WO2019193615A2

WO2019193615A2 - Management system of traffic lights located along the route of rescue running vehicles.

Info

Publication number: WO2019193615A2
Application number: PCT/IT2019/050066
Authority: WO
Inventors: Atish Andrea RAMBARAN; Carmine RODIO
Original assignee: Rambaran Atish Andrea; Rodio Carmine
Priority date: 2018-04-05
Filing date: 2019-03-26
Publication date: 2019-10-10
Also published as: IT201800004258A1; WO2019193615A3

Abstract

The present invention concerns an innovative system (1) for managing traffic light systems (15) which essentially consists of the following elements: - a server (7) for the correct and prompt management of incoming information and outgoing data; - a software (2), designed to be installed on server (7) in a dispatcher center (8) as a valid automatic system for the management and control of traffic lights (6), located at the various crossroads (18), to give way to rescue vehicle (4); - a navigation device (3) equipped on emergency vehicles (4), or suitable to be easily installed on them; - at least one radio receiving device (5), as can be seen from Fig. 2, able to receive the data from the server (7) and ready to take the control of the traffic light system (15) present in every crossroad (18) located along the route of rescue vehicle (4) running for emergency.

Description

« MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS LOCATED ALONG THE ROUTE OF RESCUE RUNNING VEHICLES »

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to emergency response Systems and more particularly to a real-time approach for selecting, and freeing routes for rescue vehicle running for emergency.

BACKGROUND ART

There are some patents about management of traffic lights, but through the research report issued by the European Patent Office (EPO) and obtained through the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM), can be said there is no known technique like the present system.

The current known technique, moreover, has disadvantages related to the complexity of management systems, to the costs both the component elements and the relative installation methods, usually obsolete

The purpose of the present system is, therefore, to resolve these problems of the actual technology by providing a management system which, knowing the routes that the rescue vehicles have to travel, intervenes since the communication of the emergency and not, like the background art, only when the rescue vehicle is in proximity of a traffic light.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention concerns of an innovative system for managing traffic lights present along the route of vehicles running for emergency. The present invention is totally innovative and inventive, and it is an original technical solution to various problems nowadays still unresolved about the optimization of traffic lights management in emergency in order to privilege and facilitate the transit of rescue vehicles running for emergency at the crossroads and to reduce risks during rescue operations. This system, through the remote management of the traffic lights, intervenes on behalf of rescue vehicles before, during and after their passage through crossroads located along the route that they are following.

The benefits of this solution are that rescue vehicles can easily and safety get over the crossroads with no obstacles during their race, without any unexpected delays.

The idea arises from the analysis of a widespread phenomenon in cities all over of the world: at the occurrence of an emergency, the rescue vehicles have to travel their routes through the city traffic in conditions of poor safety becoming potential causes of crashes

Therefore, this system has been designed to offer innovative solution to the mobility problems for emergency vehicles, either public or private, especially for crossroads equipped of traffic lights systems.

A further purpose of the present system is to use low-cost materials and components with a very low environmental performance index, possibly completely recyclable. These goals are achieved by implementing a traffic light management system as claimed at the bottom of the present description and described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPRION OF DRAWINGS

Said goals and the consequent advantages, as well as the characteristics of the invention, according to them, will be more clear from the following detailed description of a preferred solution, given as example solution, but not limiting, with reference to the attached drawings, in the which:

- FifLl is a scheme showing a possible preferred, but not limiting configuration, of both system and server 7 for the management of traffic lights 6 present along the travel route of vehicles 4 running for emergency, from which it is possible to deduce the fundamental elements that it is made up;

- Kg is a scheme depicting the basic elements constituting the connection between the receiving devices 5 and the traffic lights system 15. BEST MODE FOR CARRING OUT THE INVENTION

From attached figures 1 and 2 it possible to understand, even for a person who is not a technician, which the present system 1 is innovative and inventive if compared to the existing technology. The system is design to resolve the fundamental problem of allowing the rapid transit of rescue vehicles 4 through crossroads 18 regulated by traffic lights 6, starting to get free the route since when the emergency dispatcher center 8 receive the call. This solution, for example, is suitable for the ambulances, public or private, which have to reach quickly the emergency place and immediately return to the hospital to save the injured.

