ESP2CS: Securing Internet of Vehicles through Blockchain-enabled Communications and Payments

The burgeoning domain of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), a subset of the Internet of Things (IoT), promises to revolutionize transportation through enhanced safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability. By amalgamating technologies like sensors and cloud computing, the IoV paves the way for optimized traffic management, heightened vehicle safety, and the birth of novel business paradigms. However, this growth is shadowed by significant security concerns, especially in the communication and payment sectors. Addressing the pressing need for secure Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communications and payments amidst rising cyber threats, this research introduces the Ethereum based Secure Payment and Communication Solution (ESP2CS). Utilizing Ethereum as a middleware, ESP2CS ensures robust and secure V2X interactions. The solution is complemented by an Android Auto application for vehicles, streamlining inter vehicle communication, parking space detection, and transaction management. Furthermore, dedicated Android applications are developed for parking space renters and the parking IoT system. Preliminary evaluations underscore ESP2CS's superior cost effectiveness, integrity and consistency over contemporary solutions, with Ethereum bolstering both security and efficiency.Comment: The first GCC Engineering Symposium, GCCENG23, 202

The Role of Pier Shape and Aspect Ratio on Local Scour with and Without Sacrificial Piles

The complexity of the scour process around bridge piers leads to uneconomical pier design and unnecessary costs. This is due to the current scour estimation methods, which over-predict scour depth. Several aspects of scour have not been fully considered in pier design and require further investigation, such as the pier shape and aspect ratio. Further, scour countermeasures are used to protect the pier and reduce the scour depth. The first objective of the present investigation is to study the combined effects of pier nose shape and aspect ratio on scour geometry. The second objective is to better understand the effect of two different sacrificial piles arrays located in front of the piers in reducing scour. Experiments were carried out with different pier shapes and aspect ratios. The shapes used were round-nosed, sharp-nosed, round-edged, and square for piers with three aspect ratios (L/a = 1, 2, and 4). In addition, two triangular sacrificial pile arrays were used to study the role of sacrificial piles on scour reduction. The sharp-nosed pier with L/a = 4 recorded the minimum scour depth. Moreover, three sacrificial piles in a triangular arrangement resulted in maximum scour reduction. A new scour estimation method was developed using the present investigation and previous experimental results. The separation velocity, the pier shape, and aspect ratio were incorporated into the equation. These parameters were examined and found to be significant factors affecting scour

Prediction of Traffic Conflicts at Signalized Intersections using SSAM

The use of microsimulation to model the vehicles movement and pedestrian movements within a traffic network is widely undertaken to test and evaluate operational performance of a traffic network under different traffic conditions and control schemes. However, few studies have used microsimulation techniques to study pedestrian-vehicle interactions and potential conflicts, as safety assessment tool. This paper demonstrates the use of microsimulation environment to predict vehicle-vehicle and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at signalized intersections. A case study from Doha in the State of Qatar was used as a study site. The real-life conflicts were observed and recorded, along with traffic and pedestrians’ data. The studied intersection is then modeled and calibrated using VISSIM microsimulation tool, where vehicles and pedestrians’ trajectories were generated. Then, Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) was used to analyze the simulated trajectories to identify potential conflicts within the study area. The results showed that potential conflicts could be reasonably predicted. Moreover, microsimulation can be used to predict the location of potential conflicts while scenario testing and the results can be determined to assess the impact of geometric improvement in reducing potential conflicts.This publication was made possible by an NPRP award [NPRP 8-365-2-150] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors

Assessment of School Bus Assistant’s Safety Perspective in the State of Qatar

School Bus Assistants (SBA) are appointed to bridge the communication gap between students and drivers, and to ensure the safety of students on the school buses. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety procedures followed and students’ behaviour on school buses, and further, determine the general perception of school buses from SBA perspective in the State of Qatar. A well-designed questionnaire was distributed to the SBA serving on the school buses of public schools. Statistical analysis was undertaken using IBM SPSS software for a sample of 108 responses. It can be concluded that the SBA were performing their duties appropriately and were mostly satisfied with the school bus services. Further, the students behaved well on school buses as schools assisted in managing students’ behavior on school buses. The SBA suggested use of advanced technologies such as bus tracking systems, surveillance cameras etc. to improve school bus services and also indicated need for more trainings/workshops on school bus safety. These results can be used for improving the school bus service and the training/awareness provided to SBA to improve the school bus safety.The Collaborative Grant [QUCG-CENG-21/22-5] from Qatar Universit

Does Pedestrian Penalty Affect Pedestrian Behavior? A Case of State of Qatar

Crashes involving pedestrians are a major concern for authorities in many developed and developing countries. To refrain pedestrians from illegal or unsafe road behavior, authorities introduced three pedestrian penalties in the State of Qatar from August 2019. This paper assesses the awareness, perception, and adaptive intentions of the new amendment to the pedestrians’ law. A questionnaire survey, designed in three languages, was distributed online using Qatar University contacts and Twitter account of the General Directorate of Traffic at the Ministry of Interior, State of Qatar. A sample of 521 complete responses was obtained and used for statistical analysis. The results indicated that only 32 % of the respondents were aware of the law amendment before taking this survey. Further, the higher score for perception, adaptive intentions, and awareness showed that the respondents were aware of the risks and the law amendment will have a positive effect on their behavior on road as a pedestrian. The outcomes of the analysis show the efficacy of the law amendment. However, the actual behavior changes need to be studied by analyzing the pedestrian crash data and conducting a before and after study. Moreover, the study of the effects on pedestrians’ behavior, through empirical observations, is proposed to get insight into actual behaviors after law amendment as a part of future work.This publication was made possible by a UREP award [UREP25-034-5-008] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. The authors would like to acknowledge the General Directorate of Traffic, Ministry of Interior for their support in collecting responses. We acknowledge Mohamed Elsayyad for his assistance in the translation of responses from Arabic to English

