High-Tech Traffic Warning System Targets Highway Safety

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Brett Schaefer holds the prototype device for a traffic warning system

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two years ago, a big-rig smashed into the back of Brett Schaefer’s vehicle during rush-hour gridlock on the interstate.

Schaefer wasn’t seriously injured, but his car was totaled. Afterward, he thought about what had caused the accident.

“The truck driver had no visual forewarning that traffic was completely stopped in the miles ahead of him,” Schaefer said. “All he had were these digital message boards, which are not automated to detect hazardous traffic conditions and not updated in real time.”

Schaefer, who holds a both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas, had an idea for a new and improved traffic warning system, and he turned that concept into Visualogistic Technologies Inc., a start-up company in Fayetteville for which Schaefer serves as chief executive officer.

The majority of the firm’s eight co-owners are graduate students in the College of Engineering at the U of A who developed the system’s prototype device.

Earlier this year, Schaefer filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a provisional patent on the invention, titled “Wireless Traffic Congestion and Hazardous Condition Detection and Warning System.”

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department purchased 12 units this summer to test the system’s performance. If successful, the system could be installed throughout Arkansas and in other states, Schaefer said.

“We’re really excited about the opportunity,” he said. “We need to make sure it is durable.”

The system comprises a network of sensors that detects traffic congestion and other hazardous conditions and wirelessly communicates the information to neighboring devices that will notify drivers in advance of the hazard, Schaefer said. The system can also compile traffic-flow statistics and send them to a centralized data hub, he said.

Each roadside device has a light that flashes different colors to alert drivers, such as yellow for traffic that has slowed but not completely stopped. The devices, which are mainly solar-powered, are designed to be placed a quarter of a mile apart, he said. The communications network is “self-healing,” meaning that if one machine is knocked out, the service to the others won’t be interrupted.

“The lifetime of these devices, battery-wise, is 25 to 30 years,” he said. “On current digital message boards they change the batteries every couple of days.”

Visualogistic Technologies is currently competing in the 2013 Ark Challenge, a business accelerator for technology companies. The challenge, in its second year, has been whittled down to nine companies that received $20,000 in seed capital in exchange for a 6 percent equity stake to be held by an affiliate of the ARK Challenge.

At the end of the challenge, Visualogistic Technologies, along with other competitors, will have an opportunity during Demo Day on Thursday, Sept. 5, to present their plans to a roomful of investors at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. Two companies will have the chance to receive an additional $150,000 each in investments.