Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation

Background: The rise in work zone crashes due to distracted and aggressive driving calls for improved safety measures. While Truck-Mounted Attenuators (TMAs) have helped reduce crash severity, the increasing number of crashes involving TMAs shows the need for improved warning systems. Methods: This...

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Main Authors: Neema Jakisa Owor, Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, Linlin Zhang, Carlos Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-10-01
Series:AI
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-2688/5/4/90
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author Neema Jakisa Owor
Yaw Adu-Gyamfi
Linlin Zhang
Carlos Sun
author_facet Neema Jakisa Owor
Yaw Adu-Gyamfi
Linlin Zhang
Carlos Sun
author_sort Neema Jakisa Owor
collection DOAJ
description Background: The rise in work zone crashes due to distracted and aggressive driving calls for improved safety measures. While Truck-Mounted Attenuators (TMAs) have helped reduce crash severity, the increasing number of crashes involving TMAs shows the need for improved warning systems. Methods: This study proposes an AI-enabled vision system to automatically alert drivers on collision courses with TMAs, addressing the limitations of manual alert systems. The system uses multi-task learning (MTL) to detect and classify vehicles, estimate distance zones (danger, warning, and safe), and perform lane and road segmentation. MTL improves efficiency and accuracy, making it ideal for devices with limited resources. Using a Generalized Efficient Layer Aggregation Network (GELAN) backbone, the system enhances stability and performance. Additionally, an alert module triggers alarms based on speed, acceleration, and time to collision. Results: The model achieves a recall of 90.5%, an mAP of 0.792 for vehicle detection, an mIOU of 0.948 for road segmentation, an accuracy of 81.5% for lane segmentation, and 83.8% accuracy for distance classification. Conclusions: The results show the system accurately detects vehicles, classifies distances, and provides real-time alerts, reducing TMA collision risks and enhancing work zone safety.
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spelling doaj-art-cfcc105d29c84611900ba71f1e91086e2025-08-20T02:55:35ZengMDPI AGAI2673-26882024-10-01541816183610.3390/ai5040090Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and EvaluationNeema Jakisa Owor0Yaw Adu-Gyamfi1Linlin Zhang2Carlos Sun3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USABackground: The rise in work zone crashes due to distracted and aggressive driving calls for improved safety measures. While Truck-Mounted Attenuators (TMAs) have helped reduce crash severity, the increasing number of crashes involving TMAs shows the need for improved warning systems. Methods: This study proposes an AI-enabled vision system to automatically alert drivers on collision courses with TMAs, addressing the limitations of manual alert systems. The system uses multi-task learning (MTL) to detect and classify vehicles, estimate distance zones (danger, warning, and safe), and perform lane and road segmentation. MTL improves efficiency and accuracy, making it ideal for devices with limited resources. Using a Generalized Efficient Layer Aggregation Network (GELAN) backbone, the system enhances stability and performance. Additionally, an alert module triggers alarms based on speed, acceleration, and time to collision. Results: The model achieves a recall of 90.5%, an mAP of 0.792 for vehicle detection, an mIOU of 0.948 for road segmentation, an accuracy of 81.5% for lane segmentation, and 83.8% accuracy for distance classification. Conclusions: The results show the system accurately detects vehicles, classifies distances, and provides real-time alerts, reducing TMA collision risks and enhancing work zone safety.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-2688/5/4/90multi-task learningwork zone safetyTruck Mounted Attenuators (TMA)automated audible alertscomputer vision
spellingShingle Neema Jakisa Owor
Yaw Adu-Gyamfi
Linlin Zhang
Carlos Sun
Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation
AI
multi-task learning
work zone safety
Truck Mounted Attenuators (TMA)
automated audible alerts
computer vision
title Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation
title_full Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation
title_fullStr Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation
title_full_unstemmed Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation
title_short Automated Audible Truck-Mounted Attenuator Alerts: Vision System Development and Evaluation
title_sort automated audible truck mounted attenuator alerts vision system development and evaluation
topic multi-task learning
work zone safety
Truck Mounted Attenuators (TMA)
automated audible alerts
computer vision
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-2688/5/4/90
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AT yawadugyamfi automatedaudibletruckmountedattenuatoralertsvisionsystemdevelopmentandevaluation
AT linlinzhang automatedaudibletruckmountedattenuatoralertsvisionsystemdevelopmentandevaluation
AT carlossun automatedaudibletruckmountedattenuatoralertsvisionsystemdevelopmentandevaluation