Search Results (15)

This study presents an integrated framework for enhancing the safety and operational efficiency of robotic arms in laparoscopic surgery by addressing minimum distance estimation between multi-arm manipulators and the associated collision-aware warning. By combining analytical modeling, real time simulation, and machine learning, the framework offers a robust solution for ensuring safe robotic operations. An analytical model was developed to estimate the minimum distances between robotic arms based on their joint configurations, offering theoretical calculations that serve as both a validation tool and a benchmark. To complement this, a 3D simulation environment was created to model two 7 DOF Kinova robotic arms (Kinova Inc., Boisbriand, QC, Canada), generating a diverse dataset of configurations for distance estimation and collision warning. Using these insights, a deep residual neural network model was trained with joint configurations as inputs. On the held out validation set, the model achieves $R^2=0.940$, RMSE $=42.0$ mm, MAE $=28.7$ mm, and a near zero mean bias, demonstrating strong predictive accuracy and consistent generalization across the workspace. The framework is intended as an early collision warning layer, where a warning is triggered when the predicted inter-arm distance falls below a 0.2 m threshold, which corresponds to a surface to surface clearance of approximately 50 mm given the Kinova Gen3 (Kinova Inc., Boisbriand, QC, Canada) cross sectional radius. This work demonstrates the effectiveness of combining analytical modeling with machine learning to enhance the precision and reliability of multi-arm robotic systems. Full article

Illegal drone intrusion near airport runways poses a critical threat to civil aviation safety, creating an urgent need for runway-side vision systems that can detect intruding UAVs early enough for safety warning and collision-risk mitigation. However, the development of such detectors is severely hindered by the scarcity of annotated real-world data in this high-security scenario. To address this bottleneck, we present SynthAirDrone, the first high-fidelity synthetic dataset for UAV intrusion detection in airport runway environments, together with an intelligent data generation framework integrating scene-aware placement and multi-criteria quality assessment. The proposed method uses sky-region segmentation to guide physically plausible drone placement, and combines perspective-aware scaling, Poisson image editing, and a four-dimensional quality scoring system—covering sky overlap, lighting consistency, size plausibility, and edge continuity—to improve visual plausibility and semantic consistency. The resulting dataset comprises 6500 high-quality images, all annotated in YOLO-compatible format. Using the lightweight YOLOv11n model, we show that models trained solely on SynthAirDrone exhibit non-trivial cross-domain transfer to Anti-UAV, while mixed training with limited real data provides the strongest real-world performance under the present setting. Ablation studies further confirm that a quality threshold of $\tau =0.6$ achieves the best trade-off between diversity and fidelity. Overall, this work delivers a reproducible and efficient synthetic data solution for UAV detector development in high-security, data-scarce airport-runway scenarios. Full article

To address critical limitations in conventional forward collision warning (FCW) systems including inadequate road condition detection accuracy, significant warning area prediction errors, and poor environmental adaptability on wet/snow-covered roads, this study develops an adaptive collision warning framework based on real-time road slippery states recognition. An enhanced ED-ResNet50 model is proposed, incorporating grouped convolutions within the backbone network and embedding ECA attention mechanisms after the second/third residual blocks alongside DDS-DA modules after the fourth block, significantly improving discriminative capability for pavement texture analysis under adverse conditions. This vision-based recognition system synchronizes with YOLOv8 for preceding vehicle detection, enabling the construction of a friction-sensitive safety distance and the time-to-collision model that dynamically calibrates warning thresholds according to instantaneous vehicle velocity and road adhesion coefficients. Real-vehicle validation demonstrates an 8.76% improvement in overall warning accuracy and 7.29% reduction in lateral and early false alarm rates compared to static-threshold systems, confirming practical efficacy for safety assurance in inclement weather. Full article

