Passive traffic lane marking for on-board detection of lane boundary
First Claim
1. A pavement marking system comprising a painted stripe running along pavement and passive RF tags or labels suspended in the paint at intervals along the length of the stripe the RF tags or labels having a helical antenna etched from a thin metal conductor bonded to a substrate, wherein the antenna causes the tag to emit an RF signal in response to a 1st RF signal the tag or label receives, the emitted signal being indicative of the presence of the painted stripe.
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Abstract
A system and process for detecting a traffic lane boundary before it is potentially violated by a moving vehicle traveling in the lane. Passive RF tags or labels are embedded in a paint stripe running along pavement. A sensor in the vehicle emits an RF signal at a frequency to which the tags or labels are responsive. When the emitted signal is incident on a tag or label with strength indicative of straying of the vehicle from the lane toward incipient violation of the lane boundary defined by the stripe, the tag or label issues a return signal that is received by the sensor for on-board signaling of the potential violation to alter the driver so that corrective action can be taken.
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Citations
9 Claims
- 1. A pavement marking system comprising a painted stripe running along pavement and passive RF tags or labels suspended in the paint at intervals along the length of the stripe the RF tags or labels having a helical antenna etched from a thin metal conductor bonded to a substrate, wherein the antenna causes the tag to emit an RF signal in response to a 1st RF signal the tag or label receives, the emitted signal being indicative of the presence of the painted stripe.
- 4. A system for enabling a vehicle moving along a roadway to detect a roadway condition, the system comprising passive RF tags or labels embedded in a paint stripe on roadway pavement and a sensor in the moving vehicle for emitting an RF signal at a frequency to which the tags or labels are responsive such that when the emitted signal is incident on a tag or label with sufficient strength, the tag or label issues a return signal that is received by the sensor for on-board signaling of the presence of the stripe.
- 8. A method for enabling a vehicle moving along a roadway to detect a roadway condition, the method comprising embedding passive RF tags or labels in a roadway paint stripe, and in a moving vehicle, emitting an RF signal at a frequency to which the tags or labels are responsive such that when the emitted signal is incident on a tag or label with sufficient strength, the tag or label issues a return signal, receiving the return signal at the sensor, and processing the received return signal in an on-board processor to signal the presence of the stripe.
Specification