Urban Traffic Monitoring and Modeling System: An IoT Solution for Enhancing Road Safety

Qatar expects more than a million visitors during the 2022 World Cup, which will pose significant challenges. The high number of people will likely cause a rise in road traffic congestion, vehicle crashes, injuries and deaths. To tackle this problem, Naturalistic Driver Behavior can be utilised which will collect and analyze data to estimate the current Qatar traffic system, including traffic data infrastructure, safety planning, and engineering practices and standards. In this paper, an IoT based solution to facilitate such a study in Qatar is proposed. Different data points from a driver are collected and recorded in an unobtrusive manner, such as trip data, GPS coordinates, compass heading, minimum, average, and maximum speed and his driving behavior, including driver's drowsiness level. Analysis of these data points will help in prediction of crashes and road infrastructure improvements to reduce such events. It will also be used for drivers risk assessment and to detect extreme road user behaviors. A framework that will help to visualize and manage this data is also proposed, along with a Deep Learning-based application that detects drowsy driving behavior that netted an 82 percent accuracy.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, conference IINTEC'1

Statewide assessment of air quality changes in Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many countries from all over the world to adopt extreme measures to suppress the spread of the pandemic. These measures have triggered changes in air quality. Many studies showed an overall short-term improvement in air quality. This study investigates the long and short-term impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on air quality in the State of Florida. Three air quality indicators (AQI) from 69 stations located in 30 counties in the State of Florida were analyzed for 2015–2021. These pollutants are Fine Particulate Matters (PM2.5), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). The long-term changes in pollutant levels were assessed via Time-Lag linear regression analysis (TLR). The results show that PM2.5 levels dropped from 8.88 to 8.24 μg/m3 between 2015 and 2021. However, the ANCOVA test shows that the TLR's slope for PM2.5 is insignificant, with a p-value of 0.859. Thus, there was no statistical evidence that the changes in 2020 and 2021 differ from previous years. NO2 levels fluctuated over the study period between 13.0 and 16.0 ppm with no identified trend. Nonetheless, the regression slope was also insignificant, with a significance of 0.401. The average SO2 concentrations steadily dropped from 4.3 ppb in 2015 to 2.0 ppb in 2020 and 2.62 ppb in 2021, with a regression slope significance of 0.001. It is concluded that pollutants' levels behave differently during the lockdown and release periods, indicating that the lockdown contribution to reduce industrial activities is reflected on air quality rather than mobile source emissions

Pedestrian crashes at priority controlled junctions, roundabouts and signalised junctions: The UK case study

Objectives: Over half of pedestrians killed and seriously injured in Great Britain in 2015 were involved in crashes at junctions. This study investigates the nature of these crashes.Methods: A study was conducted into pedestrian casualty crashes at priority controlled junctions, roundabouts and signalised junctions in England between 2005 and 2015 using information from the UK STATS19 accident database, the UK National Travel Survey and the UK National Census. Consideration was given to coding frequencies of contributory factors, exposure (in terms of miles walked or driven) as well as age, gender and the resident deprivation index of the road users involved.Results and Conclusions: In terms of indicative blame, the coding frequencies of subjectively determined pedestrian actions and behaviour factors which might have contributed to pedestrian casualty crashes were found to be between 1.6 and 2.8 times the frequencies of driver actions and behavioural factors. Substantial social gradients were found in pedestrian casualty rates per miles walked and in the driver involvement rates per mile driven with those from the most deprived quintile having higher rates. In addition, it was found that female pedestrians, aged 60 years and over, had higher pedestrian casualty rates, per billion miles walked, for all three junction types, when compared with males and females under the age of 60 years, apart from male pedestrians aged 16 years and younger at priority controlled junctions

Safety and Operational Performance of Signalized Roundabouts: A Case Study in Doha

Traffic safety is one of the important challenges that urban transportation systems are facing. The common practice of assessing the safety of transportation systems starts with the collection of readily available crash data and crash reports from different resources, processing these collecting data. This approach, however, requires having an operational transportation system and historical crash data that are extended for long periods that can, which are usually years before proper assessment and proposed countermeasures can be implemented. Therefore, a new trend in analyzing and assessing the traffic safety of different transportation systems has been developed and used lately. This trend relies on analyzing traffic conflicts that are generated through traffic simulation environment. Those simulated traffic conflicts are then associated with different traffic safety assessment measures. The simulated traffic conflicts can be obtained by analyzing observed vehicle trajectories, or simulated ones. Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) is an analysis tool that processes simulated traffic trajectories. In this paper, the safety and operational performance of a signalized roundabout in the City of Doha ate assessed through the simulation approach and applying the surrogate safety assessment model. The results indicated that the signal timings and phasing schemes are associated with the level of safety at the signalized roundabout by reducing or increasing the potential traffic conflicts. Moreover, it was found that high traffic demand at signalized roundabouts is not necessarily related to the high traffic conflicts or high conflict severity