FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to the field of electronics and communication device,
used for the purpose of honking to inform the vehicle running ahead (as in the
normal scenario) and also to clear the passage ahead of the running vehicle without
undue use of horn and to help reduce noise pollution.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
[0001] In today’s world, transportation has assumed very great importance and has
intertwined with the lives of all of us, it is almost imperative that without
transportation all our lives will become stand still. As a result, we can see a number
of vehicles plying on the road have also increased to a great extent. Because of
heavy traffic jam due to large vehicular population, and in order to regulate the
vehicle traffic system, proper communication between the vehicles` has become a
necessity. Normally a horn (Air horn or electronic speaker based horn) is used by the
vehicles to inform the vehicles running ahead of them and also any pedestrian who
tries to cross the passage way of the vehicles.
[0002] There are different types of horns used for honking purpose, they are Air
horns, Electric horns and Klaxon horns. Air horns are banned in almost all the cities
within the city limit framework, Electric horns commonly used by all the vehicles like
trucks, cars and Klaxon horns is a well repute brand of electromechanical horn or
alerting device. Klaxon horns are mainly used on cars, trains and ships, it produces
an easily identifiable sound, often transcribed onomatopoeically in English as
"awooga" or "ah-oo-gah”. Like most mechanical horns, the klaxon has largely been
replaced by solid-state electronic alarms, though the memorable tone has persisted.
[0003] For all human beings sound is audible in the range of 0 to 120 Decibels.
Continuous honking of horns by the drivers of the vehicles has produced so much
noise that it has contributed heavily to the noise pollution, which affects one and all.
It has been proved that continuous exposure (more than 8 hours) to the sound levels
more than 80 Decibels leads to hearing impairment in the long run, followed by
dizziness and in some cases severe head ache. Government has taken up severe
3
measures against this noise pollution and erring drivers are warned and repeated
offenders are punished with penalty.
[0004]Honking by vehicles has become a major cause of noise pollution in
contemporary society further leading to health hazards, irritation and accidents.
Vehicular traffic adds up to 55% of total urban noise. It has been observed that the
behaviour of honking horn and surveyed overall 107 vehicles. Out of which drivers of
heavy vehicles were observed for maximum honking aggressive horns as 37% of the
total vehicle population followed by drivers of two vehicles and car/jeep as 30% and
26%. The problem of noise pollution is to be tackled with stringent steps and soon
else the results may turn out to be catastrophic. This invention aims to reduce the
sound caused by the vehicular traffic (predominantly by honking) to an absolute zero
level.
[0005] L10 is a measure of daily exposure to traffic noise and provides an indication
of how much the prevailing traffic noise will affect the exposed residents. It is
calculated by averaging L10 of each of the eighteen hours between 6am and
midnight. The noise level should be less than 63dB on average. The traffic noise
involves not only the noise generated by the movement of vehicles but primarily by
honking of the vehicles.
[0006] Many studies have been carried out to find ways of reducing noise level
without affecting the communication between the vehicles drivers. Based on this
work has been carried out to invent a device that can help avoid continuous honking
at high decibels and also honk at lower decibels like a beep sound to the driver in the
vehicle moving ahead.
[0006] This invention overcomes the drawbacks of continuous honking helps avoid
noise pollution in the environment.
[0007] A recent survey revealed that nearly 18,000 patients who are transported in
ambulances every year could be saved from medical compilations if vehicles could
reach hospitals faster. The chances of survival from a life-threatening injury reduces
from 70 per cent to 7 per cent in just 4 minutes due to delay in first emergency
medical response. The ‘prioritising emergency vehicles’ features provided in this
4
invention enable the prioritised vehicles (vehicles of utmost importance like
ambulance) to reach on time and help the patients or victim to get quick medical
assistance thereby their lives can be saved from dangers.
OBJECTIVE OF INVENTION
[0007] The main objective of the invention is to provide a real smart honking system
to communicate with other vehicles while in motion, without the use of horn on a
continuous basis, which otherwise normally used for communication.
[0008] Another objective of the invention is to lessen road accidents caused due to
partial hearing of driver and inability of the driver to listen to horn due to loud music
being played inside the vehicle. This generally is the case with young generation
especially students who love to listen to loud music and driving at the same time but
it leads them to serious consequences sometimes. With the advent of such type of
smart system, safe, efficient and sustainable transport system in the future is
envisaged thereby reduction in noise pollution and safe and accident free
environment is achievable.
