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IoV Road Safety: Vehicle Speed Limiting System

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 IoV Road Safety: Vehicle Speed Limiting System
M. Abdelsalam
Dept. of Electrical and Computer
Engineering
University of Sharjah
Sharjah, UAE
U14111203@sharjah.ac.ae
Abstract— Car accidents are a serious issue in our societies
that need to be dealt with. One of the leading causes for car
accidents deaths is speeding. Studies show that one third of
serious accidents are linked to exceeding the speed limit or
driving at an inappropriate speed. The speed of a vehicle is a key
factor in determining the severity of an accident which implies
that setting the correct speed limit for cars is an important factor
for road safety. The objective of this paper is to propose a new
way to control car speed limits to provide safer and better roads.
The system proposed consists of a transmitter and receiver units.
The transmitter will be deployed in streets constantly
transmitting control data. This data will be picked by the
receiver fixed in every car travelling within the transmitter's
range. Upon receiving the control data, the receiver will set a
speed limit to the car, preventing it from going over that speed
limit. The project proposed allows communication between
vehicles and road signs. Allowing communication between the
road signs and vehicles is used to convey important information
to regulate traffic flow. Such information would be speed limit of
the road, weather conditions, congested traffic areas and alarm
messages in case of emergencies. As sustainable solutions for this
problem have not been identified yet, this system might be the
answer.
Keywords—IoV, ECU, Microcontroller, RF Transceiver,
Speed Limit
I. INTRODUCTION
Reducing the number of car accidents is a major concern
for traffic authorities and the automotive industry. Speeding is
considered one of the leading causes of car accidents.
Speeding-related crashes has cost the society around $52
billion in 2010 [1]. In the last 20 years, speeding has been the
main reason for one third of all car accidents deaths. In 2016,
speeding was a contributing factor in 27 percent of all fatal
crashes [2]. Traffic authorities has been using speed radars
installed along roads to capture over speeding vehicles. There
has been a huge investment in speed cameras, but the problem
is that they only identify speeding vehicles without limiting
their speed. The danger of traveling at high speed is well
known to all drivers, however, drivers still exceed the speed
limit of roads. One reason for that could be that drivers are not
aware of the speed limit of the road. This indicates that in some
cases the speed limit signs may not be sufficient to inform the
XXX-X-XXXX-XXXX-X/XX/$XX.00 ©20XX IEEE
T. Bonny
Dept. of Electrical and Computer
Engineering
University of Sharjah
Sharjah, UAE
tbonny@sharjah.ac.ae
driver about the speed limit of the road. Other reckless drivers
choose to ignore speed limit signs deliberately. In both cases, a
better solution should be implemented to alert drivers when
exceeding the speed limit and to prevent reckless drivers from
over speeding. The speed of a vehicle is a key factor in
determining the severity of an accident. Setting the correct
speed limit for cars is an important factor for road safety.
Driving at high speeds makes it more difficult to react in time
to prevent or avoid an accident. Moreover, the higher the
speed, the more fatal the accident or crash would be which
could cause serious injuries and may lead to death.
The purpose of this project is to provide a simple and
effective solution to adapt the car speed to minimize speed-
related accidents. Implementing the system on roads would
substantially decrease fatality of speed-related car crashes. To
process the data, a controller usually is used such as CPU
[3][4], FPGA [5][6], or Microcontroller as explained in this
work. RF wireless modules is proposed in this project to
establish communication between vehicles and roads. In the
proposed system a car is equipped with a wireless RF receiver
module. While on the road, RF transmitter modules are
installed. The RF transmitter communicates to the RF receiver
the data necessary about the speed limit of the road. Upon
receiving the speed limit data, the system warns the driver
about the speed limit before adjusting the car speed. The car
speed is adjusted through communication between the system
and the engine control unit (ECU) of the car. An illustrative
figure for the proposed system is presented in Fig. 1. The
project proposed is an inexpensive and practical solution that
can be easily installed in vehicles and on roads to reduce speed
related car crashes. The proposed system is a step towards the
implementation of IoV (Internet of Vehicles). The transmitter
units of the system are interconnected together through a
server. Using the server, traffic authorities could better control
and regulate the traffic flow on roads by having full control
over the roads speed limit. The paper is organized as follows:
section II reviews the related work. Section III explains the
proposed system design. Section IV describes the prototype
followed by Section V which presents obtained results. Section
VI includes the proposed future work and then section VII is
the conclusion.

Fig. 1 Proposed System Illustrative Figure
II. RELATED WORK
In this section we discuss and present some of the
previous works related to the subject. References [7] and [8]
have designed a system to automatically limit a vehicle’s
speed in specific zones like schools and hospitals. RF
communication was used between a transmitter installed in the
specified zones and a receiver fixed in cars. The transmitter
sends a coded signal to the receiver whenever it is in the
specified zone. The receiver adjusts the speed of the car using
the vehicle’s throttle. In [9] a system was developed to control
car speed in school areas and keep it below the speed limit.
