The human identity is defined by many different factors, and yet none do a better job of it than that tendency to grow on a consistent basis. This growth-oriented tendency is so significant because it has got the world to hit upon some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which guided us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look beyond the surface, it should become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component, in fact, did a lot to give the creation a spectrum-wide presence and start what was a full-blown tech revolution. Of course, this revolution then went on to scale up the human experience from various unique directions, but even after achieving a feat so notable, technology will somehow continue to bring forth the right goods. The same has grown more evident in recent times, and assuming one new discovery ends up with the desired impact, it will propel that trend towards greater heights moving forward.

The researching team at University of Houston has successfully developed a new system to keep construction workers safe at job sites. According to certain reports, the stated system, which has been named VIPER+, does what it promises by automating the implementation of all those safety policies that a construction site might have in place, To tell you a little bit about such safety policies, they are basically measures that define safe areas for workers and equipment or define a safe distance between them when equipment is operating on the construction site. Anyway, not only it implements, but it is also vigilant regarding any violation of the policies, therefore ensuring optimal safety at every possible step. But how does the whole thing work on a more practical note? Well, a new and improved successor to the group’s previous discovery in VIPER, VIPER+ utilizes ultra-wideband technology for location tracking. This is a pivotal detail, considering it allows the system to deliver accurate results even in the non-line of sight situations.

“These radios use large bandwidths to communicate, which enables them to perform location tracking more accurately compared to other wireless radios,” said Alireza Ansaripour, a computer science doctoral student at UH and first author of the study. “This was the technology we used to track the locations of workers and equipment.”

As a way to prove system’s viability, researchers tracked locations through tags and anchors, with tags being small ultra-wideband radio transmitters and anchors playing the role of ultra-wideband receivers. Once the information transaction was duly completed between these established points, the team transferred collected data from anchors to their computer server and estimated the location of vehicles and people on a construction site. Interestingly, even though they tested out the system in actual construction zones across Houston, they did it at locations that were cordoned off specifically for their experiment and students also had to play a role in fulfilling the entire study.

The launch of VIPER+ follows up on one Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s report, which claimed 4,764 workers died on the job in the year 2020 alone, stating employees in construction and extraction occupations accounted for 20% of those deaths.

As for the future, the researching team is already working to improve on user design issues such as alerting construction workers when they are too close to moving machinery. When quizzed regarding other updates, Ansaripour said:

“We also have an issue creating a tracking zone that covers all of a construction site, not just a portion of it, There are still some improvements that need to be made for this to become a commercial product, but our work provides insight on how a real-time safety monitoring system can be used for safety tracking in construction sites.”