Accident Prevention Tech
A Korean research team has successfully developed a method to can prevent large-scale chain-reaction car crashes by generating warning messages when vehicles in front suddenly stop.
The Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) announced on August 26 that it has succeeded in developing a core chip that can avert rear-end collisions using wireless technology, together with semiconductor company Ranix.
When a car ahead slams on its brakes, the newly-developed chip for vehicular networks called Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) can send a warning sound or message to the cars behind it within a range of 1.5 km at connection speeds of up to 6Mbp. It enables vehicle-to-vehicle communications at a speed of 200 km/h.
With a length and a width of 18mm, this fingernail-sized chip is could be installed anywhere, like a rear view mirror or the dashboard. The research team said that the car antenna needed for communications between cars or base stations will be combined with a normal shark-fin antenna, which is already widely used for navigation systems.
It will be possible to use this chip to prevent multi-vehicle collisions or rear-end collisions in the blind spots of an intersection, or to quickly convey traffic information. It could also be used as a payment method for parking or at a gas station if it is linked with the HI-pass system.
Oh Hyun-suh, senior researcher at ETRI, said, “The newly-developed chip is excellent in high-speed authentication and encryption. Its communications function in the urban environment is also outstanding.” The researcher added, “The chip is expected to be commercialized sometime next year through the test operation of the Cooperative Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS).”