First Look:

Oki WiFi chip protects pedestrians from vehicles

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(06/08/07, 12:54 AM GMT)

Tokyo, Japan – As part of an initiative by Japan’s Cabinet Office to develop the technologies needed to reduce pedestrian deaths from vehicles, OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd., has developed a DSRC module that can be added to mobile phones to allow location information to be sent from DRSC-enabled vehicles.

DSRC is a communication method for short range used in road-to-vehicle communication and controlling commercial vehicles that creates a DSRC wireless area for communicating with DSCR-equipped vehicles for sending and receiving location information.

Claiming it is the first ultra small DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication wireless module for embedding in mobile phones to be used for DSRC inter-vehicle

communication systems, the Oki circuit is designed for incorporation into Safety Mobile Phones which notify vehicles in the surrounding area of its location and retrieves the location information of vehicles in the surrounding area that are equipped with the DSRC inter-vehicle communication system.

Under the "New IT Reform Strategy" announced by Japan's Cabinet Office, Japan plans to develop necessary technologies that can reduce the number of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents.

The Safety Mobile Phone prototype is able to interconnects the DSRC inter-vehicle communication function and the GPS location positioning function, enabled through ultra small DSRC wireless module, with the mobile phone's GSM function.

Pedestrians with this device can create a DSRC wireless area (within a several hundred meters radius) with vehicles equipped with inter-vehicle communication equipment.

The device sends out its location information at a regular time interval within the area. When the two locations become close and when the received power from each device goes over the specified value, location information will constantly be exchanged.

In addition, when there is a high possibility of a traffic accident based on the location information, it will warn the users beforehand. In future implementations under consideration, the phone will be able to instantly analyze the behavior of other parties based on exchanged location information and the passage of time.

When there is a possibility that two parties are near collision, pedestrians will be warned through the vibration function on their mobile phones, and drivers will be informed through voice guidance function on the inter-vehicle communication equipment, helping avoid danger for both drivers and pedestrians.

As part of a large-scale public-private experiment to be conducted in Japan. OKI also plans to develop implementations that are compatible with IEEE802.11p, the DSRC international standard.

To learn more, go to www.oki.com.

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