h a l f b a k e r yPoof of concept
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You buy this low-cost balloon/camera (low resolution slow speed), which sends images every few seconds thru bluetooth to your car receiver, which then relays them on the cellular network to a server.
You then get a realtime picture of traffic everywhere.
realtime picture of traffic
http://www.sigalert.com/
Baked in my area without "baloons". These cameras are all around. I think you have to pay for the service to see the pictures, though. [globaltourniquet, Aug 16 2007, last modified Aug 17 2007]
ODOT Cams
http://www.tripchec...nNav=RoadConditions
Extremely widespread and free. Balloons to have this much coverage would blot out the sun. [Klaatu, Aug 18 2007]
[link]
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(-) You want to drag a balloon on a 10-30ft leash behind a car going, say, 60 mph? How high up do you figure it would go? More than 3ft? |
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In some defense of the idea, [jutta], the places where you tend to care about seeing the traffic real time, the "baloon" will be flying much higher, as the car will be moving at about 5 mph. At least that's the way it is on my freeway, the 91 Westbound into Orange County in SoCal, and that's why I take the train. |
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So if all you see on your video is the back of the "balooncam" car, I guess you can figure you're good to go. |
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The balloon can't go too high, I think bluetooth range is less than ten meters. |
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You could reel the balloon in (touch the "reel in" button on the dash, or have it done automagically) for electricity cables and overpasses. |
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Ah yes, the "reel in" makes it work, although more as an extreme periscope than as a steady service. And you could have little bluetooth repeaters along the line, I guess - I think they'd be lighter than just running a cable up. Or just use some line-of-sight network. Or, wait, can we use a glass fiber line in the string for communication? That would be cool. |
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Whether they'd be lighter than a thin wire I don't know, but they'd be safer in the event of a failure to reel in under an HT cable... |
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Reeling it in and stowing it in through the sun roof when going fast would be better from a drag pov, too. |
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2 3 meters is enough. hitting a bridge just bounces it down
for a second.and back up. Worse comes to worst, you loose
the tiny camera which costs less than a dollar and has no
sharp edges so no problem for cars in traffic. |
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