Irish researcher scoops top accolade for work on road safety technology
A young researcher from the National University of Ireland (NUI) in Galway has been recognised for his work on systems for pedestrian identification, a key challenge when it comes to improving road safety. Anthony Winterlich was one of six early-stage researchers who took home a gold Young European Arena for Research (YEAR) 2012 award at this year's Transport Research Arena (TRA) conference, held in Athens from 23 to 26 April. The awards were presented by EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. The YEAR 2012 competition, which is supported by the European Union, provides visibility to promising young researchers specialising in road, rail or waterborne transport research. Speaking to CORDIS News, Anthony Winterlich comments on his win: 'It's an unexpected surprise! It's great that people appreciate the value of my research and how it could potentially improve the safety of pedestrians on our roads.' The researcher's work builds on several years of existing research within the Connaught Automotive Research (CAR) Group at NUI Galway in the automotive vision systems development field. 'My background in Electronic and Computer Engineering at NUI Galway meant I had a good understanding and interest in this project,' continues Mr Winterlich. 'My research is concerned with the development of methodologies for image and video quality assessment for the automotive environment, and the use of those methodologies for evaluating and controlling the effect of image and video compression in automotive vision systems. While there are currently methods in existence for objective image and video quality assessment, there are no accepted industry standards or tools specifically designed for the automotive environment; this gap will be addressed by my research.' Mr Winterlich, who is currently working towards his PhD, hopes his work will impact on the majority of automotive camera products: 'Machine vision algorithms like pedestrian or vehicle detection are capable of warning drivers of potential dangers; however, the performance of these algorithms remains limited by the quality of the automotive image. My research reveals how different kinds of image impairments affect the performance of these algorithms, and this information can be used in system design decisions to improve image quality.' He continues: 'For the next couple of years I plan to build on this research by looking at improving image quality in automotive cameras, not only from the point of view of machine vision algorithms, but also trying to improve the visual experience of for the driver. Ultimately, I would like my work to play a role in improving the safety of vulnerable road users.' There were five other winners: from the United Kingdom, Rawia El Rashidy of the University of Leeds for her work into the resilience of transport networks to unexpected climate-related events, and Pejman Keikhaei Dehdezi of the University of Nottingham for his thorough evaluation of options for paving materials as solar collectors offering potential energy savings for new constructions. Nan Zheng, from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, was awarded for work on an innovative pricing model that could have a very positive impact in cities and congestion management, as was Riccardo Panciroli, from the University of Bologna in Italy, for his study of wave impact. From the Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard in France, Lijun Wei was awarded for developing promising fusion algorithms and concepts to enhance the localisation of vehicles, in dense urban areas through multi-behavioural platforms, thus opening a gateway to the industry for an array of added value urban services.For more information, please visit: NUI Galway: http://www.nuigalway.ie/(opens in new window) YEAR 2012: http://year2012.traconference.eu/(opens in new window)
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Ireland