Communications of the ACM
A Simple Way to Help Cities Monitor Traffic More Accurately
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Ohio State University researchers have developed software to identify in-road loop detectors, which are used to monitor traffic, that are prone to splashover, and reprogram them to get more accurate numbers.
The researchers monitored 68 in-road detectors in Columbus, Ohio, and found six that were susceptible to erroneously detecting cars in adjacent lanes. Error rates ranged from less than 1 percent to 52 percent.
"With this software, we can help transportation departments know which detectors to trust when deciding how they should put their limited dollars to work," says Ohio State professor Benjamin Coifman.
He concedes that they might not identify detectors in which one in 100 or one in 1,000 vehicles trigger splashover, but they should catch detectors where the rate is one in 20. However, the discovery comes just as many U.S. cities are moving toward the use of different technologies, such as roadside radar detectors, to monitor traffic. "The radar sensors that are replacing loop detectors are actually more prone to splashover-like errors," Coifman says. Fortunately, the same algorithms developed for loop detectors should function for radar detectors as well, according to Coifman.
From Ohio State University Research News
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