Browsing by Author "Kwon, Taek M."

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Advanced LED Warning System for Rural Intersections: Phase 2 (ALERT-2)
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2014-02) Kwon, Taek M.; Ismail, Husam
    This report presents findings of the second phase of the Advanced LED Warning System for Rural Intersections (ALERT) project. Since it is the next generation of the same system, the second phase system is referred to as the ALERT-2 system while the first system is referred to as the ALERT-1 system. The ALERT systems demand use of four basic Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies: LED-based signs, renewable energy, non-intrusive sensors, and wireless communication. Use of these four basic technologies remained the same for both phases of the system. In the first phase, the data showed that the ALERT-1 system reduced vehicle speeds on the main approach, increased STOP wait time on minor approaches, and eliminated roll-throughs for vehicles on minor approaches when a conflict existed in the intersection. However, when no conflict exists in the intersection, an increase in roll-throughs for vehicles on the minor approaches was observed. The ALERT-2 system was redesigned to mitigate this increased roll-throughs. With respect to technological advances, the ALERT-2 system improves many aspects of the basic technologies, providing higher system reliability, easier installation and maintainability, and better self-sustainability through redesign of the renewable energy application. To assess the driver behaviors at the test site, 13 moths worth of video data and a survey of local residents were collected. This report describes the system development, implementation, and analysis of the video and survey data.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Annual Report: Transportation Data Laboratory 2004
    (2006-04-01) Kwon, Taek M.
    The Transportation Data Research Laboratory (TDRL) at the University of Minnesota Duluth was established to study archiving and sharing issues of large-scaled data generated by Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The intent was to attain additional benefits of ITS data by archiving and sharing the historic data with public, universities, and government organizations through Internet. In the fiscal year (FY) 2003-04, TDRL completed online automation for the two large sets of transportation data generated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) ITS; they are the traffic data collected from the Transportation Management Center (TMC) in Twin Cities and the statewide road-weather data collected from the Mn/DOT Road Weather Information System (RWIS). These two sets of large data are now available through Internet and can be freely downloaded. Beyond the data archiving and sharing issues, TDRL researchers also participate in other research issues. In FY 2003-04, TDRL developed a method of detecting faulty loop detectors using software based on analysis of archived traffic data. This method was implemented as a software diagnostic tool and utilizes a new decision-tree algorithm that classifies detectors into four classes, i.e., healthy, marginal, suspected, and highly suspected detectors. TDRL also completed a data automation project with the Mn/DOT Office of Transportation Data & Analysis (TDA). This project involves development of an on-line automation system that computes the traditional continuous and short-duration count data using the ITS archived data. Another project completed by TDRL in FY 2003-04 was the development of a raw-signal probing tool for Lineas Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems. The signal processing hardware and software for the WIM probe was successfully developed and delivered to the Mn/DOT TDA. The WIM probe allows for analysts to probe various stages of WIM signal processing and determine the status of each WIM channel.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Development of a Weigh-Pad-Based Portable Weigh-In-Motion System
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2012-12) Kwon, Taek M.
    Installing permanent in-pavement weigh-in-motion (WIM) stations on local roads is very expensive and requires recurring costs of maintenance trips, electricity, and communication. For county roads with limited average daily traffic (ADT) volume, such a high cost of installation and maintenance is rarely justifiable. One solution to bring WIM technologies to local roads is to utilize a portable WIM system, much like pneumatic tube counters used in short-duration traffic counts. That is, a single unit is reused in multiple locations for few days at a time. This way, WIM data is obtained without the cost of permanent in-pavement WIM stations. This report describes the results of a two-year research project sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to develop a portable WIM system that can be readily deployed on local roads. The objective of this project was to develop a portable WIM system that would be used much like a pneumatic tube counter. The developed system is battery operated, low cost, portable, and easily installable on both rigid and flexible pavements. The report includes a sideby- side comparison of data between the developed on-pavement portable WIM system and an in-pavement permanent WIM system.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Development of Data Warehouse and Applications for Continuous Vehicle Class and Weigh-in-Motion Data
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2009-10) Kwon, Taek M.
