An Alberta company is shifting into high gear to test infrared technology that promises to put a big dent in the number of vehicle accidents involving wildlife on the highway.
Rainbow Group of Companies Inc., a publicly traded technology commercialization firm based in Edmonton, is working with Parks Canada and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) to test and develop a special camera system that will alert drivers to the presence of animals and hazards on the roads.
“This is a real launching pad into the transportation industry, absolutely,” says Riad Chehayeb, vice-president of operations for Rainbow Group.
With its U.S. joint partner, QWIP Technologies, the Edmonton firm is in the final stages of finalizing the acquisition of the technology rights for an infrared photo-detection chip first developed for space applications at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
While heat-seeking detectors already have various commercial, industrial and military applications, the QWIP (Quantum Well Infrared Photo Detector) Chip licensed by the Rainbow Group will be put to the test on Canadian highways.
Starting this spring on a stretch of Highway 93 south of Radium, the system will detect and track the movements of elk, deer, bear and other wildlife up to two kilometres away who wander near the highway’s edge.
A computer will send the message along the road to a large sign alerting approaching motorists.
“As the driver approaches the detection zone, if there’s an animal in the area in the field of view, the infrared system signals the digital sign that says, ‘Caution, elk ahead,” or ‘moose ahead’. The system is smart enough to identify the animal,” says Chehayeb. The test period will run from June to the end of December, when the data from the camera will be evaluated to determine its effectiveness.
Terry McGuire, director of highway service centres for Parks Canada, says infrared technology may provide an alternative to the expensive practice of fencing off sections of highway.
“While it’s effective in keeping wildlife off the highway to a pretty good extent, it acts a barrier for wildlife who want to cross,” he says.
The 45 kilometres of fenced highway in Banff National Park costs an estimated $100,000 per kilometre, he says.
“It’s not a cheap solution, but very effective depending on the volumes of traffic, and in certain situations like the TransCanada Highway, it may be the only solution,” he adds.
“But we’re interested in some other things we might be able to do to reduce some of the mortality issues in isolated locations without going into static defences like fencing, underpasses and overpasses.”
He adds motorists who ignore the “leaping stag” signs that dot the highway sometimes pay with their lives when they hit a moose or elk at high speeds.
“After a while, it’s like everything else,” he says of the static signs. “If you don’t see an animal there, you perhaps feel they don’t exist, and after a while you become nonchalant.”
ICBC’s Graham Gilfillian, manager of material damage prevention, says the corporation is also examining other transportation-related technologies to help reduce the estimated 9,000 vehicle-wildlife collisions on B.C. highways each year.
One of the largest auto insurance companies in North America, ICBC is providing “significant development funding” to InTransTech, the Rainbow Group subsidiary set up to develop the infrared technology. If successful, the infrared technology is expected to be deployed at critical points throughout B.C. – and potentially later in Alberta.
“Alberta has nothing in the way of any system in place right now that can help in the detection of animals on the highway,” Chehayeb says.
He believes there is a growing demand for more intelligent transportation systems, and notes that European countries are experimenting with camera devices that help manage traffic flows and systems which communicate directly with drivers to track transported goods.
“The approach that we’re taking is to look at some problems that are real today, and provide solutions to them that are going to be effective,” he says.
