Passive Detection of Wrong Way Drivers on Motorways Based on Low Power Wireless Communications

This paper describes a solution for the problem of wrong way driving on motorways by proposing a new Passive Vehicle Detection (PVD) technology, which is able to detect the driving direction based on roadside radio sensors. The new sensor technology is combined with local and wide-area warning functionality and generates real-time telematics information to increase the safety of all road users. The major benefit of the proposed system is that the vehicle itself must not be equipped with additional hardware. Based on simulation results, we developed a prototype of the Wireless Detection and Warning System (WDWS) to perform experiments for validation. Afterwards, the system was deployed in an extensive field trial at a German motorway in Bochum. The paper describes the architecture, the algorithm design and the results of the performance evaluation. Another benefit is the enormous time gain by a factor of 33 in the generation and transmission of an automated warning to endangered road users.