The system 1 (Fig.l) for the traffic lights 6 management, essentially consisting of four main elements:

a server 7 for the correct and prompt management of incoming information and outgoing data;

a software 2, designed to be installed on server 7 in a dispatcher center 8 as a valid automatic system for the management and control of traffic lights 6, located at the various crossroads 18, to give way to rescue vehicle 4;

a navigation device 3 equipped on emergency vehicles 4, or suitable to be easily installed on them;

at least one radio receiving device 5, as can be seen from Fig. 2, able to receive the data from the server 7 and ready to take the control of the traffic light system 15 present in every crossroad 18 located along the route of rescue vehicle 4 running for emergency.

When an emergency occurs, the emergency dispatcher center 8 (for example in Italy the one callable at the telephone number 118) through the appropriate software 2, inserts into a database 7 the emergency data with a priority level (e.g. ambulance in red code). Regarding this in Italy, but also in Europe and at in several countries all over the world, the priority levels of the sanitary emergency are associated to a color code (called "Triage code"):

the red code is given to people who are in danger of dying (cardiac arrests, very severe and extensive traumas, bleeding and so on), which they need immediate medical care and therefore take precedence absolute;

the yellow code is given to people not in danger of life but with serious problems like thoracic pain, respiratory problems, intense pain and so on, which must be kept under control and visited as quickly as possible; the green code is attributed to people who do not take an immediate risk (fractures, traumas and so on) and can wait to be visited only after more serious codes;

the white code concerns patients who have no reason to contact the emergency dispatcher center 8 and with waiting times that can be also very long because all other codes have absolute precedence.

In extra-hospital field can be used two other colors: the black code, which indicates the patient's death, and the orange code, which indicates that the patient is contaminated (e.g. nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological contamination). It also exists the blue code (compromised vital functions), which is given out of the hospital field from the emergency staff who are implementing procedures of reanimation (e.g. BLS with DAE).

The emergency dispatcher center 8, after the assigning of the "Triage code" to the specific emergency, chooses the best recue vehicle 4, among the various proposed by the software 2 that can reach the emergency place. Then, the server 7 sends the GPS or GALILEO coordinates of destination and other data through a secure VPN connection 9 to the detected rescue vehicle/vehicles 4. In telecommunications, a VPN - Virtual Private Network 9 extends a private network across a public network, and enables communication between devices as if not directly connected to the private network. Systems running across a VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and management of the private network. To ensure security, the private network connection can be established using an encrypted layered tunneling protocol and VPN devices that use authentication methods (e.g. certificates) to gain access to the VPN.

The operator on the rescue vehicle 4, through the VPN 9, receive on the navigation device 3 the GPS or GALILEO coordinates about the place to be reached, the recommended route from the emergency dispatcher center 8 and eventually alternative routes calculated by the software 2 with the relative travel times. On the navigation device 3 are also reported information about the traffic road, if available, and crashes in progress along that possible routes.

