"Stop signs on rural roads are difficult to notice, and this leads to dangerous accidents," said Ayetullah Biten, a doctoral candidate in the UTSA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Rural roads account for 70 percent of the nation's byways and the location for 54 percent of all fatalities, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Without access to a power supply, they are more likely than other roads to lack signals and active traffic signage.

To improve driver safety, Sara Ahmed and Samer Dessouky, professors in the UTSA College of Engineering, created a low-cost, self-powered intersection detection and warning system to alert rural motorists about potential dangers. The next-generation stop sign uses a multi-pixel passive infrared sensor that detects a vehicle as it approaches an intersection. Once the vehicle is within the sensing range, a signal beacon triggers the stop sign's flashing system.

"The sensor observes thermal signatures and processes them to detect passing vehicles," said Zachary Balcar, a master's student in the UTSA Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "It distinguishes the vehicle's direction of travel, estimates the velocity of its thermal signature and determines the classification of the vehicle."

Overall, the smart system has a 90 percent vehicle detection rate and a vehicle classification accuracy of 72 percent. Compared to current traffic sensing technologies in urban areas such as magnetic loop inductors, video image processors and microwave radar, the new system consumes less power and offers better accuracy. The new technology is also much less expensive to produce. Current safety systems can cost as much as $5,000. UTSA's detection promises to be a fraction of the price at $60 to $100 per unit.

"Our off-roadway system can be installed on urban or rural roads completely independent of the utility power grid, because it is powered by small solar panels and functions in all weather conditions," said Ahmed.

The low-power rural intersection detection and warning system was developed with support from the Connect program, a collaborative research program that is co-funded by UTSA and Southwest Research Institute.

The project team has filed an invention disclosure for the system, which was recently recognized nationally by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and expects to adapt the technology to pedestrian detection, for border security and for vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Archaeologists Uncover Hidden 1,600-Year-Old Christian Church Buried for Centuries

Canadian Wildfire Smoke Chokes Northern US as Flooding Slams Texas

UC San Fran Chancellor Refuses to Say If Men Can Have Babies

Former Historic Baptist Church Becomes a Mosque in This Virginia Town, and Mayor Celebrates Muslim Call to Prayer

Islamunist Mamdani's Claim that Sexual Assaults in NYC are Rising Because of 'Expanded Definition' Dismisses 'R*pe Jihad' in the Big Apple

GOP Grills AG Nominee on Abortion Drug and Trump Admin Priorities

'It Doesn't Get Bigger': Trump Drops Hint on Today's Yuge Primetime Announcement

Vice President Vance Takes Shots at Senate on Joe Rogan Episode for Delaying SAVE America Act

House Passes SAVE America Act as Part of MUST-PASS National Security Bill; Now on to the Senate

Skeptical Doctor Shocked After Blind Son's Miracle Healing, Husband's Near-Death Experience

Louisiana Pastor Sues Library After Being Fired over Preferred Pronouns

Trans Athletes Drop Challenge to New Hampshire Women's Sports Law

30,000 'Trojan Horses': Europe and Britain Face Muslim Domination and Escalating Threat of Civil War

Consumer Prices See Steepest Monthly DECLINE in More Than Six Years in June

Documents Reveal: Democrat Special Counsel Jack Smith Spied on, Lied to Congress

The Deal Ensuring Conservatives' Border Security and SAVE America Act

Speaker Mike Johnson Issues Serious Warning About Communism and the DSA: 'This is Not a Game' (VIDEO)

Revival Grips Brazil's Amazon: 'God Is Everything for Me'

More Arson? Investigators Sift Through Ashes at Landmark 173-Year-Old Church Searching for Clues

Shocking Survey: More than Two-Thirds of Gen-Z Don't Know What America 250 Commemorates (Video)