    Presently, the Office of Transportation Data & Analysis (TDA) at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) manages 29 Vehicle Classification (VC) sites and 12 Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) sites installed on various Minnesota roadways. The data is collected 24/7 from all sites, resulting in a large amount of data. The total amount of data is expected to substantially grow with time due to the continuous accumulation of data from the present sites and future expansion of sites. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an efficient data management strategy for dealing with the present needs and future growth of this data. The solution proposed in this research project is to develop a centralized data warehouse from which all applications can acquire the data. The objective of this project was to develop software for creating a VC/WIM data warehouse and example applications that utilize it. This project was successfully completed by developing the software necessary to build the VC/WIM data warehouse and the application software packages that utilize the data. The main contribution of this project is that it provides a single access point for querying all of the Mn/DOT’s WIM and VC data, from which many more applications can be developed without concerns of proprietary binary formats.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Enhanced Capabilities of BullReporter and BullConverter
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2017-09) Kwon, Taek M.
    Bull-Converter/Reporter is a software stack for Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) data analysis and reporting tools developed by the University of Minnesota Duluth for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to resolve problems associated with deployment of multi-vendor WIM systems in a statewide network. These data tools have been used by the MnDOT Office of Transportation System Management (OTSM) since their initial delivery in 2009. The objective of this project was to expand the current conversion capabilities of BullConverter to include more raw data formats from different companies and the current BullReporter functions to include new analysis and reporting capabilities. Data analysis needs change over time, and the members of the OTSM WIM section identified several new functions that would increase efficiency and improve quality of WIM data. This report describes the new reporting and conversion functions implemented in this project.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Improve Traffic Volume Estimates from MnDOT's Regional Traffic Management Center
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2020-02) Kwon, Taek M.
    The Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) deploys a large number of traffic detectors in the Twin Cities' freeway network and continuously collects traffic data. While RTMC mainly uses the data for traffic and incident management, the TFA (Traffic Forecasting and Analysis) office uses the same data for monitoring, forecasting, planning, and reporting of transportation applications. RTMC provides current and historical volume data generated from its freeway network, but it does not provide quality information on that data. The objective of this project was to develop a new tool that can quickly explore the quality of detector data. To allow exploration of data quality, 13 detector-health parameters were computed using raw volume and occupancy data and then they were stored in a relational database. The final detector-health system was implemented as a client server-based system, in that a single server served many remote clients through the Internet. This report provides descriptions of the detector-health parameters, principles applied, server implementation, client software, and some analyses and application examples.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Integrate RTMC Vehicle Classification into the Current Detector Volume Data
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2020-11) Kwon, Taek M.
    Collection of vehicle classification data is considered an essential part of traffic monitoring programs. The objective of this project is to integrate the raw classification data generated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) into the existing volume data managed by the Traffic Forecasting and Analysis (TFA) Section under the Office of Transportation System Management (OTSM). RTMC manages a large number of traffic sensors in the Twin Cities’ freeway network and continuously collects a huge amount of traffic data. Recently, it added Wavetronix radar sensors, from which length-based classification and speed data are generated in addition to typical volume and occupancy data generated by loop detectors. This project integrates this classification data into the existing TFA volume data, which could save cost and time for TFA in the future by using existing classification data. The project team also integrated the RTMC speed data for the locations where it was available. The final deliverable of this project was a software tool called detHealth_app, from which users can retrieve classification and speed data in addition to volume/occupancy data in multiple formats including Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) format. The detHealth_app program was thoroughly tested and has been successfully used by MnDOT TFA.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Weigh-Pad-Based Portable Weigh-in-Motion System User Manual
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2016-02) Kwon, Taek M.
    A complete portable weigh-in-motion (PWIM) system consists of a pair of weigh-pads (one for upstream and the other for downstream), a controller which translates raw load signals to WIM data, and an optional external battery pack. The weigh-pad dimensions are one foot wide and 24 feet long, covering two lanes. This document describes how to install and remove weigh-pads using the recommended tools and setup of the controller. The operation of controller that includes initial setup and calibration is described step-by-step. The controller stores WIM data in the controller hard disk using a comma separated values (CSV) format; the details of the CSV file naming convention and column formats are described.