Accurate forecasting of potential collision risk in dense traffic is addressed by a framework grounded in multi-vehicle trajectory prediction. A spatio-temporal fusion architecture, STGAT-EDGRU, is proposed. A Transformer encoder learns temporal motion patterns from each vehicle’s history; a boundary-aware graph (GAT) attention network models inter-vehicle interactions; and a Gated Multimodal Unit (GMU) adaptively fuses the temporal and spatial streams. Future positions are parameterized as bivariate Gaussians and decoded by a two-layer GRU. Using probabilistic trajectory forecasts for the main vehicle and its surrounding vehicles, collision probability and collision intensity are computed at each prediction instant and integrated via a weighted scheme into a Collision Risk Index (CRI) that characterizes risk over the entire horizon. On HighD, for 3–5 s horizons, average RMSE reductions of 0.02 m, 0.12 m, and 0.26 m over a GAT-Transformer baseline are achieved. In high-risk lane-change scenarios, CRI issues warnings 0.4–0.6 s earlier and maintains a stable response across the high-risk interval. These findings substantiate improved long-horizon accuracy together with earlier and more reliable risk perception, and indicate practical utility for lane-change assistance, where CRI can trigger early deceleration or abort decisions, and for risk-aware motion planning in intelligent driving. Full article

The acquisition of approaching vessels’ information is a critical technological challenge for maritime risk warning and intelligent collision avoidance decision-making. This paper proposes a method for autonomously identifying types of approaching vessels based on an improved YOLOv8 model and ship light features, aiming to infer the propulsion mode, size, movement, and operational nature of the approaching vessels in real-time through the color, quantity, and spatial distribution of lights. Firstly, to address the challenges of the small target characteristics of ship lights and complex environmental interference, an improved YOLOv8 model is developed: The dilation-wise residual (DWR) module is introduced to optimize the feature extraction capability of the C2f structure. The bidirectional feature pyramid network (BiFPN) is adopted to enhance multi-scale feature fusion. A hybrid attention transformer (HAT) is employed to enhance the small target detection capability of the detection head. This framework achieves precise ship light recognition under complex maritime circumstances. Secondly, 23 spatio-semantic feature indicators are established to encode ship light patterns, and a multi-viewing angle dataset is constructed. This dataset covers 36 vessel types under four viewing angles (front, port-side, starboard, and stern viewing angles), including the color, quantity, combinations, and spatial distribution of the ship lights. Finally, a two-stage discriminative model is proposed: ECA-1D-CNN is utilized for the rapid assessment of the viewing angle of the vessel. Deep learning algorithms are dynamically applied for vessel type determination within the assessed viewing angles. Experimental results show that this method achieves high determination accuracy. This paper provides a kind of technical support for intelligent situational awareness and the autonomous collision avoidance of ships. Full article

Red-light running at signalised intersections poses a significant safety risk, necessitating advanced predictive technologies to predict red-light violation behaviour, especially for advanced red-light warning (ARLW) systems. This research leverages Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) models to forecast the red-light running and stopping behaviours of drivers in connected vehicles. We utilised data from the Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot (ICVP) in Queensland, Australia, which gathered naturalistic driving data from 355 connected vehicles at 29 signalised intersections. These vehicles broadcast Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM) within the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), providing kinematic inputs such as vehicle speed, speed limits, longitudinal and lateral accelerations, and yaw rate. These variables were monitored at 100-millisecond intervals for durations from 1 to 4 s before reaching various distances from the stop line. Our results indicate that the LSTM model outperforms the GRU in predicting both red-light running and stopping behaviours with high accuracy. However, the pre-trained GRU model performs better in predicting red-light running specifically, making it valuable in applications requiring early violation prediction. Implementing these models can enhance red-light violation countermeasures, such as dynamic all-red extension (DARE), decreasing the likelihood of severe collisions and enhancing road users’ safety. Full article

Freight transportation, dominated by trucks, is an integral part of trade and production in the USA. Given the prevalence of large truck crashes, a comprehensive investigation is imperative to ascertain the underlying causes. This study analyzed 2017–2021 Texas crash data to identify factors impacting large truck crash rates and injury severity and to locate high-risk zones for severe incidents. Logistic regression models and bivariate analysis were utilized to assess the impacts of various crash-related variables individually and collectively. Heat maps and hotspot analysis were employed to pinpoint areas with a high frequency of both minor and severe large truck crashes. The findings of the investigation highlighted night-time no-passing zones and marked lanes as primary road traffic control, highway or FM roads, a higher posted road speed limit, dark lighting conditions, male and older drivers, and curved road alignment as prominent contributing factors to large truck crashes. Furthermore, in cases where the large truck driver was determined not to be at fault, the likelihood of severe collisions significantly increased. The study’s findings urge policymakers to prioritize infrastructure improvements like dual left-turn lanes and extended exit ramps while advocating for wider adoption of safety technologies like lane departure warnings and autonomous emergency braking. Additionally, public awareness campaigns aimed at reducing distracted driving and drunk driving, particularly among truck drivers, could significantly reduce crashes. By implementing these targeted solutions, we can create safer roads for everyone in Texas. Full article