The rescue vehicle's 4 operator selects the route that he considers optimal and starts the navigation. The navigation device 3 of the rescue vehicle 4 communicates, through the VPN connection 9, the chosen route to the management server 7 and activates the tracking of its own position (i.e. communicates its GPS or GALILEO coordinates at frequent intervals). The management server 7, having received the information about selected route and vehicle 4 position, crosses them with the database 17 of the crossroads 18, equipped with traffic lights 6, and calculates the estimated arrival times at each of them. Than the server 7 through a wireless or wired connection 12 sends a message of activation to the reception devices 5 of every traffic light system 15 involved. The reception devices 5 (Fig.l and Fig.2), once "woken up", send to the server 7 an "OK" message through a wireless or wired connection 11, and set themselves to "listening" status. The management server 7, received the "OK" message from every traffic light 6 interested, by means of wireless or wired connection 11, sends the arrival times and direction that the rescue vehicle 4 will follow, at the reception devices 5 present at the various crossroads 18. Every reception device 5 modifies appropriately the duration times of the red and green of the traffic lights 6 present in the relative crossroads 18, then it acts to obtain, within the time indicated by the management software 2, the best level of service useful to get the way to the rescue vehicle 4. This allows to free the crossroads 18 before the rescue vehicle 4 arrives to it, unlike the existing systems, which operate just only when the rescue vehicle 4 arrives closest to the traffic light 6 (for example, relying only on the sound of the siren or on light interference), not guaranteeing a safety and easy crossing. The present system 1 for managing the traffic light systems 15, instead, calculates the time needed to free the road also before the arrival of the rescue vehicle 4 and, keeping the "green" in the necessary direction, it allows to streamline the traffic along the chosen route. The management server 7, continuously tracking the rescue vehicle's 4 position, can detect possible delays on scheduled times or sudden changes of routes and instantly communicate them to the receiving devices 5 located along the new route. Every time the rescue vehicle 4 get over one of the crossroads 18 provided for, the management server 7 verifies the passage by means of the GPS or GALILEO position of the rescue vehicle 4 and, through the wireless or wired connection 12, sends a new message of activation to set in "listening mode" the interested receiving device 5. After that, the server 7 sends, through a wireless or wired connection 11, an "end of emergency" message and other instructions to the receiving device 5 located in the crossroad 18 just passed. Once received the "end of emergency" message, the receiving device 5 intervenes further on the red and green light times, so to streamline the traffic in previously blocked directions. Disposed the accumulated traffic for freeing the way to the rescue vehicle 4, the receiving device 5 of the crossroad 18 gives back the to the classic regulator 13 the control of traffic light 6, which then returns to run in the standard way.

To avoid situations of "conflict", if at the same time more than one rescue vehicle 4 has to get over by the same crossroad 18, the management system 1 coordinates the passages through the same crossroad 18 according to the priority levels assigned by the emergency dispatcher center 8 to the navigation devices 3 of the various rescue vehicles 4. In this case, the management server 7, at first, will try to find alternative routes to avoid that the vehicles 4 interested cross over the same crossroad 18 colliding each other. If this would not be possible, it will automatically notify the "multiple passage" to the rescue vehicles' 4 drivers recommending them "extreme caution". To get over this problem, the management server 7 will try to manage the order of the emergency vehicles' 4 crossing regarding the priority levels assigned to the vehicles (e.g. absolute precedence will be given to ambulances, then the firemen, etc.). If the emergency vehicles 4 belong to the same category, the management server 7 will program crossings at the crossroads 18 basing on the priority levels set by the emergency dispatcher center 8 upon registration of the emergencies (e.g. the red code's ambulance will have priority over the yellow code's ambulance and so on). Finally, if the rescue vehicles 4 have the same priority level, the server 7 will ask to the emergency dispatcher center 8 to set the order of passage of the interested emergency vehicles 4.

The receiving devices 5 consist of an electric board equipped with a microcontroller suitably programmed for manage the traffic lights 6, thus the traffic flows. The electronic board can be connected (Fig.2), by means of a cable, to the "manual" control of the usual regulator 13 of the traffic lights 6, thus making the device potentially compatible with any existing traffic light systems 15. The electronic board also consist of specific modules that allow it to sends and receives message through the wireless or wired connections 11 and 12. In case of trouble, the wireless or wired connections 11 and 12 are interchangeable, this in order to always guarantee the communication between the management server 7 and the plurality of reception devices 5. The receiving devices 5 can also be combined with further sensors 16 that can be installed at various crossroads 18 (as it is possible to deduce from Fig.l) to provide new features at the system 1. The traffic lights management system 1, through the installation of these sensors 16, can performs the automatic management of the crossroads' 18 service level, acting on the red and green light times in according to real-time specific needs, realizing, as required by Italian law, an "actuated control of the intersection".