[0009] Another objective of the invention is to get quick passage way to the
emergency vehicles like ambulance from the preceding vehicles especially in a
heavy traffic to provide timely medical help.
[0010] Another objective of the invention is to retain the feature of conventional horn
in the real smart honking system, and use it for a shorter duration (i.e. <0.8 seconds)
to give an audible sound to the pedestrians or any other animals crossing suddenly
on the road.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Figure 1 A represents work flow diagram of real smart honking system.
Figure 1 B represents total circuit diagram of real smart honking system.
Figure 2 represents work flow diagram of transmitter circuit in the real smart honking
system.
Figure 3 represents work flow diagram of receiver circuit in the real smart honking
system.
5
Figure 4 represents a mother board housing a transmitter circuit with all the
devices like LED representing RF transmission, voltage regulator prototype of real
smart honking system.
Figure 5 represents a mother board housing a transceiver circuit with all the
devices like RF receiver, HT 12 D Decoder, LCD +Buzzer (Internal beep sound
producer), ARM controller, Relay and a 3.5 mm DC Jack.
Figure 6 represents prototype of vehicles with real smart honking system in
demonstration.
Figure 7. represents demonstration for providing path way to emergency vehicles
like ambulance on the road.
Figure 8 represents another demonstration for providing path way to emergency
vehicles like ambulance while keeping the other running vehicles on the road to stop.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
[0011] Real time smart honking system provides a solution in form of an
embedded module, in which inter-vehicular communication is done using Radio
Frequency signals with proportionate (opposite) range, frequency involved (energy
requirement) and cost of the equipment. The module also includes the provision of
avoidance of accidents occurring because of loud music playing inside the vehicle.
Fig 1 depicts the workflow diagram of the proposed model.
[0012] The source car sends RF signals which produces a mild beep sound inside
the receiver's car instead of horn in surroundings. Driver’s inability to hear the horn
due to problems like interference of music produced by the music system present in
the car, taken into consideration. During such cases, system is so designed that by
suitably integrating with the stereo system of the car, it can automatically pause
stereo system and allows the beep sound to be heard, making the driver more alert
and which results in avoidance of road accidents.
[0013] Along with the beep, a visual sign appears in the form of a message
displayed digitally on the screen that assists even a person with hearing impairment
to drive easily. There is also a provision for switching to conventional horn to deal
6
with certain situations such as sudden appearance of humans or animals is carried
out via dual switch .
[0014] Real Smart Honking system consists of a Mother board which comprises of;
1) Radio Frequency (RF) based vehicular Honking:
a) Frequency: In this invention 434 MHz radio frequency is used for transmission of
data from honking vehicle to all vehicles present in its proximity, as it in ISM band
(Industrial, scientific and medical band a group of RF band kept reserved for
scientific and experimentation purpose). Different frequency (in RF range) can also
be used which has been approved and regulated by the government authorities.
b) Range: The range of the proposed system is 40 meters for normal vehicles and
78 m for priority vehicles (i.e. ambulance, fire brigade vehicles) which is sufficient
enough to transmit data locally to all nearby vehicles.
c) One to many (all nearby vehicles): RF based one to many communication is used
for transmitting data to multiple vehicle simultaneously.
d) Directional Transmission and Reception (Honking): Directional antenna is used for
transmitting Horn (RF waves) in a specific targeted direction only, i.e. in forward
direction of vehicle at a certain flared angle . So only the vehicle present in front of
the honking vehicle will receive the RF waves and which will produce mild intensity
beep sound inside the receiving vehicle using this system. The receiver in the
vehicle on the other hand will mainly decide the direction from which the signal has
been received. It will be combination of 3-4 receiving antennas that will accurately
determine the direction of the received signal.
2) Transmitter circuit:
a) Encoding of Data: Data Encoding is done by HT12E IC
b) Transmission of data: Data is transmitted through 434 MHz RF transmitter having
wire antenna.
7
3) Receiver circuit:
When the horn is pressed from transmitter vehicle, the encoded 4 bit data is
decoded by a decoder (HT12D IC) employed in transceiver. This data is sent to the
microcontroller for further operations according to the data being received. A lowintensity
sound is generated from the buzzer inside the vehicle. If the music is being
played inside the vehicle and is louder than the prescribed limit, it is also paused with
the help of microcontroller. However, if the music is less than the prescribed limit, the
low-intensity sound is accompanied with the music. Also, LED glows near dashboard
to indicate that the horn is pressed as depicted in Fig 4 The decoded data from the
decoder IC decides the message that would be displayed on LCD screen. For
normal vehicles it reads “SIDE PLEASE” and for emergency vehicles, it reads
accordingly. For example, it reads “AMBULANCE” for ambulances and “FIRE
BRIGADE” for fire brigades. Many more vehicles could be integrated with this
system to give them priority like VIP vehicle.
