  Volume 6, Number 4     July/August 1998

Technology Transfer

Technology Keeps an Eye on Intersections

A NEW TRAFFIC TECHNOLOGY VISUAL DISPLAY at intersections can warn motorists quickly of rapidly approaching emergency vehicles and trains. The Emergency Vehicle Early Warning Safety System (E-ViEWS) equips emergency vehicles with transponders that communicate via microwave with receivers on large visual displays deployed on the mastarms above the centers of intersections.

As the vehicles approach the intersections, signal lights turn yellow, then red, for cross traffic, and approaching drivers also view flashing vehicle symbols on the visual displays. These active displays, linked to the receivers, inform drivers of the direction emergency traffic is approaching or departing the intersection. The vehicle symbols seem to move across the displays, synchronized with the actual emergency vehicles' movements.

"More than 156,000 accidents involving emergency vehicles occurred at intersections in U.S. cities from the mid-1980s to 1995 alone," explained Jim Davidson, president and CEO of the company that developed the system, E-Lite Limited of Agoura Hills, California. "Emergency vehicles present a serious traffic hazard to themselves, other vehicles and pedestrians while passing against cross traffic through an intersection, causing multimillion-dollar lawsuits against cities and states," he added.

Davidson, a former marketing executive, has firsthand experience with the dangers of high-speed vehicles. He was driving his car when it was almost hit broadside by a fire truck at a Los Angeles intersection.

Davidson contacted the Technology Affiliates Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He was paired with JPL engineers with specialized expertise in solving engineering design issues. These included not only the customized transponders of E-ViEWS, but also comprehensive designs that blend with existing city communications infrastructures. E-ViEWS is now being further refined with an eye toward the installation of demonstration models in large metropolitan areas.

For more information, contact Alice Wessen at JPL.
Call: 818/354-4930, Fax: 818/393-4093, E-mail: alice.s.wessen@jpl.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Transponders in emergency vehicles communicate via microwave with receivers on large visual displays at traffic intersections to warn of their approach.

SOFTWARE AWARD WINNERS SHOW
COMMERCIAL PROMISE

Two computer programs selected as 1998 NASA Software of the Year award winners are expected to open up promising commercial applications. One program, which is designed to control air traffic, is expected to substantially save costs for airlines and passengers. The other award-winning software, which will use the Internet for remotely controlling International Space Station (ISS) experiments, is expected to spawn several new commercial markets.

NASA will grant the awards at this year's Technology 2008 Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, November 3 through 5. The awards are given annually to NASA-developed software that has significantly enhanced the Agency's performance of its mission and helped American industry maintain its world-class technology status.

Tempest, a program originally developed to support the science experiments on the ISS, is considered to be breakthrough and enabling technology likely to develop commercial markets for web-embedded remote control mechanisms, especially in the automotive, consumer electronics, office products and medical industries, according to a study performed for NASA. The commercial quality software is fully documented; it installs simply and uses standard World Wide Web browsers to let users operate the experiments. Tempest was written by Maria Babula, Lisa Lambert, Joseph Ponyik and David York of NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and Richard A. Tyo of Intel Corporation.

The second winner, Center TRACON Automation System Software, is a set of three software tools for managing air traffic control systems by optimizing flight operations at major airports. It is expected to save an average of two minutes per flight, in turn saving money for the airlines and passengers. The Federal Aviation Administration has chosen the software for immediate implementation into all major airports, saving as much as $800 million annually. It has been integrated into the existing radar system at the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. Software displays in the control room supplement the manual air traffic control system. Written by Michelle Eshow and a team of 37 others at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, the software analyzes and predicts aircraft paths, creates visual representations of the flow of arriving traffic and provides controllers up-to-the second advisories of information to pass on to pilots. This will reduce the time between landings to the minimum possible.

For more information, contact Brian Dunbar at NASA Headquarters.
Call: 202/358-0873, Fax: 202/358-4210, E-mail: bdunbar@mail.hq.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

NASA Official: Jonathan Root

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