Smartphone-Based Connected Bicycle Prototype Development for Sustainable Multimodal Transportation System

Kourtellis, Achilleas; Lin, Pei-Sung; Kharkar, Neha · 2019 · ROSA P / University of South Florida. Center for Urban Transportation Research

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Summary

This study addresses the lack of connected vehicle (CV) technology for bicyclists, a vulnerable road user group suffering high crash and fatality rates. While CV systems have advanced for motor vehicles, bicycles remain largely excluded due to the high cost and power requirements of Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) hardware. The authors developed a smartphone-based connected bicycle prototype to facilitate bicycle-to-vehicle (B2V) and bicycle-to-infrastructure (B2I) communications, aiming to enhance safety and promote sustainable multimodal transportation. The researchers designed a cloud-based system using Android smartphones to collect and transmit location data via cellular networks (4G LTE), as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct were deemed unsuitable due to latency and range limitations. The application collected parameters compatible with Basic Safety Messages (BSM), including latitude, longitude, speed, heading, and acceleration, at a frequency of 1 Hz. A cloud server processed this data to calculate the Stopping Sight Distance (SSD) between users. The system defined minimum safety radii of 20 meters for vehicles and 10 meters for bicycles; warnings were triggered when the distance between users fell below the combined threshold of 30 meters. Field tests were conducted on a closed road at the University of South Florida, involving a bicyclist and a vehicle equipped with the application. The prototype was evaluated across three common conflict scenarios: opposite direction travel, same direction travel, and intersection crossings. In opposite and same-direction tests, the system successfully issued warnings when users approached within 30 meters, alerting both parties to potential conflicts. In intersection tests, warnings were generated to address blind spots, such as those caused by median shrubs, alerting drivers before they entered crosswalks. The results demonstrated that the algorithm could reliably detect proximity and trigger alerts, though GPS inaccuracy and the 1 Hz data frequency occasionally led to estimation errors. The study concludes that smartphone-based CV technology is a viable, low-cost solution for improving bicyclist safety without requiring specialized hardware. The prototype successfully warned users of imminent collisions in various scenarios. The authors identify several areas for future improvement, including the adoption of dual-frequency GPS chips for better accuracy, increasing data transmission frequency through interpolation, and refining user boundary shapes from circles to ellipses to reduce false positives. This work provides a scalable framework for integrating bicycles into the broader connected vehicle ecosystem.

Key finding

The smartphone-based connected bicycle prototype successfully issued collision warnings to both vehicle and bicycle users when their separation distance fell below a set threshold of approximately 30 meters across opposite direction, same direction, and intersection scenarios.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• cyclist safety