Construction is known as one of the most dangerous industries in terms of worker safety. Collisions due the excessive proximity of workers to moving construction vehicles are one of the leading causes of fatal and non-fatal accidents on construction sites internationally. Proximity warning systems (PWS) have been proposed in the literature as a solution to detect the risk for collision and to alert workers and equipment operators in time to prevent collisions. Although the role of sensing technologies for situational awareness has been recognised in previous studies, several factors still need to be considered. This paper describes the design of a prototype sensor-based PWS, aimed mainly at small and medium-sized construction companies, to collect real-time data directly from construction sites and to warn workers of a potential risk of collision accidents. It considers, in an integrated manner, factors such as cost of deployment, the actual nature of a construction site as an operating environment and data protection. A low-cost, ultra-wideband (UWB)-based proximity detection system has been developed that can operate with or without fixed anchors. In addition, the PWS is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union. A privacy-by-design approach has been adopted and privacy mechanisms have been used for data protection. Future work could evaluate the PWS in real operational conditions and incorporate additional factors for its further development, such as studies on the timely interpretation of data. Full article

In this paper, multispectral pedestrian detection is mainly discussed, which can contribute to assigning human-aware properties to automated forklifts to prevent accidents, such as collisions, at an early stage. Since there was no multispectral pedestrian detection dataset in an intralogistics domain, we collected a dataset; the dataset employs a method that aligns image pairs with different domains, i.e. RGB and thermal, without the use of a cumbersome device such as a beam splitter, but rather by exploiting the disparity between RGB sensors and camera geometry. In addition, we propose a multispectral pedestrian detector called SSD 2.5D that can not only detect pedestrians but also estimate the distance between an automated forklift and workers. In extensive experiments, the performance of detection and centroid localization is validated with respect to evaluation metrics used in the driving car domain but with distinct categories, such as hazardous zone and warning zone, to make it more applicable to the intralogistics domain. Full article

Warning pedestrians of oncoming vehicles is critical to improving pedestrian safety. Due to the limitations of a pedestrian’s carrying capacity, it is crucial to find an effective solution to provide warnings to pedestrians in real-time. Limited numbers of studies focused on warning pedestrians of oncoming vehicles. Few studies focused on developing visual warning systems for pedestrians through wearable devices. In this study, various real-time projection algorithms were developed to provide accurate warning information in a timely way. A pilot study was completed to test the algorithm and the user interface design. The projection algorithms can update the warning information and correctly fit it into an easy-to-understand interface. By using this system, timely warning information can be sent to those pedestrians who have lower situational awareness or obstructed view to protect them from potential collisions. It can work well when the sightline is blocked by obstructions. Full article

A smart helmet-based wearable personnel proximity warning system was developed to prevent collisions between equipment and pedestrians in mines. The smart helmet worn by pedestrians receives signals transmitted by Bluetooth beacons attached to heavy equipment, light vehicles, or dangerous zones, and provides visual LED warnings to the pedestrians and operators simultaneously. A performance test of the proposed system was conducted in an underground limestone mine. It was confirmed that as the transmission power of the Bluetooth beacon increased, the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signal detection distance of the system also increased. The average BLE signal detection distance was at least 10 m, regardless of the facing angle between the smart helmet and Bluetooth beacon. The subjective workload for the smartphone-, smart glasses-, and smart helmet-based proximity warning system (PWS) was evaluated using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index. All six workload parameters were the lowest when using the smart helmet-based PWS. The smart helmet-based PWS can provide visual proximity warning alerts to both the equipment operator and the pedestrian, and it can be expanded to provide worker health monitoring and hazard awareness functions by adding sensors to the Arduino board. Full article