They used Wi-Fi technology as a mean of wireless
communication between a wireless module integrated into the
ECU of the car and a server installed in a school. Their system
utilized the control of the throttle valve to reduce the speed of
the vehicle. Reference [10] used RFID technology to
automatically limit car speeds. In their proposed design they
used both active and passive RFID tags. RFID tags were
deployed on signposts on the road while, RFID readers were
installed in vehicles to read the tags. Once the RFID reader
reads a tag it adapts the car speed. Reference [11] proposed a
design of an embedded system that controls car speed based
on its location. The proposed system uses GPS to determine
the location of the car. Using digital maps, it adapts the car
speed according to its location. The system uses several
outputs to communicate with the ECU of the car to adjust its
speed.
Reference [12] used both GPS and Wi-Fi to maintain
speed control for vehicles over certain areas such as schools
and hospitals. When the GPS detects that a vehicle is in a
school or hospital area, the transmitter sends a signal to the car
to adjust its speed. Reference [13] used both GSM and GPS to
locate the vehicle. The system proposed an onboard speed
regulation module equipped to a car to control its speed. The
system matches the geographical location of the car to a
digital map. The car speed is adjusted depending on the zone
the car is located in. Some references relied on vision-based
methods to read speed limit signs. Such projects, presented in
references [14] and [15] relied on artificial intelligence to
automatically recognize speed limit signs on the road.
Machine learning was used to detect the speed limit signs,
extracting speed limit numbers and the recognition of
extracted numbers. The system proposed would display
warning message alerting the driver about the speed limit or
advisory messages.
There are several designs that used different techniques to
limit a car speed such as using GPS, artificial intelligence,
RFID and Wi-Fi. Some of the proposed systems use GPS in
combination with a digital road map that contains information
about the speed limits of the road. GPS calculates the
coordinates of the vehicle and locates the vehicle’s position on
a digital road map and indicates the corresponding speed limit.
However, the issue with systems that rely heavily on GPS is
that they may face some problems in case of road diversions or
temporary speed limits. This would cause inconsistency
between the system readings and the actual speed limit of the
road. This indicates the need for regularly updated digital maps
to avoid such issues. Another issue for GPS based systems is
the limited visibility available to the satellites within urban
canyons, tunnels, mountains or buildings. Moreover, GPS has
limited tracking accuracy which may lead to an incorrect speed
limit reading [10].
Other systems such as speed limit recognition system rely
on artificial vision-based recognition. This system performs
poorly in low visibility conditions such as bad weather
conditions or insufficient light. Another issue is that it relies on
line of sight which means that in case there was an object that
obscures vision of the speed limit sign the system would fail to
read the speed limit sign. Another approach was the use of
GSM combined with GPS to improve the accuracy and
efficiency of GPS in detecting the vehicle’s location to adjust
its speed. Unfortunately, GSM has some issues as well. The
use of GSM comes at an extra cost that is paid to
telecommunications carriers to use their network. Another
issue for GSM would be the lack of network coverage in some
remote areas or long highways between cities especially in
developing countries. In case of network failure due to network
overload or bad weather conditions, it would affect the
operation of the system in detecting the vehicle’s location.
Some systems relied on RFID but RFID based systems suffer
from some drawbacks as well. RFID has a limited transmission
range in comparison to other techniques. Also, its cost is
relatively high in comparison in comparison to RF wireless
transmitters.
The proposed project relies on RF wireless modules to
establish communication between the transmitter and receiver
units. The proposed technique is a better alternative than the
others in different aspects. Using RF wireless modules does not
require to store digital map locations and it does not suffer
from accuracy errors like GPS based systems. Also, RF
wireless modules does not require line of sight to a transmitter
in comparison to artificial vision based systems, as they need a
line of sight to speed signs. The proposed system has the
advantage of the ability to work in difficult weather conditions
as well in addition to being suitable for all areas including
tunnels and downtown areas as it does not depend on GPS
signals. In case of road construction or temporary speed limits,
the speed limit can be easily adjusted by changing the speed
limit of the transmitter unit or installing new transmitter units.
The system proposed aims to reduce speeding related accidents
to a minimum by being inexpensive and practical to implement
on roads.
