Vehicle Detector Technologies for Traffic Management Applications

Sunday, 8 April 2012
Posted by Crystal

Ten different detector technologies were recently evaluated as part of the FHWA-sponsored Detection Technology for IVHS program. The two primary goals of the program were:
  1. To determine traffic parameters and their corresponding measurement accuracies for future Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications, and
  2. To perform laboratory and field tests with above-the-road mounted, surface, and subsurface detectors to determine their performance.
Detectors representative of all tested technologies were found to satisfy current traffic management requirements. However, improved accuracies and new types of information, such as queue length and vehicle turning or erratic movements, may be required from detectors for future traffic management applications. The choice of a detector for a specific application is, of course, dependent on many factors, including data required, accuracy, number of lanes monitored, number of detection zones per lane, detector purchase and maintenance costs, vendor support, and compatibility with the current and future traffic management infrastructure.
The results of this evaluation project is being presented in two parts. Part 1 introduces the theory of operation and the strengths and weaknesses of the various overhead detector technologies. Part 2 will provide field evaluation data and some general conclusions about detector performance and applications. Copies of the Final Report, a set of five compact disks containing the detector evaluation data, and other reports are available from the FHWA by writing to Mr. Pete Mills at HSR-1, 6300 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101.

Note: The detector performance data presented in this article were obtained by Dr. Klein when he was the project’s Principal Investigator at Hughes Aircraft Company.

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