SCC-PG: CrossGuard: Enhancing Pedestrian Experience at Intersections

我们从前几代人那里继承下来的城市交通基础设施在很大程度上是以车辆交通的需求为中心，很少或根本没有考虑到满足日益增长的行人人口的需求。实现智能城市社区的关键挑战之一在于将行人的需求融入城市基础设施的设计中。例如，在十字路口横穿街道缺乏及时的支持，特别是在恶劣的天气条件下，使许多行人感到沮丧，并有利于乱穿马路，这是大城市行人死亡的一个有据可查的来源。因此，提供以行人为中心的服务至关重要，特别是为儿童、老年人和残疾人等弱势行人提供服务。这项建议旨在开发和建设一个系统，该系统将使十字路口的过马路更安全，并在此过程中提高行人的体验质量。CrosGuard将探索智能基础设施、数据分析、智能传感和参与行人走向零视觉的结合点的新机会，这是一项旨在实现零交通死亡的全球倡议。十字路口警卫的设计灵感来自于人类的十字路口警卫，他们经常驻扎在繁忙的十字路口，最引人注目的是学校附近。就像一名警惕的十字路口警卫一样，十字路口警卫会预见行人的需求，并及时有效地满足他们的需求。我们期待这个项目将产生深远和持久的社会影响。交叉护栏的目标将通过以下四个研究问题的探索来实现：(1)调查和发展对行人社区面临的挑战的了解；(2)设计算法来识别易受伤害的行人，并开发随机模型以确保他们能够安全地通过；(3)开发传感模式和资源分配策略，以成功地提供交叉护栏服务；以及(4)将交叉护栏扩展到非信号交叉口。该小组将通过焦点小组和研讨会，积极让诺福克市和弗吉尼亚州海滩的公民和官员参与有意义的对话。他们还将努力确保具有代表性的各阶层公民的参与，特别是学龄儿童的父母、老年人和残疾人。该团队设想，与感知的交通趋势一起收集的丰富的实时交通数据将使行人和车辆交通的无缝集成成为可能。反过来，这将为联网的城市空间提供新的机会，并将大幅减少涉及行人，特别是儿童的交通事故。这一奖项反映了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 urban transportation infrastructure that we have inherited from previous generations is centered largely around the needs of vehicular traffic, with little or no regard to accommodating the needs of a growing pedestrian population. One of the key challenges in enabling smart urban communities lies in integrating pedestrians’ needs into the design of the urban infrastructure. For example, lack of timely support to cross the streets at intersections, particularly in inclement weather conditions, frustrates many pedestrians and is conducive to jaywalking, a well-documented source of pedestrian fatalities in big cities. It is, therefore, of a fundamental importance to provide pedestrian-centric services, particularly for vulnerable pedestrians such as children, the elderly, and the disabled. This proposal aims to develop and build CrossGuard, a system which will make crossing at intersections safer and, in the process, elevate pedestrians' quality of experience. CrossGuard will explore new opportunities available at the nexus of intelligent infrastructure, data analytics, intelligent sensing, and engaged pedestrians towards Vision Zero, a world-wide initiative that aims for zero traffic fatalities. The design of CrossGuard is inspired by human crossing guards, often stationed at busy intersections, most notably near schools. Just like a vigilant crossing guard, CrossGuard will anticipate pedestrian needs and accommodate them promptly and effectively. We expect this project to have a profound and lasting societal impact. The objectives of CrossGuard will be realized via the exploration of four research questions: (1) Investigating and developing an understanding of the challenges facing the pedestrian community; (2) Designing algorithms to identify vulnerable pedestrians and developing stochastic models for ensuring that they can cross safely; (3) Developing sensing modalities and resource allocation strategies for the successful provisioning of CrossGuard’s services; and (4) Expanding CrossGuard to non-signalized intersections. The team will actively engage citizens and officials from the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach in a meaningful dialogue via focus groups and workshops. They will also make efforts to ensure participation from a representative cross-section of the citizens, particularly parents of school-age children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The team envisions that the wealth of real-time traffic data collected in conjunction with perceived traffic trends will make the seamless integration of pedestrian and vehicular traffic possible. In turn, this will offer new opportunity for connected urban spaces, and will drastically reduce traffic accidents involving pedestrians, especially children.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.