Tunnel Comet

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Inspiration

The Hsuehshan Tunnel is the main artery between Taipei and Yilan, but it can be severely clogged. After researching, our team found there are two main reasons that cause the traffic congestion in Hsuehshan Tunnel. One is there's no tool for drivers to measure interval from the front vehicle objectively. Drivers usually keep too long interval to avoid breaking the laws. It lead to decrease of car flow in Hsuehshan Tunnel. The other is some drivers driving at improper speed results in clogging up traffic behind them and decrease average driving speed.

Hence, we try to design a system that can solve the problems and increase car flow and average driving speed in Hsuehshan Tunnel.

雪山隧道是連結台北與宜蘭的主要幹道，但令人煩惱的是它常常有嚴重塞車的情形。經過研究後我們發現有兩個主要原因造成雪山隧道的交通壅塞，第一個是因為駕駛沒有客觀工具可以判斷和前車的車距，因此駕駛很容易為了不要觸法而拉長車距，而導致雪山隧道的單位時間車流量減少，另一個原因是有些駕駛會開在不適當的速度(烏龜車)，堵住了後方的車輛，導致後方所有車輛的平均車速降低。

因此，我們想要設計一套系統來解決這些問題，提升雪山隧道內的單位時間車流量和平均車速。

What it does

Tunnel Comet provide visualized guides for drivers in Hsuehshan Tunnel to drive properly. It would base on the conditions around the vehicle and show appropriate visualized guide in front of the vehicle to suggest driver to accelerate, decelerate or maintain current speed. By guiding drivers driving at optimal speed and interval, Tunnel Comet leads to significant improvement in traffic. The efficiency is proved in simulation system.

Since all vehicle would pass through the tunnel with visualized guide in front just like comet goes. Hence we named this system “Tunnel Comet”.

雪隧彗星提供駕駛視覺導航，來幫助駕駛能更適當的行車。它會根據車輛附近的情況，在車輛前方提示出適當的視覺引導，來建議駕駛加速、減速或維持目前速度。藉由引導駕駛在最佳的速度和車距行車，雪隧彗星大幅改善了交通狀況，它的效益已在模擬系統中證實。

由於所有的車輛在穿過隧道時，都會有視覺導航一直在前方，就像彗星要離去的樣貌，因此我們把這套系統命名為—雪隧彗星。

How we built it

Simulation System:
In the beginning, we try to prove the efficiency of Tunnel Comet. We built a simulation system in unity which has two-lane traffic in the tunnel. Both lane is simulated with AI cars running on it, while one lane is normal road and the other lane is Tunnel Comet road. Tunnel Comet road is setting up sensors to detect car pass through and light patterns to serve as visualized guides. By this design, user can carry out the comparison between normal road and Tunnel Comet road. Furthermore, the simulation system has two mode – God mode and player mode. In God mode, user can observe whole tunnel in god view and see the objective traffic statistics of each lane. In player mode, user can experience the driving in first person view and even VR(virtual reality) view if user has VR glasses. These two mode also allow us to make sure the strategy of Tunnel Comet is appropriate and the driving experience is comfortable.

Prototype:
After proving the efficiency of Tunnel Comet, we built a prototype of Tunnel Comet road. It contains four ultrasonic ranging modules and three LED lights to form a segment of road. We used an Arduino board to connect all components and implement same strategy algorithm as simulation system on it.

模擬系統:
首先，我們為了驗證雪隧彗星的效益，我們用Unity製作了一套模擬系統，裡面的隧道有雙線道，兩個線道都會人工智慧車輛在上面行駛，而兩個線道一個分別為普通道路，一個被製作為雪隧彗星道路，雪隧彗星道路設置了很多感測器來偵測通過車輛和特殊圖案來做為視覺導航，藉由這個設計，使用者可以清楚地對普通道路和雪隧彗星道路進行比較，此外，模擬系統有兩種模式，分別為上帝模式和玩家模式，在上帝模式，使用者可以以上帝視角觀察整個隧道，並且有兩個線道客觀的交通數據供審視，在玩家模式，使用者可以以第一人稱視角體驗行車，甚至若使用者有虛擬實境眼鏡，甚至可以虛擬實境視角體驗行車，這兩個模式讓我們可以確保雪隧彗星的策略是適當的，並且行車體驗是舒適的。

硬體雛型:
在驗證雪隧彗星的效益之後，我們製作了雪隧彗星道路的雛型，它由四個超音波測距模組和三個LED燈構成一段道路，我們用Arduino電路板統合這些組件，並在上面實作和模擬系統一樣的策略演算法。

Challenges we ran into

Although the concept of Tunnel Comet is simple, but the appropriate guiding strategy must be well-designed. At first we found that too simple or sensitive design could cause Bullwhip effect in traffic. The guiding strategy must avoid providing improper acceleration and deceleration guides and should be capable of absorb Bullwhip effect. While designing the guiding strategy, we have to consider not only the interval but also the relative speed of the vehicles.

Another challenge is how to design appropriate visualized guide patterns. Improper guide patterns design like not intuitive, too complicated or flashing would not only cause misunderstanding, but also lead to distraction and even dizziness.

雖然雪隧彗星的概念很簡單，但實際上適當的導航策略需要很完善的設計，起初我們發現太簡單的設計或太敏感的設計都會造成交通狀況上的長鞭效應，導航策略必須避免不適當的引導加速和減速，並且要有能力吸收長鞭效應，因此在設計導航策略的時候，我們不只需要考量車距問題，還需要考量車輛彼此的相對速度。

另一個挑戰是對於視覺導航圖形的設計，不適當的設計，例如不直覺、太複雜或閃爍等，除了可能造成誤解，還可能造成分心甚至暈眩。

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

1.Think up an excellent solution to improve the traffic in Hsuehshan Tunnel.
2.Build a powerful simulation system which prove the efficiency of Tunnel Comet, and also serve as a perfect platform for us to test the guiding strategy and driving experience.
3.Build a prototype with complete function by hardware component.
4.Give this system a cool name – “Tunnel Comet”
5.Work as perfect team and have a lot of fun

1.發想出一個出色的解決方案來改善雪山隧道內的交通狀況。
2.製作一套強大的模擬系統，驗證了雪隧彗星的效應，同時也作為一個完美的平台讓我們可以測試導航策略和行車體驗。
3.製作一個功能齊全的硬體雛型。
4.為這個系統取一個很酷的名字—“雪隧彗星”
5.做為一個完美的團隊一起完成這項作品，並得到很多樂趣。

What we learned

1.Designing an excellent system requires comprehensive consideration in every detail.
2.Knowledge about traffic congestion.
3.Technique in developing system with Unity and Arduino

1.設計一個出色的系統，需要在每個細節上的周全考量。
2.關於交通壅塞的知識
3.使用Unity和Arduino開發系統的技術

What's next for Tunnel Comet

1.Keep improving guiding strategy and visualized guide patterns design of Tunnel Comet.
2.Apply the concept to urban traffic and develop other vehicle locating and guiding technology that can cooperate with current system. Provide more possibility and flexibility to Tunnel Comet and other Intelligent Transport Systems(ITS) in the future.

1.繼續改善雪隧彗星導航策略和視覺導航圖形的設計。
2.應用這種概念到都市的交通，並研發其他和現有系統匹配，車輛定位和導航的技術，藉此為未來雪隧彗星或其他智慧型交通系統提供更多的可能性和彈性。

Built With

• javascript
• unity
• vr-glasses