August 16, 2011, 10:02 am

Black Box Technology 2.0

By Garrick Infanger

Wired magazine looks at the future of black box technology, specifically black box technology in planes. New units could use ‘the cloud’ to prevent data loss in an accident.

The Iridium network, which covers the entire globe with 66 orbiting satellites, could probably accommodate the bandwidth needed to transmit at least the 88 required parameters from the 8,000 or so commercial flights in operation at any moment. Krishna M. Kavi, a professor of computer science at the University of North Texas, estimates that the worldwide demand would be about 64 megabits per second, only a portion of which would have to be sent by satellite. Using different assumptions, Seymour Levine, an inventor who has devised his own telemetry, estimates the maximum bandwidth requirement at 25 Mbps and the total storage requirement for a day’s worth of data at 100 gigabytes—a quarter the speed of a fast broadband connection and less disk space than an iPod classic.

This data, aggregated terrestrially instead of scattered among thousands of black boxes constantly flying around the world, would inevitably call forth other uses. Airlines could mine it for information about flight operations and use it to schedule maintenance and fine-tune fuel efficiency. Jet engines are already among the most closely monitored machines in the world, but manufacturers can always use more data; FLYHT AeroMechanical Services claims that its system, called AFIRS, detected and transmitted a warning about an out-of-spec turbine vibration in time to prevent a possibly catastrophic in-flight failure aboard one of its customers’ planes. But to really think outside the, um, box, you have to consider the implications of having all this information while the airplanes are still in the air.

Photo credits: Henrik Knudsen, Brown Bird Design

August 16, 2011, 5:40 am

Man Protesting Helmet Laws Dies from Head Injury

By Garrick Infanger

The Syracuse.com headline reads, “Parish man, protesting motorcycle helmet laws, dies from head injury, troopers say.” John Mariana looks at the unfortunate and unusual case in the Post-Standard.

Philip A. Contos, 55, of 45 East St., Parish, was not wearing a helmet while driving a 1983 Harley Davidson motorcycle south on Route 11 in Onondaga with a large group of other motorcyclists, troopers said.

About 1:30 p.m., troopers said, Contos hit his brakes, the motorcycle fishtailed and went out of control and Contos went over the handlebars.

Contos was taken to Upstate University Hospital where he was pronounced dead, troopers said.

Hat tip: Freakonomics

August 15, 2011, 6:55 am

Congestion: On our roads, in Congress

By Garrick Infanger

The Wall Street Journal looks at congestion on American roads and how to get things moving.

We have tremendous technology available that could help make transportation smoother and more efficient. Traffic signals that are centrally controlled by computer can optimize the flow of traffic. Electronic toll-collection tags let drivers pay without stopping. Changeable signs can provide information about the next bus or train, or rough traffic conditions ahead. Freeway-management centers are able to spot roadway incidents, dispatch service vehicles to clear accidents and get traffic moving again.

These technologies can help address myriad problems. For one, there’s congestion, which is estimated to cost the U.S. nearly $200 billion annually in lost productivity and environmental impact. For another, better information about bad weather and traffic can help drivers avoid crashes and mitigate the $230 billion annual economic impact that comes from accidents. There are also indirect economic benefits to going high-tech—like spurring growth among companies that design and produce the electronic gear.

Yet the deployment of this smart technology in our roadways and transit systems is lagging. Only one-third of metropolitan buses are electronically monitored in real time, for example, and less than 1% of bus stops are equipped with electronic displays of traveler information for the public.

Part of the reason is that there’s no incentive for cities to deploy these innovations, since transportation dollars aren’t distributed based on performance. You don’t get bonus money for having fewer accidents or delays on your roadways, or giving your commuters better information about delays.

 

August 11, 2011, 1:45 pm

New Regulations for Baby Cribs

By Garrick Infanger

The New York Times reports on the new regulations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding baby cribs. The author visits the testing laboratory for Delta Children’s Products.

The most pronounced change is that drop-side cribs, long a nursery staple, are prohibited from being sold. But manufacturers must also strengthen the crib slats and mattress supports, make crib hardware more durable and subject their products to tougher testing.

“Our standard is so rigorous that a new, compliant crib has to go through more than 75,000 cycles of testing (shake tests, mattress support tests, slat tests) to get certified,” Scott Wolfson, the safety commission spokesman, said in an e-mail.

But even as the new standards took effect on June 28, some manufacturers had not had all of their cribs certified by testing laboratories, frustrating some retailers who have been stuck with cribs that they are not permitted to sell. Manufacturers discontinued other cribs that most likely would not have met the new standards, so retailers sold them at steep discounts or gave them to charities before the rules took effect.

Photo Credit: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

August 10, 2011, 8:56 am

Screens to Improve Safety, Reduce Rubbernecking

By Garrick Infanger

Eric A. Morris from Freakonomics looks at the effects of rubbernecking and the possible solution in safety screen.

