The problems experienced on the dense Maltese road network – traffic, potholes and all – has encouraged Patrick Schembri to research a plausible solution as his dissertation in partial fulfillment of a Master of Science degree in Human Computer Interaction awarded by the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
The aim of his dissertation was to devise a way to instantly and intelligently detect and report traffic and road surface disruptions using conventional technology.
Unlike other expensive traffic incident detection techniques that rely on detectors such as inductive loops, radio frequency, video cameras, infra-red, microwave, magnetic and acoustic sensors, the aim of this project was to create a system that is cheap to implement, thus making it widely accessible.
Another aim was to find an alternative to fixed, sensor-based techniques such as cameras which are only able to monitor specific spots of a transport network.
He decided that the best option would be to use smartphone devices as these are fully equipped with the sensors required to detect the incidents covered by this study – apart from being something that commuters carry with them wherever they go.
The main aim of the system is to stay at the periphery of the drivers’ attention and detect and report incidents without the need for human intervention for safety reasons
He then created two algorithms from scratch that leverage the sensors built into smartphones such as the gyroscope, accelerometer and geographic positioning system (GPS), in order to detect and report traffic and potholes through crowd sourcing and collaborative means.
Unlike other smartphone apps available on the market, the main aim of the system is to stay at the periphery of the drivers’ attention and detect and report incidents without the need for human intervention, such as voice commands or other hand gestures, for safety reasons. Apart from that, the algorithms are also able to automatically categorise the severity of the incident as low, medium or severe.
These algorithms were then further developed into a prototype application for Android-powered smartphones to generate a real-time snapshot of the situation on the Maltese roads, identifying congested roads and potholes and charting them on a map once certain thresholds are met. The geographic knowledge that is constructed by users through these two algorithms will aid Maltese commuters and the relevant authorities to make the best of the available transport network.
The degree was followed out thanks to a Steps scholarship part-financed by the European Union – European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013, ‘Empowering People For More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life’.
www.taprs.com