The traffic light management system 15 stores in a database 17 the emergency information, like the calculated cross times and the traffic status at the crossroads 18 that will be involved by the passage of the rescue vehicles 4. Thus, through special APIs, it elaborates the database 17 information hiding the sensible data, to make a set of open data available to the public and to the all compatible navigation systems.

The reception devices 5 integrate a medium-range communication system able to communicate with compatible vehicles 19 placed near the detected emergency route, to send them information about the emergency and the involved crossroads 18, as well as receive from vehicles 19 further useful information.

In a preferred but non-limiting solution, the management system 1 can uses the GSM as wireless or wired connection 12 and the loT protocol LoRaWAN as wireless or wired connection 11. So, the reception devices' 5 electronic boards can integrate a GSM modem that allows to receive telephone signals (e.g. for the activation of the system 1) and components for LoRaWAN communication 11. This allows a free and long distance encrypted communication on radio waves (using free frequency).

The "LoRa" gateway 10 is a data communication technology patented (EP2763321 of 2013 and US7791415 of 2008), developed by Cycleo (Grenoble, France) and acquired by Semtech in 2012.

The gateway LoRa 10 uses license-free sub-gigahertz radio frequency bands like 169 MHz, 433 MHz, 868 MHz (Europe) and 915 MHz (North America). LoRa enables long-range transmissions (more than 10 km in rural areas) with low power consumption. The technology consists of two parts: LoRa, the physical layer and LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network), the upper layer.

The LoRa physical layer protocol is proprietary; therefore, there is no freely available official documentation. However, several people have analyzed it and documented their findings and Semtech has provided an overview of the modulation and other relevant technical specifications.

LoRaWAN 11, i.e. the upper layer, is a media access control (MAC) layer protocol, but acts mainly as a network layer protocol for managing communication between LPWAN gateways and end-node devices as a routing protocol, maintained by the LoRa Alliance. Version 1.0 of the LoRaWAN specification was released in June 2015.

LoRaWAN defines the communication protocol and system architecture for the network, while the LoRa physical layer enables the long-range communication link. LoRaWAN is also responsible for managing the communication frequencies, data rate, and power for all devices.

The operator on the rescue vehicle 4, through the VPN 9, receives on the navigation device 3 the GPS or GALILEO coordinates about the place to be reached, the recommended route from the emergency dispatcher center 8 and eventually alternative routes calculated by the software 2 with the relative travel times. On the navigation device 3 are also reported information about the traffic road, if available, and crashes in progress along that possible routes.

Once the rescue vehicle's 4 operator has selected the route that he consider optimal and started the navigation, the navigation device 3 of the rescue vehicle 4 communicates through the VPN connection 9 the chosen route to the management server 7 and activates the tracking of its own position (i.e. communicates its GPS or GALILEO coordinates at frequent intervals). The management server 7, having received the information about selected route and vehicle 4 position, crosses them with the database 17 of the crossroads 18, equipped with traffic lights, and calculates the estimated arrival times at each of them. Than the server makes a GSM 12 call to activate the reception devices 5 of every traffic light system 15 involved. The reception devices 5 (Fig.l and Fig.2), once "woken up", send an "OK" signal through a LoRaWAN 11 connection and set themselves to "listening" status. The management server 7, received the "OK" message from every traffic light 6 interested, by means of LoRaWAN 11, sends the arrival times and direction that the rescue vehicle 4 will follow, to the reception devices 5 present at the various crossroads 18. Every reception device 5 modify appropriately the duration times of the red and green of the traffic lights 6 present in the relative crossroads 18 and then acts to obtain, within the time indicated by the management software 2, the best level of service useful to get the way to the rescue vehicle 4. The management server 7, continuously tracking the rescue vehicle's 4 position, can detect possible delays on scheduled times or sudden changes of routes and instantly communicates them to the receiving devices 5 located along the new route. Every time the rescue vehicle 4 get over one of the crossroads 18 provided for, the management server 7 verifies the passage by means of the GPS or GALILEO position of the rescue vehicle 4, makes a new one GSM call 12 to set the interested receiving device 5 in "listening mode". After that, the server 7, through the LoRaWAN 11 protocol, sends an "end of emergency" message to the receiving device 5 located in the crossroad 18 just passed. Once received the "end of emergency" message, the receiving device 5 intervenes further on the red and green light times, so to streamline the traffic in previously blocked directions. Disposed the accumulated traffic for freeing the way for rescue vehicle 4, the receiving device 5 of the crossroad 18 gives back control to the classic traffic light regulator 13, which then returns to the standard intersection management. In case of trouble, the GSM communication 12 can be used instead of LoRaWAN 11 protocol, in order to always guarantee communication between the management server 7 and the plurality of reception devices 5.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present traffic light management system 1, therefore, represents a valid opportunity for the development of the current economy and for the safety of the rescue vehicles 4 running for emergency. The additional benefits provided by this system are:

