Decentralized Emergency Service Vehicle Pre-Emption System Using RF Communication and GNSS-Based Geo-Fencing

Giving right of way green signal for the Emergency Service Vehicles (ESV) like ambulance and fire service rescue vehicle with minimum delay is a major challenge in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). This challenge is currently achieved by various conventional Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption (EVP) Systems. These conventional systems fail miserably due to false triggering, line of sight issues, network delays, high cost and low reliability. In this paper, we propose a new decentralized Radio Frequency (RF) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based Geo-fencing approach which allows smooth passage of ESVs through the junctions with minimum delays. The proposed system was field trailed in one of the junctions in Thiruvananthapuram, India. Pre and post-implementation travel time of emergency vehicles at the junction was evaluated by an external agency National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), Thiruvananthapuram. The evaluation result shows that there is a considerable reduction in the average travel time taken by the emergency vehicles to cross the cordon area in the post-implementation stage as compared to the pre-implementation stage. The reduction in average travel time is approximately 48%.