slip roads. The rapid detection time leads to automated warnings for other motorists to prevent secondary incidents at the same location. The precise location of the stopped vehicle can be reported to emergency services and control centres using the Ethernet network. Additionally, a nearby camera can be zoomed automatically onto the target to provide staff at the control centre with information to assess the magnitude of the incident.
Key benefits
Works in all conditions
Accidents are most likely to occur during adverse weather conditions. Unlike other technologies, radar continues to work well in heavy rain, snow and fog. Radar is unaffected by bad weather, low light levels and poor visibility, working perfectly in complete darkness as well as bright glare and when the sun is low in the sky. Radars also see though smoke and hot gases from fires, and even operate when covered in dust and grime.
Reliable
The SVR-500 radar rapidly detects incidents, typically detecting stopped vehicles within 20 seconds of them coming to a halt, even in heavy traffic. It does not require vehicle tracking from one radar to the next, reducing complexity and scope for errors as well as simplification of infrastructure and communication. It also means that the effective reliability is higher than in many other systems where multiple sensors are required for effective detection. The mechanical construction and electronic systems use techniques we have refined over many years to give a long service life even when operating continually in outdoor locations. Vehicles are analysed using our proprietary software that maintains high confidence in the system by preventing false alarms.
Total coverage
The SVR-500 radar can be mounted very high, giving an un-obscured view of up to 500 metres of road with 360-degree coverage over all lanes. Even when mounted very high, the radar can detect vehicles almost directly underneath due to the optimised antenna design. This avoids the line-of-sight compromises for distant targets that are otherwise necessary if mounting low down to be able to see close by traffic.
Interference free
The SVR-500 operates in the licence-exempt 24 GHz band so is substantially immune to emissions from vehicle radars that increasingly use the 77 GHz band. This means that unlike us, other roadside equipment using the 77 GHz frequency band will become increasingly degraded as more vehicle radars are used. Some existing roadside equipment also operates at 24 GHz, but our side-by-side trials have shown this does not affect detection performance because the modulation differs. A detailed immunity test report is available.