Regional Boards > Northwest
Alaska
Duke87:
--- Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 16, 2019, 09:38:11 PM ---In either case, I am surprised we haven’t seen at attempt from any city to install a network of motion sensors along streetlights to active them as they detect movement. I don’t know how viable it would be but it doesn’t seem like it would take all that much. With the smart technology they could “talk” to each other and detect a car traveling activating lights along the cars predicted path in the sight line of the driver for safety.
--- End quote ---
Even with a vehicle moving at ~25 mph, the distance ahead that you want the driver to be able to see for safety is going to be greater than the range of a typical motion sensor. So this won't work without a more complex (read: more expensive) system to turn on lights further away from where motion is being detected.
As for "smart technology" and predicting the path of cars... no. Ordinary motion sensors, be they of the infrared variety or the ultrasonic variety, are not capable of determining what direction something is moving in. All they do is trigger when they detect a change in the feedback signal that exceeds a set threshold. To do something like this would require more advanced hardware and software that would be expensive... more expensive than the energy savings could justify, certainly if the lights have already been changed to LED.
You also have the issue that lights turning on and off in the driver's field of view presents a potential distraction, which of course is bad for safety.
Not to mention that street lights continually turning on and back off again over the course of the night may disrupt people's sleep.
Kniwt:
--- Quote from: Duke87 on April 18, 2019, 12:37:51 AM ---Even with a vehicle moving at ~25 mph, the distance ahead that you want the driver to be able to see for safety is going to be greater than the range of a typical motion sensor. So this won't work without a more complex (read: more expensive) system to turn on lights further away from where motion is being detected.
--- End quote ---
Not that it's exactly the same thing, but part of the Union Pacific Railroad multi-use trail in Henderson NV has lighting that's activated by motion sensors. The lights aren't completely dim when nobody's around, but when a cyclist approaches at night, the next few lights get brighter until the cyclist (or, presumably, pedestrian) has passed. It works because there aren't many different paths someone can take.
roadfro:
--- Quote from: Kniwt on April 18, 2019, 12:45:17 AM ---
--- Quote from: Duke87 on April 18, 2019, 12:37:51 AM ---Even with a vehicle moving at ~25 mph, the distance ahead that you want the driver to be able to see for safety is going to be greater than the range of a typical motion sensor. So this won't work without a more complex (read: more expensive) system to turn on lights further away from where motion is being detected.
--- End quote ---
Not that it's exactly the same thing, but part of the Union Pacific Railroad multi-use trail in Henderson NV has lighting that's activated by motion sensors. The lights aren't completely dim when nobody's around, but when a cyclist approaches at night, the next few lights get brighter until the cyclist (or, presumably, pedestrian) has passed. It works because there aren't many different paths someone can take.
--- End quote ---
Another similarity: The University I work at has retrofit lighting in the parking garages to LED with individual motion sensors. The lights are usually dim when turned on, then each fixture brightens for a time as it individually senses motion.
With the garages at my work, the light fixtures are about 10-12 feet off the ground. I looked at a couple of spots along the above-mentioned trail in Street View, and the light poles seem to be no more than 15 feet tall. Both seem to be well in the range of typical motion detection. I'd guess an overhead motion detector on a street light fixture would be closer to 30-35 feet off the ground, which seems like it'd take a more sophisticated unit.
Alps:
This is an odd tangent for Alaska but I can see this working in tandem with connected vehicles. The lights will know you're coming.
Stephane Dumas:
Any recent news about the Mid-Region Access who was planned to link Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg with BC-37/Cassiar highway? http://dot.alaska.gov/sereg/projects/mid_region/index.shtml
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version