III. METHODOLOGY
This section explains in detail how the proposed system
works. The proposed system consists of two main units. A
transmitter and receiver units. The transmitter unit is fixed on
speed signs. While the receiver unit is installed in the car as
shown in Fig. 2. The transmitter consists of RF transmitter
module and a microcontroller. The microcontroller is
programmed to continuously transmit, through the RF
transmitter, a message signal containing the speed limit of the
road. Similarly, the receiver consists of RF receiver module
and a microcontroller. The receiver unit is connected to the
ECU of the car. Once the receiver unit in the car receives the
message signal from the transmitter unit the receiver unit
saves the speed limit in the message signal and displays a
warning message to the driver. The microcontroller compares
the car’s current speed with the speed limit received through
the message signal. If the car speed is below the maximum
speed limit of the road the car speed will not change. If the car
speed is above the specified speed limit, its speed would be
adjusted to the road speed limit. The system adjusts the speed
of the car if its speed was above the specified speed limit. The
microcontroller in the receiver unit communicates with the
ECU of the car to adjust its speed. The driver would have full
control over the car except for increasing the speed of the car
above the set speed limit. The receiver unit in the car saves the
speed limit received keeping this speed limit until it receives a
different message signal with a different speed limit to
overwrite it. Each region/road has a unique transmitter unit
sending a message signal in which the signal is specific to that
road containing its speed limit.
The proposed system allows the communication between
the vehicles and roads by sending speed limit to vehicles.
Fig. 2 Proposed System Design Transmitter and Receiver Units
The system could be used to communicate to vehicles
weather information in case of emergencies, suggested routes
in case of heavy traffic in addition to speed limit. While
vehicles could communicate to the road their speed, plate
number and emergency messages in case of car accidents. All
these communications are done through the network of the
system that could be managed by the traffic authorities
allowing them for better management of roads and traffic. All
the transmitters are connected to a main server. This facilitates
controlling the transmitter units on roads to change the speed
limits on roads at any time.
This section explains how the car speed is adjusted. A
small technical background is needed first about ECU. Engine
control unit (ECU) or the engine control module (ECM) is a
vehicle’s computer in which several inputs and outputs are
connected. The ECU controls the outputs using data received
from various input sensors, such as the accelerator pedal
position sensor, engine speed sensor, vehicle speed sensor, and
cruise control switches. An ECU has a microprocessor and a
software that is stored on the microprocessor. Using the
software, ECU processes the input data signals and send
output signals to actuators to control them. One of the
functions of the ECU is controlling the throttle valve. The ECU
controls the angle at which the throttle valve opens to, which in
turn determines the amount of fuel injected into the engine
[16].
In the normal case as Fig. 3 shows, an ECU is responsible
for controlling a series of actuators in the car. The ECU makes
use of different sensor readings in the car. According to these
readings the ECU determines the amount of fuel to inject. In
general, the speed of a car is varied according to the
accelerator’s pedal position. The variation in the pedal
position is fed to the ECU. The ECU determines the position
of the throttle based on the accelerators pedal position and the
inputs received from the other sensors. Adjustment of throttle
position causes the change in the variation of automobiles
speed. This indicates that the ECU can control the speed of
the car through the amount of fuel injected to the engine.
When the car receives the message signal (speed limit), the
microcontroller reads the speed limit and compares it to the
current speed. Then the microcontroller takes a decision based
on the speed of the car, if it was above the specified speed
limit it would communicate with the ECU to reduce the speed
of the car.
Fig. 3 Conventional ECU Design

Fig. 4 Proposed ECU Design Model
In the proposed design model shown in Fig. 4, the pedal
position (accelerator) is connected to the microcontroller unit
and then it is fed to the Electronic Control Unit. If the receiver
unit received a message signal from the transmitter unit, the
microcontroller communicates with the ECU to adjust the
speed of the car by controlling the throttle.
In the flowchart shown in Fig. 5 We have a description
for the algorithm used in the system. The flowchart describes
how the receiver unit reacts when receiving the speed limit
signal. The system starts at an idle state. The idle state indicate
that the car speed is not changed by the receiver unit. The next
step in the algorithm is that it checks if a new speed limit is
received. If yes, it saves the speed limit and then compares the
car speed to the speed limit signal received. If it did not
receive a new speed limit, it goes directly to the step where the
system compares the car speed to the speed limit saved. If the
car speed is greater than the speed limit, the car speed is
adjusted. While if the car speed is not greater than the speed
limit, it returns to the idle state of the system and repeat the
sequence again.
Fig. 5 Algorithm of the System Flowchart
IV. PROTOTYPE
This section discusses the implementation of the system
as a prototype. For the prototype a demo car was used to
demonstrate the idea of the system which was controlled using
a mobile application. The transmitter unit in the prototype
consists of an Arduino microcontroller and RF wireless
transmitter. While the receiver consists of another Arduino
microcontroller in addition to RF wireless receiver. The
transmitter unit uses a solar panel that is connected to a
rechargeable battery to power up the transmitter. Along both
sides of the transmitter unit was the rechargeable battery, RF
module, microcontroller and charge controller. They were
mounted inside an IP65 rated box to protect them from harsh
weather conditions. Regarding the receiver unit, it is fixed in
the car and is connected to the motor driver and the Bluetooth
module. The Bluetooth module connects both the car and the
mobile application which is used to control the car. The
Bluetooth module receives commands from the mobile
application then forwards them to the Arduino to control the
car.