a significant pollution reduction;

the possibility to afford the system's costs by accessing to vary incentives.

A further advantage of this system 1 is that it is applicable to the most of existing traffic light systems 15. The other, no less important, advantages are low costs applications of the present system 1 and its simple installation, both on any type of pre-existing system and on those of new type.

It is also evident that this example, previously described, is just an illustrative and non-limiting purposes, and may be made numerous retouches, adaptations, additions, variants and substitutions of elements with other equivalent, without coming out from the scope of protection of the following claims. LEGEND

1. TRAFFIC LIGHT'S MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

2. SOFTWARE

3. NAVIGATION DEVICE FOR RESCUE VEH ICLE

4. RESCUE VEH ICLE

5. RECEPTION DEVICE

6. TRAFFIC LIGHT

7. SERVER

8. EMERGENCY DISPATCHER CENTER

9. VPN CONNECTION

10. RADIO GATEWAY OR OTH ER EQU IVALENT DEVICE

11. FIRST WIRELESS OR WIRED CONNECTION

12. SECOND WIRELESS OR WIRED CONNECTION

13. TRAFFIC LIGHT'S REGULATOR

14. REGU LATOR'S MANUAL CONTROL MODU LE

15. TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM

16. ADDITIONAL SENSORS FOR TRAFFIC ROADS DETECTION

17. DATABASE

18. CROSSROAD

19. VEH ICLES COMPATIBLE WITH THE SYSTEM 1

Claims

1) The present invention concerns of an innovative system (1) for managing traffic lights systems (15) which essentially consists of the following elements: a server (7) for the correct and prompt management of incoming information and outgoing data; a software

(2), designed to be installed on server (7) in an emergency dispatcher center (8) as a valid automatic system for the management and control of traffic lights (6) located at the various crossroads (18), to give way to rescue vehicle (4); a navigation device (3) equipped on emergency vehicles (4), or suitable to be easily installed on them; at least one radio receiving device (5), as can be seen from Fig. 2, able to receive the data from the server (7) and ready to take the control of the traffic light system (15) present in every crossroad (18) located along the travel route of rescue vehicle (4) running for emergency. The management server (7), at the occurrence of an emergency, detects the optimal route for the rescue vehicle (4) assigned to the specific emergency by the emergency dispatcher center (8), matchs the chosen route with the database (17) of the traffic lights (6), calculates the estimated time of arrival at each one of them and, through a wireless or wired connection (12), sends an activation message to the receiving devices (5) of the every traffic light (6) or traffic light systems (15) interested, to promptly set them in "listening mode".

2) Traffic lights management system (1) characterized by, according to the previous claim, reception devices (5) that, once setted in

"listening mode" by means of an activation message sent by the server (7) to them, notify their operating status through the same wireless or wired connection (11) to the gateway or antenna (10), and then to the server (7), through a VPN connection (9), and wait for more instructions from the server (7).

