As at least one prototype of a self-driving car prepares to hit the road this summer, one researcher at West Virginia University is already working to find ways to make them safer.
Yaser Fallah, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, has earned a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for his work to increase the safety and efficiency of automated vehicles by sharing information over a wireless network. The award comes with more than $400,000 in funding over a five-year period.
While many car companies have already installed active safety features like automatic braking and lane departure warnings, one company, Google, will debut its self-driving car prototype this summer. The car features no steering wheel or pedals and is driven strictly by computer. While mainstream use of these vehicles is still a few years away, connecting them to a wireless network would allow them to share real-time information with each other on traffic conditions, roadway hazards and dangerous conditions that they can’t see through other advisories.
By taking a cyber-physical systems approach, which considers the interaction of computational, networking and physical processes of a system, Fallah expects to provide the tools needed for enabling cooperation between automated vehicles.
“The exchange of information would allow each vehicle to be aware of its surroundings up to few hundred meters away, well beyond what each vehicle – or its driver – could sense,” said Fallah. “This awareness can then be used to control and coordinate the action of these vehicles, which can achieve higher levels of efficiency and safety that would not be possible otherwise.
“This research directly contributes to current national efforts in connected vehicle program, which are led by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the efforts by industry and academia to develop automated cars,” Fallah said.
Fallah plans to engage undergraduate students, particularly those involved in WVU’s EcoCAR 3 team, in his research. Funded by General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy, EcoCAR 3 challenges university teams to redesign a Chevrolet Camaro to reduce its environmental impact, while maintaining the muscle and performance expected from this iconic American car. Fallah serves as an advisor to the team.
“There is a five-year senior design project, complementing EcoCAR3, that will help our students become familiar with advanced subjects in vehicle automation, communication and automated driving,” Fallah said. “Since a part of the CAREER project is directly applicable to my EcoCAR 3 work, we will also coordinate with other outreach activities involving the team at the local and national levels.”
Fallah received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 1998. After working as a digital hardware engineer in industry until 2000, he returned to school and received his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada, in 2001 and 2007, respectively. He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, which provided him with the opportunity to engage in research on connected and automated vehicles.
The NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, program supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This is the fifth straight year that a member of the Statler College faculty has been selected to receive this honor.
“To have yet another member of our faculty selected for this prestigious award is testament to the high quality of faculty we are recruiting to the Statler College,” said Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College. “Dr. Fallah is doing cutting-edge research in the area of wireless networks and he readily shares his knowledge with the students he mentors.”
-WVU-
mcd/05/27/15
CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086, Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu
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