SBIR Phase I: WeighCam: A Non-invasive Screening Tool to Detect Overweight Trucks on Roads in Real Time

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是，通过开发一种在财务和技术上实用的筛查工具来实时检测大多数道路上的超重车辆，从而减少道路上超重卡车的数量。除了对运输安全的主要威胁外，超重的商用车也是国家道路和桥梁破败的重要原因。拟议的项目旨在解决使用实时视频图像有效检测道路上的超重卡车的问题，同时既不干扰交通流量，也不影响路面的完整性。专有系统WeighCam系统包括专有光电系统、算法和系统设计。它将易于操作和坚固，因为它将在大多数环境条件下可靠地工作，如环境光度变化等。这项研究的目的将是验证系统的基础，并使用已知权重校准测量结果，以推断系统限制并建立最小可行产品(MVP)的特征集，这是开始制造商业原型的必要步骤。最终的原型将是一个实用的、自主的、快速安装的、连续运行的实时发送数据的系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to decrease the number of overweight trucks on the roads by developing a financially and technically practical screening tool to detect overweight vehicles on most roads in real-time. Overweight commercial vehicles are a significant cause of the nation's crumbling roads and bridges besides being a prime threat to transportation safety.The proposed project addresses the issue of effectively detecting overweight trucks on roads using real-time video-images while neither interfering with the traffic flow nor integrity the pavement. The proprietary system, WeighCam system, includes proprietary electro-optical system, algorithms, and system design. It will be easy to operate and robust in the sense that it will reliably work in most ambient environmental conditions such as ambient luminosity changes, etc. The purpose of this research will be to validate the basics of the system and calibrate the measurements using known weights to deduce the system limitations and to establish the feature sets of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), a necessary step to start the manufacture of a commercial prototype. The final prototype will be a practical, autonomous, quick to install, and continuously operating continuous system sending data in real time.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.