Road Safety: Vehicle Speed Limiting System

Sharath BV R19EC235. The purpose of this project is to provide a simple and

Ritesh Rao V R19EC217. effective solution to adapt the car speed to minimize
speedrelated accidents. Implementing the system on roads
Rohith N Raju R19EC219. would substantially decrease fatality of speed-related car
R Vrushank R19EC203. crashes. To process the data, a controller usually is used such
as CPU [3][4], FPGA [5][6], or Microcontroller as explained
Abstract— Car accidents are a serious issue in our
in this work. RF wireless modules is proposed in this project
societies that need to be dealt with. One of the leading causes for
car accidents deaths is speeding. Studies show that one third of to establish communication between vehicles and roads. In the
serious accidents are linked to exceeding the speed limit or driving proposed system a car is equipped with a wireless RF receiver
at an inappropriate speed. The speed of a vehicle is a key factor in module. While on the road, RF transmitter modules are
determining the severity of an accident which implies that setting installed. The RF transmitter communicates to the RF receiver
the correct speed limit for cars is an important factor for road the data necessary about the speed limit of the road. Upon
safety. The objective of this paper is to propose a new way to receiving the speed limit data, the system warns the driver
control car speed limits to provide safer and better roads. about the speed limit before adjusting the car speed. The car
The system proposed consists of a transmitter and receiver units. speed is adjusted through communication between the system
The transmitter will be deployed in streets constantly transmitting and the engine control unit (ECU) of the car. An illustrative
control data. This data will be picked by the receiver fixed in every figure for the proposed system is presented in Fig. 1. The
car travelling within the transmitter's range. Upon receiving the project proposed is an inexpensive and practical solution that
control data, the receiver will set a speed limit to the car, can be easily installed in vehicles and on roads to reduce speed
preventing it from going over that speed limit. The project related car crashes. The proposed system is a step towards the
proposed allows communication between vehicles and road signs.
Allowing communication between the road signs and vehicles is
implementation of IoV (Internet of Vehicles). The transmitter
used to convey important information to regulate traffic flow. units of the system are interconnected together through a
Such information would be speed limit of the road, weather server. Using the server, traffic authorities could better control
conditions, congested traffic areas and alarm messages in case of and regulate the traffic flow on roads by having full control
emergencies. As sustainable solutions for this problem have not over the roads speed limit. The paper is organized as follows:
been identified yet, this system might be the answer. section II reviews the related work. Section III explains the
proposed system design. Section IV describes the prototype
I. INTRODUCTION
followed by Section V which presents obtained results.
Reducing the number of car accidents is a major concern Section VI includes the proposed future work and then section
for traffic authorities and the automotive industry. Speeding is VII is the conclusion.
considered one of the leading causes of car accidents.
Speeding-related crashes has cost the society around $52 billion
in 2010 [1]. In the last 20 years, speeding has been the main
reason for one third of all car accidents deaths. In 2016,
speeding was a contributing factor in 27 percent of all fatal
crashes [2]. Traffic authorities has been using speed radars
installed along roads to capture over speeding vehicles. There
has been a huge investment in speed cameras, but the problem
is that they only identify speeding vehicles without limiting
their speed. The danger of traveling at high speed is well known
to all drivers, however, drivers still exceed the speed limit of
roads. One reason for that could be that drivers are not aware of
the speed limit of the road. This indicates that in some cases the
speed limit signs may not be sufficient to inform the driver
about the speed limit of the road. Other reckless drivers choose
Fig. 1 Proposed System Illustrative Figure
to ignore speed limit signs deliberately. In both cases, a better
solution should be implemented to alert drivers when exceeding
the speed limit and to prevent reckless drivers from over
speeding. The speed of a vehicle is a key factor in determining
the severity of an accident. Setting the correct speed limit for
cars is an important factor for road safety. Driving at high
speeds makes it more difficult to react in time to prevent or
avoid an accident. Moreover, the higher the speed, the more
fatal the accident or crash would be which could cause serious
injuries and may lead to death.
 II. METHODOLOGY computer in which several inputs and outputs are connected. The
ECU controls the outputs using data received from various input
This section explains in detail how the proposed system
sensors, such as the accelerator pedal position sensor, engine
works. The proposed system consists of two main units. A
speed sensor, vehicle speed sensor, and cruise control switches.
transmitter and receiver units. The transmitter unit is fixed on
An ECU has a microprocessor and a software that is stored on
speed signs. While the receiver unit is installed in the car as
the microprocessor. Using the software, ECU processes the
shown in Fig. 2. The transmitter consists of RF transmitter
input data signals and send output signals to actuators to control
module and a microcontroller. The microcontroller is
them. One of the functions of the ECU is controlling the throttle
programmed to continuously transmit, through the RF
valve. The ECU controls the angle at which the throttle valve
transmitter, a message signal containing the speed limit of the
opens to, which in turn determines the amount of fuel injected
road. Similarly, the receiver consists of RF receiver module and
into the engine [16].
a microcontroller. The receiver unit is connected to the ECU of
the car. Once the receiver unit in the car receives the message In the normal case as Fig. 3 shows, an ECU is responsible
signal from the transmitter unit the receiver unit saves the speed for controlling a series of actuators in the car. The ECU makes
limit in the message signal and displays a warning message to use of different sensor readings in the car. According to these