4) Audio Visual interface:
a) Speaker for producing beep Sound of mild intensity has been incorporated in this
System.
b) LCD Screen has also been used for displaying sign of emergency vehicles and
other useful data. For example if any emergency vehicle transmits a honking signal it
will produce different sign for it on the LCD screen.
5) Prioritizing emergency vehicles:
[0015] As observed in various surveys many deaths are caused due to the delay of
ambulances, delay of fire brigades in fire emergency. Due to heavy traffic jam on the
path way, emergency medical vehicles like ambulances are unable to reach their
destination on time often stuck at red lights or junctions that are not cleared quickly,
leaving the affected victim completely helpless and this may cause casualties
eventually which could be prevented if these vehicles reach the desired destination
well in time.
8
[0016] Moreover high congestion on roads directly leads to heavy traffic often
resulting into a dead lock condition where, if someone even wants to clear the way
for these emergency vehicles is unable to do so due to no space for movement. A
stringent action is required in this direction requiring large manpower and
surveillance. This prototype has inbuilt feature of providing the priority to emergency
vehicles travelling on road as shown in Fig 7.
[0017] Music control feature to avoid accidents due to inability to hear horn is
provided. People of all age especially youngsters love to listen to music while driving,
and there is a strong association of this with driving safety. According to the data
recorded by various Government Organisations all across the globe, a large share of
road accidents are due to inability of a driver to listen to horn (which serves as a
warning also in various circumstances). This inability may also be due to loud music
being played inside the vehicle inhibiting driver to listen to horn. This system
provides a viable solution omitting the factors leading to these kind of road accidents
In some modules, if someone is stuck in traffic jam and listening to pleasing music at
a very less volume which is not a source of any kind of difficulty regarding safety
measures, every time a horn is pressed, the music gets paused and irritates the
driver. The proposed model deals with the scenario quite aptly as depicted in Fig. 7.
If the volume is higher than a prescribed value particular decibel strength, only then
the stereo system would pause, else the beep would be heard along with the music
of stereo.
[00018] Traffic junction optimisation in case of emergency vehicles is achieved by
this invention of real smart honking system. This invention includes the scheme or
process which can provide an efficient remedy for traffic congestion on the road.
First, the range of these emergency vehicles is twice the range kept for normal
vehicles (by using more directional antenna, having twice the height). This increased
range informs the vehicles moving on the road (ahead of this emergency vehicle) to
be informed well in time and allows them to pave out path for the emergency
vehicle(s). Secondly, there are special receivers attached with traffic lights on
junction which are sensitive only to these kind of emergency vehicles. These
receivers do not respond to signals of normal vehicles. Whenever this receiver
intercepts that an emergency vehicle is coming from a direction, all lanes (roads) but
the lane on which emergency vehicle is intercepted, are shown a red light and thus
9
traffic comes to halt on these lanes. On the other hand, the traffic on the lane of
interest is allowed and thus allowing emergency vehicle to pass first despite of traffic
on these kind of crossroads. Traffic again resumes accordingly once the emergency
vehicle passes through the mentioned junction (Fig.8).
[0019] This invention can be used to control or modify the risk behaviours, or avoid
consequences of road traffic accidents, policy making on road safety measures, and
health.
[0020] The conventional horn feature is incorporated as a safety measure (See
specifications). For two wheeler vehicles, pedestrians and animals, conventional
horn acts as a auditory safety measure and is thus necessary. The conventional
horn for a mere duration of 0.8 seconds is therefore an optimal solution addressing
to both the problems in an efficient manner, reducing the noise by vehicular traffic
and enabling pedestrians and other subjects to get cautioned in right time when
vehicle comes.
[0021]In recent surveys, many partially visually impaired and hearing impaired
individuals are also provided driving license. The message displayed on LCD screen
and the low intensity sound heard inside the vehicles is an another important feature
of our project that adds to the novelty of the invention in a large way. The different
visuals for different vehicles (simple car appears on graphic LCD for a normal vehicle
and different visual appears for emergency vehicles for emergency vehicles. For
example, an ambulance appears on Graphic LCD for ambulance and in the same
manner for other emergency b vehicles) assists partially visually impaired persons in
driving. The low intensity beep makes the driver aware of the incoming vehicle and
thus, assisting him on the road.