The system has two RF wireless modules. Each one of
them will be connected to an Arduino microcontroller. One
RF module will be used as a transmitter and the second would
be used as a receiver. The transmitter RF module is
programmed to continuously transmit a signal containing a
specific speed limit. While the receiver RF module which is
fixed in the car is used to capture the signal. Initially, through
the mobile application a user could control the car freely
without any speed limitation. Once the car is within the range
of the RF transmitter, the RF receiver would receive a signal,
which contains the specified speed limit. The Arduino in the
car reads the signal and act accordingly. Arduino saves the
specified speed limit and limits the speed of the car preventing
it from going over the speed limit. If the car was above the
speed limit it deaccelerates until it reaches the set speed limit.
While if the car was already below the speed limit and it
increases its speed, it would increase until it reaches the set
speed limit. Arduino continuously monitors the speed of the
car comparing it to the set speed limit through the motor
driver and an IR sensor installed with an encoder in the car.
The prototype designed is shown in figures 6 and 7.
Fig. 6 Demo Car Prototype &
Fig. 7 Transmitter Unit
Transmitter Unit
 V. RESULTS
This section introduces some of the results we got from
testing the prototype. The objective of the test was to monitor
the speed of the car at different speed limits. The duration of
the test was about 11 seconds and the distance was
approximately 25 meters. An IR sensor and an encoder fixed
on the car wheel was used to calculate the speed of the car.
The speed was displayed on the mobile application in terms of
rpm (revolutions per minute). The first phase of the test is the
car moving at a high speed without any speed restriction.
When the car approaches the transmitter unit it receives the
message signal the car slows down until reaching the speed
limit. The car saves the speed limit received until it receives
another speed limit. If the transmitter increases the speed
limit, the car can increase its speed up to the new speed limit
signal. Fig. 8 represents the graph for the whole test showing
speed versus time for the car. Initially the car was moving at a
high speed (700 rpm). Upon receiving the message signal
from the transmitter (400 rpm), it adjusted its speed. When the
transmitter unit increases its speed limit (600 rpm), the car
could increase its speed up to the speed limit of the
transmitter.
Fig. 8 Speed vs Time graph First Test
Fig. 9 Speed vs Time graph Second Test
A more complicated test was conducted for the prototype
system. The second test consists of 6 regions [R1-R6]. The 6
regions represent different transmitter units at different
regions along the car path. The car would move along the path
and will receive different speed limit signals in each region
from its respective transmitter unit. As seen in Fig. 9, the
graph displays 6 regions. The speed of the car at the first
region is around 200 rpm. Entering the second region, the
speed limit is 500 rpm and the third region has a speed limit of
800 rpm. For the rest of the regions we have different speed
limits which are 300, 400 and 600 rpm. This graph
demonstrates a real-life scenario for a car moving on different
roads at various regions where the speed limit is different in
each region or road. It worth noting that the driver has
complete control over the car speed as long as it is below the
speed limit.
VI. FUTURE WORK
The proposed system in this paper has a lot of potential to
be a part of future upcoming technologies. IoV (Internet of
Vehicles) and autonomous cars are two new technologies or
concepts that are starting to gain momentum. This system
offers a great opportunity to help in the implementation of
these technologies. The proposed system can work very well
with autonomous cars as it could help traffic management of
roads and avoid accidents by controlling the speed limit of
autonomous cars. The proposed system can be developed to be
a part of IoV as well. As in IoV, vehicles are connected to a
network as to communicate with other vehicles or surrounding
infrastructure on roads. To develop this system further a
collaboration with traffic authorities or car manufacturers is
required, working cooperatively to implement the system.
VII. CONCLUSION
Many lives have been lost due to irresponsible driving
behavior. Due to the alarming rate of fatalities that result from
over speeding, authorities are searching for new strategies and
techniques to solve this problem. This paper presented a new
way to adapt a vehicle’s speed on the road to avoid the risks of
over speeding. The system presented depend on the
communication between vehicles and roads. This is done
through establishing communication between a receiver unit
in the car and a transmitter unit on the road to send control
instructions to the car to limit its speed. This system offers
significant advantages over other alternatives such as low cost,
ease of setup, adjustable speed limit on roads and it could be
implemented virtually anywhere. Also, the proposed system
could be implemented at areas near schools and hospitals as
these areas require drivers to maintain a low speed limit. The
use of the system can be spread and integrated in roads with
the help and cooperation from road authorities and car
manufacturers to further develop the system.
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