Intelligent Road-studs - Lighting the Paths of the Future

A new concept in illuminated road-studs is described where electrical power is magnetically coupled from wires buried in the surface of a road to drive electronic circuitry in the stud. There is no physical contact between the wires and the stud giving high reliability, robustness, and insensitivity to environmental conditions while allowing the stud to produce highly visible lighting under all driving conditions thereby allowing a new range of highway control options to a traffic engineer. The paper discusses the stud's operating principles, and its interdisciplinary design and construction. It outlines some potential applications for the stud and proposes further developments to give yet wider choice to roadway systems' designers.