[0022] The range for emergency vehicles is kept approximately twice the range for
the normal vehicles such that other vehicles treading on the road can be informed
much before the vehicle arrives so that they could pave out the path for these
vehicles beforehand. In this way many lives can be saved. The range is made twice
by using antenna which has higher directivity and by increasing its height.
[0023 ] The optimisation of the traffic light at traffic light junction also saves the time
of these emergency vehicles by providing them path in time (See specifications) This
10
invention aims at minimising traffic noise pollution due to unnecessary honking on
the roads. It also discusses the design of Priority System for emergency vehicles like
ambulance. It further highlights action plan for providing assistance to people having
Hearing Impairment, enabling them to drive safely on road.

CLAIMS
We claim,
1. A “Real Time Smart Honking System” to establish communication between
the vehicles in real time and minimise noise level, it consists of mother board
comprising of;
a) Radio Frequency System
b) Transmitter Circuit
c) Receiver Circuit
d) Audio Visual Interface device.
2. The Smart honking system as claimed in claim 1a, wherein radio frequency
transmitter device consists of a mother board with a circuit having provisions
to connect voltage regulator, an LED for indicating RF Transmission,
Transmitter, Transmitting antenna, HT12E encoder IC, LED +`Buzzer
(conventional horn speaker), Buttons as Horns, and a Arm Controller.
3. The Smart honking system as claimed in Claim 1 a, where in the radio
frequency used for transmitting the data is 434 MHz and also the system can
handle other frequencies, which are approved and regulated by the
Government. There is also a provision for increasing the range of
transmission of data by RF from 40 meters (In case of normal vehicles) to 78
meters for emergency vehicles which is sufficient enough to transmit data to
all the nearby vehicles moving on the same direction , on the same road.
4. The Smart honking system as claimed in Claim 1, where in there exists
provision for communication with one vehicle to many vehicles which are
nearby, RF based one to many communication is used for transmitting data to
multiple vehicle simultaneously wherein the devices (both Transmitter and
Receiver) being mounted on the front and rear of the vehicles (Both LMV and
HMV) and the audio visual interface is mounted near the driver of the vehicle,
so that the driver can view and or hear the beep sound and LCD display. This
arrangement would help in providing the smart communication, between the
drivers of the vehicles plying on the public road.
5. The Smart honking system as claimed in claim 1a, wherein a receiver device
to receive the data transmitted by the transmitter, consists of LCD + Buzzer
(for producing internal beep and digital message or sign), LCD display unit, an
Arm Controller, RF Receiver,HT12D Decoder IC for decoding the data
received, RF receiver, Relay, and a 3.5 mm Jack, etc.
6. The Smart honking system as claimed in Claims 1,2,and 3, wherein there is a
provision for fixing an Directional antenna, so that the communication by RF
signals will be received only by the vehicles moving in the same direction only
(Unidirectional Antenna), the receiver will however exactly determine the
direction from which the signal is received.
12
7. The Real Smart honking system as claimed in Claim 1,2 and 3, where in there
is provision for transmitting a beep sound from the source vehicle to the
receiver vehicle moving ahead, and also a provision to control and pause the
music by the music player, when it is interfering with the beep sound , so that
the beep sound can be heard distinctively by the driver.
8. The Real Smart honking system as claimed in Claim 1, where in there is a
provision for display of LCD sign in addition to beep sound in the receiver
vehicle, so that visually partially impaired drivers can be equipped to see as
well as hear and hence their driving is made much easier and safer.
9. The Smart honking system as claimed in Claim 1, where in there is a provision
for a dual switch in source vehicle, which can be used to honk normal horn by
the driver for honking for a shorter time duration i.e., less than 0.8 seconds,
when the need arises like sudden appearance of a pedestrian or stray animals
on the road.
10. The Smart honking system as claimed in Claim 1, where in there is a
provision for a feature of providing the priorities to emergency vehicle by other
vehicles travelling on the same road and in the same direction by integration
with the road traffic signal system receiver by which all the lanes except the
lane on which emergency vehicle is coming, is intercepted and is shown red
signal, and the traffic comes to a halt, allowing only the emergency vehicle to
move on.