The death toll due to highway crashes is increasing at an alarming rate across the globe. Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) have emerged as a promising solution to prevent crashes by enabling collision avoidance applications. However, a robust and stable collision avoidance application is a cross-layer problem that must address a number of key challenges across all layers of a VANET communication architecture. This paper presents and evaluates a novel VANET protocol suite, named Direction-Aware Vehicular Collision Avoidance (DVCA), which covers application, security services, network, and link layers. DVCA is a vehicle-to-vehicle communication architecture that provides enhanced collision probability computation and adaptive preventive measures for cooperative collision avoidance on bi-directional highways. Moreover, DVCA enables secure, in-time, and reliable dissemination of warning messages, which provides adequate time for vehicles to prevent collisions. Simulation and analytical results demonstrate reasonable reduction in collisions by DVCA, as compared with eminent VANET communication architectures. Full article

Mobile phone use while driving has become one of the leading causes of traffic accidents and poses a significant threat to public health. This study investigated the impact of speech-based texting and handheld texting (two difficulty levels in each task) on car-following performance in terms of time headway and collision avoidance capability; and further examined the relationship between time headway increase strategy and the corresponding accident frequency. Fifty-three participants completed the car-following experiment in a driving simulator. A Generalized Estimating Equation method was applied to develop the linear regression model for time headway and the binary logistic regression model for accident probability. The results of the model for time headway indicated that drivers adopted compensation behavior to offset the increased workload by increasing their time headway by 0.41 and 0.59 s while conducting speech-based texting and handheld texting, respectively. The model results for the rear-end accident probability showed that the accident probability increased by 2.34 and 3.56 times, respectively, during the use of speech-based texting and handheld texting tasks. Additionally, the greater the deceleration of the lead vehicle, the higher the probability of a rear-end accident. Further, the relationship between time headway increase patterns and the corresponding accident frequencies showed that all drivers’ compensation behaviors were different, and only a few drivers increased their time headway by 60% or more, which could completely offset the increased accident risk associated with mobile phone distraction. The findings provide a theoretical reference for the formulation of traffic regulations related to mobile phone use, driver safety education programs, and road safety public awareness campaigns. Moreover, the developed accident risk models may contribute to the development of a driving safety warning system. Full article

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are the key enabling technology for intelligent transportation systems. Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) is the de facto media access standard for inter-vehicular communications, but its performance degrades in high-density networks. Time-division multiple access (TDMA)-based protocols fill this gap to a certain extent, but encounter inefficient clock synchronization and lack of prioritized message delivery. Therefore, we propose a priority-based direction-aware media access control (PDMAC) as a novel protocol for intra-cluster and inter-cluster clock synchronization. Furthermore, PDMAC pioneers a three-tier priority assignment technique to enhance warning messages delivery by taking into account the direction component, message type, and severity level on each tier. Analytical and simulation results validate the improved performance of PDMAC in terms of clock synchronization, channel utilization, message loss rate, end-to-end delays, and network throughput, as compared with eminent VANET MAC protocols. Full article

Driver disregard for the minimum safety distance increases the probability of rear-end collisions. In order to contribute to active safety on the road, we propose in this work a low-cost Forward Collision Warning system that captures and processes images. Using cameras located in the rear section of a leading vehicle, this system serves the purpose of discouraging tailgating behavior from the vehicle driving behind. We perform in this paper the pertinent field tests to assess system performance, focusing on the calculated distance from the processing of images and the error margins in a straight line, as well as in a curve. Based on the evaluation results, the current version of the Tailigator can be used at speeds up to 50 km per hour without any restrictions. The measurements showed similar characteristics both on the straight line and in the curve. At close distances, between 3 and 5 m, the values deviated from the real value. At average distances, around 10 to 15 m, the Tailigator achieved the best results. From distances higher than 20 m, the deviations increased steadily with the distance. We contribute to the state of the art with an innovative low-cost system to identify tailgating behavior and raise awareness, which works independently of the rear vehicle’s communication capabilities or equipment. Full article