3) Traffic lights management system (1) characterized by, according to the previous claims, a server (7) that receive information about the operating "state" from each receiving device (5) located on the way planned for the rescue vehicle (4) running for emergency, and that is designed to respond to them, through a wireless or wired connection (11), in order to communicate each of them the expected passage times at the crossroads (18), as they have already been calculated, as well as the direction and the orientation that the rescue vehicle (4) is going to take.

4) Traffic lights management system (1) in which, according to the previous claims, the communication between the receiving devices (5) placed on the crossroads (18) and the server (7) can be realized either through the wireless or wired connection (11), or through the direct wireless or wired connection (12), in order to guarantee the exchange of information between the management server (7) and the different reception devices (5) even in the event of malfunction of one of the two channels of communication.

5) Traffic lights management system (1) in which, according to the previous claims, the navigation device (3), every time that the rescue vehicle (4) that it is installed on, travelling along the calculated route, get over one of the identified crossroads (18), send a signal of "transition by the crossroad" to the management server (7) which, also using the GPS or GALILEO position received from the same rescue vehicle (4), compare the two information and certifies the successful transition from the crossroad.

6) Traffic lights management system (1) in which, according to the previous claims, the server (7), once certified the passage of the emergency vehicle (4) from the intersection, through a wireless or wired connection (12) sends a new message to the receiving device (5) of the crossroad (18) just passed by the emergency vehicle (4) in order to switches it in "listening mode"; subsequently, the concerned receiving device (5) through the wireless or wired connection (11), the gateway (10) and a secure VPN connection (9), communicates to the server (7) that it is in "listening mode". Then, the server (7) responds to the same receiving device (5) sending to it an "end-of- emergency" message and other instructions, allowing the traffic lights (6) to return to the normal operation and eventually to dispose the traffic accumulated.

7) Traffic lights management system (15) characterized by, according to the previous claims, receiving devices (5), which are made by an electrical circuit equipped with a microcontroller suitably programmed to manage traffic flows, either integrable directly into the traffic light regulators or, where possible, connectable with a cable to the manual control (14) of the existing traffic light regulator (13) located at the crossroads (18), thus making the device potentially compatible with any pre-existing traffic light systems (15). 8) Traffic lights management system (1) that, according to the previous claims, when the emergency dispatchers center (8) starts an emergency procedure, acts immediately to take the control of receiving devices (5) of the traffic lights (6) placed along the crossroads (18) that the rescue vehicle (4) will cross during the emergency travel. These receiving devices (5), once activated by the server (7) and received from it the information about the emergency in progress, modify the semaphoric cycle, increasing or decreasing the duration times of the red and green lights, avoiding to completely block the traffic in the other directions. This in order to dispose the traffic along the direction that the emergency vehicle (4) will follow at the crossroad (18), and subsequently to maintain the green light during the emergency vehicle's (4) crossing and ensuring to it a safe passage.

9) Traffic light management system (1) that, according to the previous claims, in case of simultaneous passage of several rescue vehicles (4) at the same crossroad (18), or two close, is able to stable an order the vehicle's crossings through the crossroad (18) using the priority level assigned by the operations center (8) to the various emergency vehicles (4) and, when that emergency levels do allow it, also to changes the routes and so to minimize the inconvenience to other vehicles.

10) Traffic lights management system (1) that stores in a database (17) the emergency information, like the calculated crossing times and the traffic status at the crossroads that will be involved by the passage of the rescue vehicles (4). Thus, through special APIs, it elaborates the database's information hiding the sensible data, to make a set of open data available to the public and to every compatible navigation systems.

11) Traffic lights management system (1) in which, according to the previous claims, the receiving devices (5) integrate a medium-range communication system able to communicate with compatible vehicles (19) placed near the detected emergency route, sending them information about the emergency and the involved crossroads (18), and receiving from them further useful information.