An RFID-Based Intelligent Vehicle Speed Controller Using Active Traffic Signals

Rastelli, Joshué Pérez; Seco, Fernando; Milanés, Vicente; Jiménez, Antonio R.; Díaz, Julio C.; de Pedro, Teresa · 2010 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3390/s100605872

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

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Summary

This paper addresses the safety issue of excessive or inappropriate vehicle speed, a leading cause of road fatalities, particularly in scenarios involving unexpected road conditions such as curves, roadwork, or obstacles. While existing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) like Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) rely on GPS and digital maps, they fail to account for dynamic, temporary changes in road circumstances. The authors propose an Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V) communication system that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to tag active traffic signals, allowing vehicles to automatically adapt their longitudinal speed to real-time road conditions. The system was implemented on an electric Citroën Berlingo van equipped with three primary sensor subsystems. First, active RFID tags (Wavetrend TG800) were attached to traffic signals at a height of 2.05 meters, transmitting identification codes and data at 433 MHz. Two RFID readers mounted on the vehicle detected these signals, with experimental detection ranges reaching up to 30 meters. Second, a differential Hall Effect sensor coupled to a cogwheel on the vehicle’s wheel provided high-precision speed measurements, overcoming the low resolution of standard speedometers. Third, a Real-Time Kinematic-Differential GPS (RTK-DGPS) system provided centimetric positioning accuracy and set the control loop frequency at 10 Hz. The control architecture utilized a fuzzy logic controller that fused data from these sensors to regulate the vehicle’s throttle and brake actuators. The fuzzy logic rules were designed based on expert human driving experience, using speed error and acceleration as inputs to ensure comfortable and safe speed adjustments. Experimental validation was conducted on a private driving circuit featuring five RFID-tagged traffic signals indicating different target speeds for straight segments and curves. The results demonstrated that the RFID system reliably detected traffic signals from an average distance of 23 meters, allowing sufficient time for speed adjustment. The vehicle successfully adapted its speed according to the signals, reducing speed for curves (e.g., to 8–10 km/h) and accelerating on straight sections (up to 25 km/h). The fuzzy controller effectively managed the throttle and brake actuators, maintaining the target speeds with minimal error. The study also noted that signal strength varied with distance and orientation, but the system remained robust enough to trigger control actions reliably. The significance of this work lies in its demonstration of a low-cost, scalable I2V communication method that complements existing ITS by handling dynamic road conditions that GPS-based systems cannot. The proposed architecture is portable and requires minimal modification to commercial vehicles, offering a practical solution for enhancing driver safety and preventing accidents caused by inappropriate speed. The authors conclude that while the system performs well in isolated tests, further research is needed to evaluate its performance in congested traffic where other vehicles might attenuate RFID signals, suggesting redundant tag placement as a potential mitigation strategy.

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• speed management