A novel €1.27 million project at the UPNA-Public University of Navarre aims to develop systems for protecting pedestrians from frontal impact of vehicle collisions. A significant amount of accidents in urban areas involve vehicles being driven at speeds less than 40 km/h.
The Peatones (Pedestrians) project involves the L’Urederra Foundation, the Public University of Navarre and Maier Navarra – a company set up for coordinating the project. The Government of Navarre has provided €575,000 for the project. The various parts of the project will be handled by the institutions and the companies separately. The heat detection system, which consists of radar detectors, will be developed by the UPNA. This system warns of collisions that may occur and can also warn about the presence of people, dogs or lampposts.
The researchers at the UPNA will also develop the antenna for the radar system, which will be mounted on the front grille of the vehicle. The radar scans and sweeps the area before the vehicle to detect people or dogs. The antenna can help differentiate between persons or objects before the vehicle due to variation in bounce caused by the signal.
Radars have already been used in vehicles for monitoring the distance between other vehicles and also for detecting if any other vehicles are nearby. Radars having a frequency in the range of 27 GHz and 77 GHz are being used. The 77 GHz radar has greater sensitivity and range. The second type of radars includes narrow band and broad band types. The researchers are developing the broad band radar that has a greater sensitivity and range. A higher sensitivity is required for distinguishing objects.
Source: http://www.basqueresearch.com/