We are currently in the research / gathering information stage of our project. I have found a research paper that appears to follow a similar process to the one we have planned, where they use computer vision algorithms to do vehicle detection and then track the vehicles’ speeds and positions to determine crashes. This paper could be useful in addition to the data / information my team mates have gathered.
We will need to simulate traffic environments with real hardware. I found this project here: https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/umpheki/control-your-arduino-from-your-laptop-via-wifi-with-esp13-346702?ref=part&ref_id=8233&offset=25
This project involve an arduino board with a shield that allows it to connect to WiFi. It also uses the wifi communication to control an LED. This is very similar to what we want to simulate, as we will be using LEDs as our “traffic lights.” We think WiFi is the best wireless communication protocol to use, as we will have to communicate from a computer to our Arduino boards as the traffic detection is being run on a remote computer. WiFi makes this connection easy. It also simulates how our system would be potentially implemented in real life, where a traffic light would have to wirelessly communicate with another traffic light farther away. I think purchasing the components of this project and building it would be a good place to start. We can then make modification to suit our purposes better and experiment.
I think we are on track in terms of schedule but do need to start collecting and implementing our ideas. By next week I hope to have started and potentially finished constructing the above project depending on how quickly we can purchase parts.