Abstract

The purpose of this research was to demonstrate the feasibility of using sensor networks in traffic monitoring applications, specifically a rapidly deployable network of traffic sensors (NOTS) for short-term monitoring and data collection. A sensor network is an array of sensors attached to small computer nodes that have communications capabilities via wireless network. Our application problem is heavy duty truck data: vehicle classification and reidentification, particularly under slow or varying speed conditions. An experimental sensor, the IST Blade sensor, is essentially a portable inductive loop sensor that provides high resolution data. We used the Blade sensor for our initial experiments. We conducted a field experiment on the USC campus in order to collect data for development of classification algorithms. Our results are encouraging; classification accuracy is comparable to that of other recent research efforts. Once we have developed acceptable classification algorithms, two directions are apparent for future research: use of multiple sensors with the goal of improving classification results, and the use of vehicle signatures to allow re-identification of vehicles across multiple sensors.

Date

2005

Authors

John Heidemann, Fabio Silva, Xi Wang, Genevieve Giuliano, Mengzhao Hu

Journal

SURE-SE Project Final Report