Cross-cutting Issues

The vision system proposed here is able to find a tag at different distances and angles, and it outputs information about distance and lateral offset of the tag with respect to the camera. The main characteristic of this system is its ability to work at a wide range of distances and angles around the vertical axis, while keeping the number of computations per pixel in the image relatively low. If desired, stricter constraints can be added to the final set of selected and organized points to increase the robustness of the algorithm. Measurements of distance to the camera and lateral offset of the tag with respect to the camera are obtained, with accuracy ranging from less than 2% to 10%. The system was implemented on a Pentium III – 450 MHz platform and has a data rate of 30Hz.

The system was tested in the OSU autonomous vehicle, during ITS Demo '99. The demo took place on July 26 to 28, at the test track of the Transportation Research Center (TRC) in East Liberty, Ohio. With the tag attached to a leading car, and using only our system to get information about distance and lateral offset, we performed vision based convoying at speeds up to 55 mph.

General Dynamics Robotic Systems

The Ohio State University - Department of Electrical Engineering

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

The ITS program development approach taken in New York’s Hudson Valley plans to advance ITS to a new state of the practice. Realization of a holistic vision for the Hudson Valley’s ITS is unified by a Dynamic Traffic Assignment approach to ATMS and ATIS. By automating the highly complex operations with Dynamic Traffic Assignment and interfacing its control with the operating system as part of a three step process, the multi-agency Transportation Management Center plans to operate the complex, densely traveled grid of freeways and parkways in Lower Westchester County efficiently and effectively.

The possibility of collecting dynamic speed and path data and, especially, a real-time origin destination trip matrix from TRANSCOM’s TRANSMIT readers provides the Hudson Valley Region with some unique opportunities to explore. TRANSMIT origin-destination and path data can be used with Dynamic Traffic Assignment modeling to enhance the Region’s ITS development and operations. Dynamic Traffic Assignment aims to find the best routes to assign traffic in real-time under varying demand. Dynamic Traffic Assignment is applicable to ITS because ITS attempts to find and recommend departure times, modes, and routes to travel.

New York State Department of Transportation

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

We have developed an image processing technology that optimizes image contrast on a pixel
to pixel basis, and enhances both bright and dark regions, without the appearance of any
artifacts. This technology enhances the visual quality of images with low visibility caused by
a biased distribution of lightness, such as backlit images, by optimally correcting the contrast
of such images. Key characteristics of the developed technology are its low computational
cost and high quality achieved by our unique discrete low-pass filtering technique. In this
paper, we provide a brief overview and describe the limitations of conventional
spatial-adaptive contrast correction methods. Then, we give details about the new filtering
technique that overcomes those limitations. Finally, performances of the software and
hardware implementation are shown.

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) has led an effort to create a technology community for transit operators statewide.  To accomplish the task, DRPT with support from ITSVA formed a working group to; discuss, develop and promote the use of transit technology standards, act as a resource for the exchange of ideas and general technology discourse, promote the systems engineering process for the development, procurement and deployment of transit ITS projects and develop an on-line information tool that provides technology-related documents, links and exchange forum.  A goal was to achieve this in six months with cooperation from members from across the Commonwealth.  A good cross-section of transit providers was sought (urban, rural, small, large) with strong interest in technology and ITS.  Eleven initial participants became members of the Working Group.

Virginia DRPT

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

This paper captures the challenges of developing ITS Architectures across the Commonwealth of Virginia in parallel with ITS Long Range Plan, Technology Deployments for Emergency
Response Initiatives, Communications Master Plan, Regionalization, and mainstreaming
operations thru Statewide Systems Operations Program development for an evolving department of transportation. Virginia DOT developed a statewide ITS architecture and 5 regional ITS architectures at the same time. The paper goes beyond the development of the architectures to explore Virginia’s approach for using and maintaining their architecture suite. While each architecture was developed and will be maintained by each region, VDOT Central Office provides guidance and assistance to ensure consistency amongst the architecture definitions as well as a common approach for the use and maintenance processes.

Virginia DOT

Iteris Inc.

Paper submitted for publication and presentation at the ITS America’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition