Professor Yuji Matsuki of the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Fukuoka Institute of Technology has developed a system that can visualize the inundated area of the tsunami in real time.Fukuoka Institute of Technology has obtained a patent right for this technological invention.It will be possible to provide useful information for evacuation guidance and disaster relief.
The tsunami causes enormous damage.More than 2011% of the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake (92) were drowned by the tsunami.Optimal evacuation behavior requires accurate information on flood conditions.However, although there is tsunami observation technology at sea, a method for observing inundation conditions on land has not been developed.
The "inundation status visualization system using an automobile (probe car)" developed by Matsuki Laboratory uses an in-vehicle device called an angular velocity sensor (gyro sensor).It is a device that detects how much the direction of travel to a unit time has changed (angular velocity), and is used for skidding detection, airbag operation, car navigation, and so on.This measures the angular velocity of the system target vehicle called the probe car.When it is determined that the rotation status exceeds the standard value and a tsunami is encountered, information such as the location and flood time is sent to the server via the wireless network.The server automatically creates an inundation map and evacuation information is delivered to the user terminal.
System construction is possible with existing equipment.The penetration rate of automobiles in Japan is high, and in addition to in-vehicle sensors, communication devices, and car navigation systems, smartphones and tablets owned by users can be used.Therefore, it is possible to collect a large amount of data from vehicles scattered over a wide area, and it is possible to visualize the flooded area in real time.
In the future, it can be applied to grasp the situation of flood damage, sediment disaster, typhoon damage, and tornado damage caused by heavy rain, and it is expected that the probe car system will be widely and diversely used for disaster prevention and mitigation.