Fig. 3 Conventional ECU Design

readings the ECU determines the amount of fuel to inject. In
general, the speed of a car is varied according to the accelerator’s
FIG.2
pedal position. The variation in the pedal position is fed to the
the driver. The microcontroller compares the car’s current speed ECU. The ECU determines the position of the throttle based on
with the speed limit received through the message signal. If the the accelerators pedal position and the inputs received from the
car speed is below the maximum speed limit of the road the car other sensors. Adjustment of throttle position causes the change
speed will not change. If the car speed is above the specified in the variation of automobiles speed. This indicates that the
speed limit, its speed would be adjusted to the road speed limit. ECU can control the speed of the car through the amount of fuel
The system adjusts the speed of the car if its speed was above injected to the engine. When the car receives the message signal
the specified speed limit. The microcontroller in the receiver unit (speed limit), the microcontroller reads the speed limit and
communicates with the ECU of the car to adjust its speed. The compares it to the current speed. Then the microcontroller takes
driver would have full control over the car except for increasing a decision based on the speed of the car, if it was above the
the speed of the car above the set speed limit. The receiver unit specified speed limit it would communicate with the ECU to
in the car saves the speed limit received keeping this speed limit reduce the speed of the car.
until it receives a different message signal with a different speed
limit to overwrite it. Each region/road has a unique transmitter
unit sending a message signal in which the signal is specific to
that road containing its speed limit.
The proposed system allows the communication between
the vehicles and roads by sending speed limit to vehicles.
The system could be used to communicate to vehicles
weather information in case of emergencies, suggested routes in
case of heavy traffic in addition to speed limit. While vehicles
could communicate to the road their speed, plate number and
emergency messages in case of car accidents. All these
communications are done through the network of the system that
could be managed by the traffic authorities allowing them for
better management of roads and traffic. All the transmitters are
connected to a main server. This facilitates controlling the
transmitter units on roads to change the speed limits on roads at Fig. 4 Proposed ECU Design Model
any time.
This section explains how the car speed is adjusted. A small
technical background is needed first about ECU. Engine control In the proposed design model shown in Fig. 4, the pedal
unit (ECU) or the engine control module (ECM) is a vehicle’s position (accelerator) is connected to the microcontroller unit
and then it is fed to the Electronic Control Unit. If the receiver
unit received a message signal from the transmitter unit, the IV. CONCLUSION
microcontroller communicates with the ECU to adjust the speed
Many lives have been lost due to irresponsible driving
of the car by controlling the throttle.
behavior. Due to the alarming rate of fatalities that result from
over speeding, authorities are searching for new strategies and
In the flowchart shown in Fig. 5 We have a description for
techniques to solve this problem. This paper presented a new
the algorithm used in the system. The flowchart describes how
way to adapt a vehicle’s speed on the road to avoid the risks of
the receiver unit reacts when receiving the speed limit signal.
over speeding. The system presented depend on the
The system starts at an idle state. The idle state indicate that the
communication between vehicles and roads. This is done
car speed is not changed by the receiver unit. The next step in
through establishing communication between a receiver unit in
the algorithm is that it checks if a new speed limit is received. If
the car and a transmitter unit on the road to send control
yes, it saves the speed limit and then compares the car speed to
instructions to the car to limit its speed. This system offers
the speed limit signal received. If it did not receive a new speed
significant advantages over other alternatives such as low cost,
limit, it goes directly to the step where the system compares the
ease of setup, adjustable speed limit on roads and it could be
car speed to the speed limit saved. If the car speed is greater than
implemented virtually anywhere. Also, the proposed system
the speed limit, the car speed is adjusted. While if the car speed
could be implemented at areas near schools and hospitals as
is not greater than the speed limit, it returns to the idle state of
these areas require drivers to maintain a low speed limit. The use
the system and repeat the sequence again.
of the system can be spread and integrated in roads with the help
and cooperation from road authorities and car manufacturers to
further develop the system.

Fig. 5 Algorithm of the System Flowchart

III. FUTURE WORK

The proposed system has a lot of potential to be a part of
future upcoming technologies. IoV (Internet of Vehicles) and
autonomous cars are two new technologies or concepts that are
starting to gain momentum. This system offers a great
opportunity to help in the implementation of these technologies.
The proposed system can work very well with autonomous cars
as it could help traffic management of roads and avoid accidents
by controlling the speed limit of autonomous cars. The proposed
system can be developed to be a part of IoV as well. As in IoV,
vehicles are connected to a network as to communicate with
other vehicles or surrounding infrastructure on roads. To
develop this system further a collaboration with traffic
authorities or car manufacturers is required, working
cooperatively to implement the system.