Munich. A child suddenly runs out into the road from between two parked cars - it's every driver's nightmare scenario. BMW Group Research and Technology, in collaboration with leading research institutes in Germany, has now developed a system that can take the heat out of such situations thanks to so-called Car-2-X Communication. The research project AMULETT (the German acronym for "Active mobile accident avoidance and mitigation of accident effects through cooperative data acquisition and tracking technology") involves vehicles communicating with a radio transponder carried, for example, by a pedestrian for purposes of personal safety. Cooperative sensor systems between the car and the transponder mean that even hidden pedestrians can be recognised.
The Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology funded the three-year research project. Alongside BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH, the other participants are Continental Safety Engineering International GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, the Institute for High Frequency Engineering at Munich's Technical University, and ZENTEC GmbH. On 6 May the results of AMULETT will be presented to the public to mark the conclusion of the project.
AMULETT - radio technology for enhanced road traffic safety
In their AMULETT project, researchers investigated the possibilities of Car-2-X Communication with the aim of improving pedestrian safety. To this end they linked up autonomous on-board systems for driving environment assessment with communication between the car and a transponder carried by a pedestrian or cyclist for their own safety. By means of this cooperative sensor technology, the vehicle exchanges data with the "Amulett", an active RFID-like (Radio Frequency Identification) element, which could in future be integrated into a schoolbag, a mobile phone or a walking stick, for example.
In detail it works as follows: upon receiving an interrogation impulse from the vehicle, the transponder transmits an identification message. This enables its position to be fixed and, even more importantly, identifies its carrier as a vulnerable road user. It works even if the carrier is not within sight of the driver at the time of danger, for example if the pedestrian is obscured by a parked car or a hedge. The Amulett identifies itself through a code that is frequently changed at random to prevent the carrier being linked to a specific transponder. "In this way we ensure that the user remains anonymous - in compliance with data protection laws - without compromising the prediction of the sensor data," explains Dr Ralph Rasshofer, AMULETT Project Manager for BMW Group Research and Technology.
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| A child suddenly runs out into the road from between two parked cars - it's every driver's nightmare scenario. |
The Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology funded the three-year research project. Alongside BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH, the other participants are Continental Safety Engineering International GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, the Institute for High Frequency Engineering at Munich's Technical University, and ZENTEC GmbH. On 6 May the results of AMULETT will be presented to the public to mark the conclusion of the project.
AMULETT - radio technology for enhanced road traffic safety
In their AMULETT project, researchers investigated the possibilities of Car-2-X Communication with the aim of improving pedestrian safety. To this end they linked up autonomous on-board systems for driving environment assessment with communication between the car and a transponder carried by a pedestrian or cyclist for their own safety. By means of this cooperative sensor technology, the vehicle exchanges data with the "Amulett", an active RFID-like (Radio Frequency Identification) element, which could in future be integrated into a schoolbag, a mobile phone or a walking stick, for example.
In detail it works as follows: upon receiving an interrogation impulse from the vehicle, the transponder transmits an identification message. This enables its position to be fixed and, even more importantly, identifies its carrier as a vulnerable road user. It works even if the carrier is not within sight of the driver at the time of danger, for example if the pedestrian is obscured by a parked car or a hedge. The Amulett identifies itself through a code that is frequently changed at random to prevent the carrier being linked to a specific transponder. "In this way we ensure that the user remains anonymous - in compliance with data protection laws - without compromising the prediction of the sensor data," explains Dr Ralph Rasshofer, AMULETT Project Manager for BMW Group Research and Technology.
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| The Amulett identifies itself through a code that is frequently changed at random to prevent the carrier being linked to a specific transponder. |