Literature review

Truck drivers provide a service to a variety of industries by transporting goods and raw materials over lands. Most truck drivers around the UK work for 15 hours a day, as they must get no less than 9 hours of rest. There are approximately 59,000 number of truck drivers around the UK, and this number decreases each year by around 16,000. A recent analysis by the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) and Savills found that there are over 1,500 individual warehouse units in the UK. Following the literature review, more information will be provided about how the project will affect truck drivers at loading/unloading facilities. It will explore the layout and the procedures in most of the warehouses in the UK. It dwells into some devices that are currently being used by the drivers in long journeys. Also, it covers a device that has a similar aim as my project. Image processing is covered in this literature review to show the importance of detecting the traffic lights.

1.Trucks at loading/unloading facilities (warehouses)

Loading and unloading areas, normally located outside the warehouses, or incorporated into it, is where the trucks have direct access to the warehouse as shown in figure 1.1. In a well-organised warehouse, it is useful to separate these activities from the rest of the installation, allowing enough space for loading and unloading. This area can be integrated into the warehouse or be independent.

Loading/unloading areas should be:

Clear of traffic and people not involved in the procedure.
During the procedures, loads should be spread as evenly as possible and safely secured.
The vehicle break has been applied and all stabilisers are used.
Safe places for the driver to wait until the procedure finish.
Vehicles must never be overloaded to provide stability to the car.
Loading should allow for safe unloading.
Traffic lights to notify the drivers.

Figure 1.1: loading/unloading at warehouses

2. Current procedure in most of the warehouses

Loading and unloading procedure gets held in warehouses as known. The procedure does not have a specific period, as it depends on the quantity of the goods that are being loaded or unloaded. The driver gets into the warehouse and gets directed to the location they need to wait in by a member of the staff in the warehouse. The driver then waits in his truck in the location he has been directed to and tracks the traffic lights through the truck’s mirror. The driver must remain inside the truck for the duration of the procedure unless there is an appropriate reason for him to leave. Reasons could include buying food and toilet use. If the driver needs to leave the truck, he must inform a member of staff that is responsible for the loading/unloading. Once the traffic lights turn green, the driver is then able to leave the warehouse. Figure 2.1 summarises the process through a diagram.

Figure 2.1: Loading and unloading procedures with traffic lights’ system

3. Flex driver paging system

The flex driver paging system is the only system offers operators a complete appearance to vehicles held on-site, their latest status, and time progress since arriving. Also, vehicles will be able to be added on the system at arrival and through the Flex touch screen interface, they will be called from a different location.

Flex driver paging system became one of the most popular products in the warehousing industry as it improves efficiency for loading and unloading facilities, ensures staff safety and alerts truck drivers waiting for the procedure to finish. Truck drivers who are in loading/unloading areas, have to check at the moment they arrive at the office and then they get handed a pager which helps the driver to get aware of where they need to wait and when they get called when it is their turn. Also, it gives them an update of the area the truck got sent to and any extra time needed for the procedure to be done. When the drivers get handed the logistic papers, they can be called at any time when the warehouse is ready. The drivers will find out if they have been called or not by the pager that beeps, flash, vibrate and show the ramp that they need to go to. This system allows a lot of features like sending messages to mobile phones, also it gives an excellent summary of which trucks are waiting and how long they have been waiting for. This system is useful in warehouses to notify the drivers; however, it cannot be used in warehouses that use the traffic light system to alert the driver when to leave. As this system does not have the features of recognising the traffic light signals. Figure 3.1 summarises the process through a diagram.

Figure 3.1: The iFlex driver paging system’s procedure

https://discoversystems.com/product/driver-pager-system/

4. Truck drivers wake up devices

Fatigue and sleep deprivation are important issues of safety for long-haul truck drivers. The following devices help the drivers to get alerted and not let them fall asleep through long journeys. This is relevant to my research because it has similar objectives of waking up the drivers. However, these devices wake up the driver in critical situations, whereas mine wakes up the driver in uncritical situations.

Driver fatigue monitor MR688

Driver Fatigue Monitor is a vehicle detection sensor driver wake up device, it’s a driver and vehicle safety product which accurately predict and warn driver's sleeping during driving.

The device collects images of the driver’s facial and head through the camera, then it compares them with various abnormal driving behaviour models in the database to identify the current driver status. If it detects any unusual behaviour such as fatigue or distraction, it gives an audible and visual alarm. This product is for everyone who feels drowsy while driving. Figure 4.1 summarises how the devices work through a diagram.

http://www.care-drive.com/product/driver-fatigue-monitor-mr688/

Anti-sleep alarm nap zapper

This product has been designed for people who need to get alert especially drivers, it’s suitable for long distance driving or night journeys. It helps avoiding accidents that get caused by drivers who fall asleep during driving. It contains some special features such as: beeping when head lower than 30 degree (with body), and it contains an on/off switch. The wristband is easy to use, and it is also comfortable to wear.

Directions of use:

Wear it on the right ear accurately.
Switch it on.
Examine it: check if it beeps when you are leaning forward and makes no sound when sitting straight.

https://www.srselfdefense.com/nap-zapper-anti-sleep-alarm/

Steer (wearable device)

Steer device is a bracelet that helps the drivers not fall asleep while they are behind the wheel. It detects the level of the sleepiness by analysing the heart rate and skin conductance every 2 seconds, it warns the drivers when they are close to sleep, so they are safe to continue their long journey. Steer warns the drivers with strong vibration and yellow light when it detects a decrease in the heart rate by 10 units. It uses a gentle electric shock when the heart rate decreases by 3 more units.

Steer is very useful for the drivers who drive for long journeys as well as short journeys especially in the morning when the drivers just woke up and still tired.

https://impressivethingspage.com/steer-wearable-device/

Figure 4.1: Distance driving products

5. Image processing to detect traffic lights

Image processing is a general approach to visual analysis that can be used to recognise many things. Also, it is a technique to develop inputs such as images from sensors or cameras used and extract the information needed. Through image processing with the appropriate method, the system will recognise the traffic light and identify the colours. To detect the traffic light’s colours, the OpenCV library is used which exists for python and C++ programming languages, and it is available on PC.

Using image recognition for recognising traffic light signals is a complicated due to the familiar objects in the environment. Therefore, using the OpenCV techniques and tools available will help with the detection. Tools such as, colour masking, countering, circle detection, and converting colour space.

Colour masking – The mask technique creates some specific region of the image following certain rules. Here is useful to create a mask that covers an object in green and red colours.

Contouring – It is used for edge detection, as a curve joining all the continual points (along the boundary). It is useful for shape analysis and object detection and recognition. Here is required to detect circles.

ApproxPolyDP – To find what kind of polygon (circle) the contour is, approxPolyDP gives the output as a number of vertices for the polygon.

6. Visiting warehouses

Dpd warehouse: To deep my understanding of the project, I visited Dpd warehouse, located in Luton. Visiting the warehouse: I was expecting to be allowed to enter the warehouse, take few pictures and ask few questions about the procedure. However, I got the opportunity to speak to one of the staff and provided me with more details about the loading/unloading facility and the system they use to notify the driver when to leave.

In Dpd, they have the traffic lights' system but just for long trucks. In Luton they have 6 lanes that only are controlled by traffic lights and they don't have any system or device to alert the drivers so the driver have to be watching the traffic lights even if they miss it there are always someone to call or notify them when the procedure finishes.

For the vans, they don't use traffic lights or any other system to alert the driver, as the driver gets involved in the loading/unloading procedure so once he finishes, he drives away.

7. Conclusion

To conclude, the literature review gives an important understanding of one of the current devices related to this project, the flex driver paging system, which has a similar aim as my project. However, as mentioned above, this system cannot be applied at warehouses with a traffic light system. I think that the main reason that most warehouses do not use this system, is because it is a complex procedure, and it requires a lot of installation for it to provide all the information needed for the drivers. Also, it is not easy to be trained on because of how complicated it is, especially for foreign people that deliver goods from other countries. So, I believe this project will make truck drivers experience easier as it is easy to be trained on and it does not require a lot of installation.