Emergency Vehicle Wireless Routing and Notification System 2008-36-0079

An innovative program is described to improve emergency vehicle deployment by automatically alerting all other nearby vehicles on the road as to the presence and intention of the emergency vehicle. Since the use of audible sirens has somewhat marked effectiveness nowadays, in selecting the most practical automated method to notify most drivers a review is given of the various data-links that are available today, including plans for new standards. The research presented concludes that use of today’s newer vehicle data-links is currently ineffective due to the fragmentation and, in many cases, low adoption rates, including satellite radio, HD and conventional radio, automatic cruise control radar, and vehicle telematics. None of the newer digital data-links in use today are each capable of reaching more than a few percent of all users on the road, so a notification system that relies on breaking through or working on these channels will have very limited effectiveness, practical implementation issues aside. The new IEEE vehicle data-link standards offer the potential, but, based on the research presented, any reasonable amount of adoption is 15 years or more into the future. Therefore, the system under development and deployment described in this paper focuses on the ubiquitous cellular telephone and techniques are described to relay an emergency vehicle’s siren through these devices to help clear the road ahead for emergency services vehicles.