Challenges for visibility securing technology in fog using ultrasonic waves

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21063
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 25:Social systems engineering, safety engineering, disaster prevention engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tokai University
• Principal Investigator: Takayama Yoshihisa 東海大学, 情報通信学部, 教授 (30358915)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 玉川 一郎 岐阜大学, 流域圏科学研究センター, 教授 (40273198)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 視界の確保 / 霧 / 超音波 / 干渉 / レーザー光

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The ultrasonic interference ensures the one's visibility against fog that occurs around roads in mountainous and coastal areas. We first generated water droplet particles of different dimensions and showed that the water droplet particles can be captured by ultrasonic standing waves. Next, we measured the optical transmittance of the coarse and dense distribution of the captured water droplet particles and confirmed that this method is effective in securing visibility. However, in this measurement, water droplet particles were also suspended between the optical measurement system and the ultrasonic standing wave generation area. Therefore, although the effectiveness of the ultrasonic visibility enhancement against fog was confirmed in principle, the quantitative evaluation of its optical characteristics was insufficient, and we found it necessary to improve the optical measurement method and other measures.

Free Research Field

空間光通信

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

超音波の干渉を利用して霧を捕獲し、周囲の可視光情報を得る方法の成立性を実験的に確認することができた。また、浮遊する水滴粒子の計測を行い、自然に発生する霧と人工的に発生させる霧の相違について学術的にも理解を深めることができた。この方法では、音波の干渉縞を空間に形成することで、スリット状に水滴粒子の粗密を生成する。よって、山間部や沿岸部の道路周辺などで霧が発生した箇所に本研究の成果を適用することにより、社会的な要求が高まっている通行の安全性のを向上に貢献することができる。