As we all know, terrific jams can be caused even when the wreck(s) is moved out of the traffic lanes, as passing drivers gape at the carnage. It’s been quite a long time since we shared a common ancestor with the vulture, but evidently an evolutionary tie is still there…

The pinnacle of transportation-related annoyance may be that not only does rubbernecking take place along the route where the accident happens, but it can even cause severe jams in the lanes going the opposite direction. So a few years ago I had what I thought was a bright idea: how about setting up screens at accident sites to hide the scene and prevent gaping?

Finally, somebody is trying out this idea in practice. The Highways Agency in the U.K. has tested such screens. (For more see this, this, this, and this, which leads you to several other links.) The bottom line is that the screens are not perfect; for example, the barriers to which the screens have to be attached vary in size, which creates problems; the screens are vulnerable to wind; the decision about whether to deploy them must be made very rapidly; they have to be able to be set up quickly and safely, etc. Thus they are not suitable for all accident sites. However, as the links above indicate, test results have shown they are effective.

Photo Credit

August 9, 2011, 10:05 am

Can Technology Chance the Car Insurance Industry?

By Garrick Infanger

Progressive Insurance is looking at new ways of approaching the car insurance business. Malia Wollan and Fast Company look at the new technology they are considering to change the policy pricing models of today.

When Glenn Renwick, the chief executive of insurance giant Progressive, sits down to dinner with his wife in the suburbs of Cleveland, he has, of late, been inclined to chide her about braking.

In March, Renwick plugged a device called Snapshot into the onboard diagnostic computer in the couple’s shared car. Through a wireless network, the palm-size gadget sends Progressive a real-time driving report, including the number and time of miles driven, incidents of hard braking or quick acceleration, and speed. When he logged on to monitor the couple’s stats, he saw “more hard brakes than I expected.”

Luckily for Renwick, bad driving does not result in higher rates. Good driving, however, can bring in discounts of up to 30% on insurance premiums.

Snapshot is the latest bold attempt by Progressive to base policy pricing more on individual behavior than population-wide statistics. Some analysts say the device represents a leap forward for the usage-based insurance movement, one that could revolutionize the industry.

Photo credit by Leonello Calvetti

August 8, 2011, 7:58 am

Parking 2.0

By Guest Post

Guest Post by Kevin Blomberg, Parking In Motion

Nobody enjoys parking. The word itself has been known to summon a curse word or two.

Over the last few years, however, the industry’s produced exciting innovations will not only make parking a more seamlessly integrated experience, but also a more environmentally friendly one. Automated parking garages, which originated in Europe, are also beginning to make their way stateside. West Hollywood is already buzzing about the prospect of having the first of its kind in LA.

The automated parking system will accommodate 200 cars and utilize computer-controlled motorized vehicles, lifts, conveyors and shuttles to transport passenger cars to and from the entrance to a parking space. The retrieval process can take approximately 90 seconds depending on the size of the system and location of the car.

The rise of smart meters has eliminated the need to go digging through purses and couches for loose change. New parking platforms not only let users pay by phone, but also via a parking “fast pass” similar to ones designed for toll booths. And now, drivers are also no longer in the dark when it comes to real-time occupancy information, with smartphone apps that guide them to the best available options for parking.

These cascading technologies will become more prevalent in the years to come, but the problem of parking is far from solved. Here are few issues that remain.

Park to the Future

Parking pain will not become a thing of the past until smart cars/cities become the norm. It’s estimated that 30% of traffic is caused by people searching for parking, and that’s likely to get worse as more cars hit the road. Flying cars may be strictly science fiction, but the more realistic Future cars will be able to communicate with one another and potentially eliminate traffic altogether. Though with many US cities running on huge deficits, it will simply take longer to bridge these burgeoning technologies.

Availability of Parking

There’s been some recent news out of Louisville about the failure of a major museum project, and the abundance of surface parking lots left in its wake. In anticipation for the construction of the museum, the city quickly installed numerous lots to accommodate the project. But now the economy has scrapped the plan altogether, and Louisville finds itself drowning in a sea of parking. Residents are complaining about the erosion of their city’s landscape, as historic buildings are being torn down in favor of these lots.

Donald Shoup, UCLA professor of urban planning and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking” argues that there is simply too much free parking in most cities. Charging people more for their parking, he says, will alleviate dependence on cars and reduce traffic and auto emissions. San Francisco’s revolutionary new SFpark pilot has experimented with congestion pricing, increasing the cost to park during peak driving hours. Some drivers have expressed outrage that the pricing plan is unfair and caters to the rich.

Poor City Planning

Chicago has also been a victim of bad choices in relation to their parking policies. The city has opted to privatize its parking with a 75 year contract in order to gain some immediate revenue. However, it’s been reported that this private company that now handles all of Chicago’s parking will be making an absolute fortune running this business. A fortune the city badly needs and is now missing out on. John Kaehny of Streets Blog writes

Chicago may have left as much as $974 million on the table under the terms of this agreement with Morgan Stanley. A June report from the city inspector general blasted the deal for being rushed, secretive, and vastly too expensive for taxpayers. The report’s revelations incensed motorists already antagonized by a ragged roll-out of meter rate hikes.

New York is also considering privatizing their parking, and they should be taking notes from the Windy City. In the long run bad deals like this one will hurt Chicago’s ability to provide its people with better parking solutions.

