Case Studies

Highway Ai-MONITOR uses AI object recognition to warn road crews about vehicles entering restricted work zones. Its edge AI computer is the DX-U2200, chosen for vibration resistance, a wide operating temperature range and stable long-term supply.

Overview

Central Nippon Highway Engineering Nagoya Co., Ltd., part of the NEXCO Central Nippon group, maintains highways, critical infrastructure for moving people and goods. Maintenance crews work close to high-speed traffic, so the company developed Highway Ai-MONITOR, an AI-based system to improve their safety. Trading company SUN-WA TECHNOS CORPORATION coordinated the project and helped select the monitoring cameras.

Challenge

Highway upkeep includes daily inspections, repairs and work to address aging and wear. When crews work under partial lane restrictions, the hazard zone is often marked only by arrow boards and traffic cones.

“Ensuring worker safety is an ongoing challenge,” said Yukiharu Aoyama, General Manager of the Engineering Development Department. Earlier measures used infrared sensors and warning lamps, but a vehicle at 100 km/h covers 100 meters in about three seconds, leaving workers little time to react. The team wanted to detect intrusions sooner and rely on automated decisions rather than human judgment alone.

A software partner proposed AI object recognition. Tests on real highways showed an open-source model could accurately classify vehicles traveling at 100 km/h, and the Highway Ai-MONITOR project officially began.

Solution

Defining restricted areas was one of the hardest problems: crews move slowly along the road, so work zones must be set quickly and accurately. After extensive trial and error, the team built a function that defines these areas automatically with AI image recognition.

The overseas edge AI computer used in the prototype was discontinued, so the team needed a replacement with a stable supply. The system rides in a vehicle and works outdoors all year, so in-vehicle vibration compliance and a wide operating temperature range were essential. The DX-U2200 met both, and its compact size reduced the overall system footprint.

Aoyama also cited domestic production, reliable support and stable supply of current models regardless of the Jetson version. The deciding factor was Contec’s commitment to support the Jetson Super Mode through a firmware update. The DX-U2200 is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX and supports the JetPack SDK, so applications built on Jetson developer kits run on it directly.

Results

Highway Ai-MONITOR with the DX-U2200 passed all on-site user tests. Yasunori Taneda, Deputy General Manager of the Engineering Development Department, noted that new equipment usually meets some hesitation, yet many users said their sense of safety improved significantly.

Other highway maintenance companies showed strong interest at trade shows, opening the door to nationwide deployment. The team plans to make the system simpler and more compact based on field feedback, with Contec’s edge AI computers playing an important role.

Contec products used

• Industrial Edge AI Computer DX-U2200 (with DX-FAN-07 external fan option) · View on our store

Originally published by Contec Co., Ltd. at contec.com.