Browsing by Subject "Recording"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Low-Cost Portable Video-Based Queue Detection for Work- Zone Safety(2011-01) Morris, Ted; Schwach, Jory A.; Michalopoulos, Panos G.Highway work-zone safety is a major concern for government agencies, the legislature, and the traveling public. Several work zone intelligent transportation systems (WZITS) have been developed as a safety countermeasure to warn drivers of dangerous traffic conditions. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of a WZTIS is diminished if the actual traffic flow conditions do not correspond with the sensor information leading to false warnings; these confuse drivers and reduce the credibility of the system, which is often ignored. This can lead to situations where drivers crash into work-zone areas because they are unprepared to stop. The national cost of crashes due to this was estimated to be nearly $2.5 billion. Such “dangerous” traffic conditions are typically characterized by unpredictable queue formations that propagate rapidly into higher speed traffic immediately upstream from the active work zone. False positives or missed warnings could be reduced if the location of queue tails in addition to vehicle speeds in proximity to the active work zone can be accurately detected. In this study, a low-cost rapidly deployable and portable queue detection WZITS warning system is proposed. To demonstrate WZITS feasibility, a queue detection algorithm was designed and tested using widely available, field proven, machine vision hardware that can be integrated into the current portable system prototype, using video data collected in the field from the portable device. The warning trigger generated by the algorithm can then be transmitted to a remote upstream location for triggering roadside emergency warning devices (such as VMS, flashers, etc.).Item Rapidly Deployable Low-Cost Traffic Data and Video Collection Device(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-12) Schwach, Joey; Morris, Ted; Michalopoulos, Panos G.Transportation practitioners, planners and researchers lack the availability of an easily deployable, non-intrusive, portable, low-cost device for traffic data collection and video recording at intersections and arterials as well as temporary remote surveillance. The necessary data usually includes volumes, speeds, classification, turning movements, queue size and length, conflicting movements, and time headways. They also include recording of traffic characteristics, accidents and other special situations. A visual record of traffic characteristics at intersections, arterials, or other locations can also be used for extensive analysis and research leading to improved safety and control practices. In this report, the development and demonstration of a low-cost, practical, rapidly deployable video recording and data collection device is presented along with the design, deployment, and data extraction process. Its major advantage at intersections is that only one unit can cover an entire intersection up to 5 lanes per incoming approach wide (20 incoming lanes total), which should be sufficient for the overwhelming majority of intersections. In addition it has the potential of extracting turning movements automatically including optional lanes through advanced machine vision or radar sensors.