ISBN 978-3-8439-3474-9

978-3-8439-3474-9, Reihe Elektrotechnik

Javier Rivas
System Concept of a Sensor Network for Vehicular Traffic Monitoring based on Acceleration Sensors

248 Seiten, Dissertation Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (2017), Hardcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

With the continuous advances in communication technologies, the roads of the future will require a constant interchange of information in real-time with the vehicles and with the infrastructure (traffic lights, signals, displays, etc.) to make a more efficient use of the roads and to reduce the risk of accidents.

Current traffic detectors like video-cameras, radars or inductor loops were not designed to establish complex communications with vehicles and infrastructure. Therefore, if not impossible, it will be more difficult to achieve such goal.

One approach to interconnect vehicles with the infrastructure and continuously interchange information of the traffic situation is with the use of sensor networks. Sensor networks consist of individual nodes each one including one or more transducers, a power source, a control unit, and a wireless transmitter. Each node can operate independently of each other and hence, they are an attractive alternative for the next generation of vehicular traffic detectors.

This work presents a concept study of a one-dimensional, roadside vehicular traffic monitoring system, based on a sensor network that detects the presence, travel direction, speed and type of vehicle passing on the road by sensing the vibrations produced on the road’s surface by the vehicle.

For the presented study, high-sensitive piezoelectric acceleration sensors were used to study with high detail the amplitude and frequency range of the road vibrations, and with the information extracted from those signals, develop the algorithms to calculate the desired traffic parameters.

The developed algorithms proved that monitoring the traffic flow using only the road vibrations is possible. Advantages of the developed system against traditional traffic detectors like video-cameras or radars is that it is less affected by the weather conditions like wind snow or the night. Moreover, its portability makes it easy to relocate in different roads to monitor the traffic conditions.

The accuracy obtained with the developed system is acceptable, having on average 80% for vehicles detection. The accuracy in the determination of the travel direction was on average 90%. The calculated speeds have an error average of 27% with respect reference measurement.

This work sums to a continuously growing list of works aimed to add intelligence to the roads with the goal to improve the efficiency and safety on the roads.