Home / Current Issue / Paper 1724428
Arduino Uno Based Smart Obstacle Detection and Collision Avoidance System for Vehicles
Subject area: Science,Engineering and Technology · Area of research: Industrial IOT
Abstract
Road accidents often happen because the driver reacts late or simply does not see the obstacle, and the radar and LiDAR systems that could help are too expensive for small vehicles or low-budget projects. In this paper we describe the design of a cheap embedded obstacle detection and collision avoidance system built on an Arduino Uno. An HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor sits on an SG90 servo at the front of the chassis and sweeps the area ahead. The Arduino turns the echo time into a distance, smooths the readings and sorts the situation into a safe, warning or stop zone. In the warning zone a buzzer and a 16×2 LCD alert the driver and the motors slow down as the gap shrinks. In the stop zone the L298N driver brakes the motors, the servo scans for a clear direction, and the car either steers around the obstacle or stays put. We looked at five published prototypes (ultrasonic braking, Li-Fi assisted following, GPS-assisted braking distance, multi-sensor avoidance and accident identification), compared what they report, and used them to choose our design. A simple stopping-distance calculation shows that the roughly 4 m range of the HC-SR04 limits the speed at which such a system can work, and we also set out a test plan for the prototype.
Keywords
Arduino Uno; HC-SR04; ultrasonic sensor; obstacle detection; collision avoidance; servo scanning; L298N; embedded systems
References
[1] Mahamud MS, Monsur M, Zishan MSR. An Arduino based accident prevention and identification system for vehicles. In: Proc. IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technol. Conf. (R10-HTC); 2017. p. 555–559.
[2] Aliyu A, Kolo JG, Mikail OO, Agajo J, Umar B, Aguagba OI. An ultrasonic sensor distance induced automatic braking automobile collision avoidance system. In: Proc. IEEE 3rd Int. Conf. Electro-Technol. Nat. Develop. (NIGERCON); 2017. p. 570–576.
[3] Krishnan P. Design of collision detection system for smart car using LiFi and ultrasonic sensor. IEEE Trans Veh Technol. 2018;67(12):11420–11426. https://doi.org/10.1109/TVT.2018.2870995
[4] Gunawan TS, Effendi MR, Omar A, Kartiwi M, Ismail N. Prototype development of vehicle collision avoidance system using Arduino. In: Proc. IEEE 7th Int. Conf. Smart Instrum; 2021. p. 70–75. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSIMA50015.2021.9526300
[5] Xiao L. Unmanned vehicle with obstacle avoidance technology based on ultrasonic ranging. In: Proc. 8th Int. Conf. Instrum. Meas; 2018. p. 87–91. https://doi.org/10.1109/IMCCC.2018.00025
[6] World Health Organization. Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018. Geneva: WHO; 2018.
[7] Dahl J, de Campos GR, Olsson C, Fredriksson J. Collision avoidance: A literature review on threat-assessment techniques. IEEE Trans Intell Veh. 2019;4(1):101–113. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIV.2018.2886682
[8] Fu Y, Li C, Yu FR, Luan TH, Zhang Y. A survey of driving safety with sensing, vehicular communications, and artificial intelligence-based collision avoidance. IEEE Trans Intell Transp Syst. 2022;23(7):6142–6163. https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2021.3083927
[9] Elecfreaks. Ultrasonic ranging module HC-SR04 [product datasheet].
[10] STMicroelectronics. L298 dual full-bridge driver. Datasheet DS0218, Rev. 5; 2023.
How to cite this paper
@article{1724428,
author = {Namratha H N, Chaman B, Vishwa Amaresh, Vivek S Swami, Yadunandan G Kulkarni},
title = {Arduino Uno Based Smart Obstacle Detection and Collision Avoidance System for Vehicles},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {10},
number = {4},
pages = {3978-3990},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1724428.pdf},
abstract = {Road accidents often happen because the driver reacts late or simply does not see the obstacle, and the radar and LiDAR systems that could help are too expensive for small vehicles or low-budget projects. In this paper we describe the design of a cheap embedded obstacle detection and collision avoidance system built on an Arduino Uno. An HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor sits on an SG90 servo at the front of the chassis and sweeps the area ahead. The Arduino turns the echo time into a distance, smooths the readings and sorts the situation into a safe, warning or stop zone. In the warning zone a buzzer and a 16×2 LCD alert the driver and the motors slow down as the gap shrinks. In the stop zone the L298N driver brakes the motors, the servo scans for a clear direction, and the car either steers around the obstacle or stays put. We looked at five published prototypes (ultrasonic braking, Li-Fi assisted following, GPS-assisted braking distance, multi-sensor avoidance and accident identification), compared what they report, and used them to choose our design. A simple stopping-distance calculation shows that the roughly 4 m range of the HC-SR04 limits the speed at which such a system can work, and we also set out a test plan for the prototype.},
keywords = {Arduino Uno; HC-SR04; ultrasonic sensor; obstacle detection; collision avoidance; servo scanning; L298N; embedded systems},
month = {October},
}