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Kevin Blomberg is the Director of Public Relations at Parking in Motion (PIM). PIM “is the leading provider of dynamic and real time parking data, retaining deals with app developers, map makers, and GPS navigation companies. PIM’s database is the largest of its kind, offering complete coverage of the US, Canada, and Europe with over 20,000 public parking lots enhanced with rates, hours, entrance points, and occupancy information.”

Blomberg writes about parking topics at the PIM Blog.

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The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by guest authors are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of Armstrong Forensic Engineers or any employee thereof. Armstrong Forensic Engineers makes no representations as to accuracy, timeliness, or suitability of any information in a guest post.

August 5, 2011, 7:39 am

What Makes an Image Memorable?

By Garrick Infanger

Wired magazine looks at what makes an image memorable and what makes it forgettable.

It has always been assumed what was memorable for one person, was not necessarily memorable for the next, and so these new findings seem to fly in the face of the idea that beauty lay in the eye of the beholder. But researchers draw an important distinction in the results.

“Pleasantness and memorability are not the same,” says MIT graduate student Phillip Isola in a statement.

There is no denying that “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941” is an amazing photograph, but if your goal is to have your images stick in the visual craw of your friends on Flickr or your followers on Twitter, you may want to cut some of the fluffy clouds and sunsets. The study suggests that snaps containing humans, followed by things with human-like scale (like your photos of your Slurpee at 7-Eleven) are the photographs recalled by the viewer.

Photo credit: Oliva and Torralba labs

August 4, 2011, 1:11 pm

Using Tanks for Parking Enforcement?

By Garrick Infanger

The mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, Arturos Zuorokas, has taken parking problems into his own hands using a tank to enforce parking rules. This humorous YouTube video highlights the man, the problem, and the tank.

H/T Fast Company

August 2, 2011, 12:59 pm

New York Unveils Adaptive Traffic Signals

By Garrick Infanger

Mayor Bloomberg unveiled New York’s new ‘Midtown in Motion’ traffic system. More from Fast Company:

Midtown in Motion, a $1.6 million real-time traffic management system from NYC’s Department of Transportation, prevents gridlock with a network of sensors and cameras that allows operators to adjust traffic signal patterns on the fly.

Midtown in Motion harnesses 100 microwave sensors as well as 32 traffic video cameras and E-ZPass readers at 23 intersections in a 110-square block area from Second to Sixth Avenues and from 42nd to 57th streets–all to track traffic, congestion, and vehicle travel times. Data from the sensors, cameras, and readers is sent to a control center, where engineers pinpoint “congestion choke points” as they happen and adjust traffic signals accordingly.

Engineers can easily switch between signal patterns, whether that means turning all signals on an avenue green at the same time or staggering traffic light signals on a street. So traffic signals could, for example, be changed to allow for an even distribution of traffic entering Midtown, the theory being that this could prevent crowded areas from becoming even more clogged.

Photo Credit

July 28, 2011, 8:06 am

Flint, Michigan 2.0

By Garrick Infanger

Fast Company looks at the attempt to attach design jumper cables to Flint, Michigan and shock the city into the 21st century.

Like many Rust Belt cities, Flint, Michigan, has seen its share of troubles: a drop in jobs (and population figures), along with a spike in crime. But Flint has something all its own: Genesee Towers, the city’s tallest high-rise and eyesore, which has stood vacant for years as a symbol of the industrial town’s bygone prosperity. To make matters worse, the city was forced to assume ownership of the property and pass along the expense to cash-strapped taxpayers. Rather than seeking the building’s demolition, Flint’s AIA chapter held a competition for ways to remake the 1968 structure as the cornerstone of future development.

Photo credit

July 26, 2011, 4:52 pm

Parking Infractions Correlated to Political Corruption

By Garrick Infanger

Forbes and Jon Bruner look at unpaid parking tickets from UN Diplomats compared to the corruption levels in their home countries.

The correlation between political corruption and parking violations is statistically robust, but a quick comparison between the two maps suggests that it’s not universal. Russia and China, both of which score poorly on the Transparency International index, had fewer than 10 outstanding parking tickets per diplomat when the study was conducted–perhaps because they have generally professional foreign services that try to avoid the appearance of taking advantage of diplomatic immunity. And Kuwait, the worst parking offender with 246 unpaid tickets per diplomat, has a middling corruption score of 4.5–better than China’s.

Fisman and Miguel also found that countries where the U.S. is viewed unfavorably tended to accumulate more unpaid tickets than those where the U.S. is popular, and they note that diplomatic parking violations plummeted during the brief spike in international goodwill that the United States enjoyed just after September 11, 2001.

In any case, most U.N. diplomats have improved their parking behavior since 2002, when the U.S. began withholding parking fines from foreign aid payments: violations fell by 90% immediately after the measure was passed. Nevertheless, Egypt still owed $1.9 million in unpaid parking fines last year, leading a list of countries that owed a collective $18 million. That sounds like a big number, but it’s probably much, much smaller than the positive economic and social impact that New York City enjoys from being the seat of world government.

Photo credit: Forbes/Transparency International

Hat Tip: Freakonomics