Traffic Interception Drone System

Smart Environment Integration Project

This concept is the result of the individual Smart Environment Integration Project for my master track, Smart Environments. The goal was to integrate a new technology to solve a particular scenario, by using Systems Engineering principles. I chose to tackle the problem of phantom traffic jams, that came to my attention during my previous project on Lane Changing Advice.

Phantom jams are traffic jams that do not seem to have a persistent cause, such as a road accident, road work or road merges. Instead, disruptions in the (often already dense) traffic flow are created by human errors. The slow response time of human drivers causes subsequent vehicles to brake just a little later and a little harder, eventually leading to a full stop – while the misbehaving vehicle that caused this chain-reaction is already gone. The resulting ‘wave’ of stopping vehicles can propagate for miles and miles and extend to longer traffic jams.

The Traffic Interception Drone System (T.I.D.S) can be deployed to tackle phantom jams. It uses drones to recon the potential phantom jam situation, intercept vehicles upstream and assist them in gradually lowering their speed to give time for the jammed vehicles to start accelerating again.

Animation of TIDS deployed on a three-lane highway, dissolving a phantom jam downstream.

The system consists of three main parts: a road vehicle that transports the drones, which is sent to a location where traffic flow is disrupted without a known cause. Close to this location, it launches a set of quadcopters, which autonomously ascend and fly along the highway while analyzing the traffic below. With this data, an approach plan is calculated to intercept the traffic upstream, after which a small swarm of hybrid fixed-wing tilt-rotor drones is deployed and fly at high speeds towards the point of interception. Here, they use omnidirectional distance sensing and camera vision to safely descend and integrate with the traffic, one drone on each lane. Using intuitive light signaling and continuous vehicular behavior monitoring, they gradually reduce their speed and slow down the trailing traffic.

Goals of this project:

  • Perform system architecting on typical consumer systems
  • Translate theoretical findings (as learned in courses) into a user-directed product
  • Formulate and present a coherent and balanced system design
  • Recognize opportunities of a new technology for use by consumers
  • Balance stakeholders interests into a balanced system architecture
System architure overview