Safety

Real-time information on traffic conditions is vital in construction, ATMS, ATIS and other
operational or design activities. Traditionally, at most permanent installations such information is

captured by in-pavement sensors and transmitted through land based communications. However, as an alternative to the permanent sensor  and camera systems, temporary detection and surveillance is often needed at construction sites, special events, or during communication/sensor failures. In such cases, there is a need for temporary, reliable, low-cost detection and surveillance. Recent advances in wireless  technologies enabled development of portable detection and surveillance systems. Such systems  need to detect traffic, collect measurements, capture live video and transmit this information  back to the supervising  station wirelessly to facilitate rapid, inexpensive and efficient deployment. However, robustness, ease of use and functionality need further improvements while cost needs to be reduced for widespread use. In this paper a low cost, easily deployable detection and surveillance system is presented. The system integrates machine vision sensors for  data collection, compressed digital video for surveillance and wireless communications for information retrieval and remote control. Furthermore, it can be placed on existing or mobile structures and assembled with off-the-self components. Four of these advanced detection systems were deployed at a 1.7 mile long site for wireless, continuous coverage allowing detailed real time data collection and surveillance. This data and video intensive deployment currently serves as a live laboratory for applications ranging from evaluation of new technologies (sensors, video, wireless communications and others) to the testing or refinement of advanced traffic simulation models and accident prevention studies.

University of Minnesota

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

Real-time information on traffic conditions is vital in construction, ATMS, ATIS and other
operational or design activities. Traditionally, at most permanent installations such information is

captured by in-pavement sensors and transmitted through land based communications. However, as an alternative to the permanent sensor  and camera systems, temporary detection and surveillance is often needed at construction sites, special events, or during communication/sensor failures. In such cases, there is a need for temporary, reliable, low-cost detection and surveillance. Recent advances in wireless  technologies enabled development of portable detection and surveillance systems. Such systems  need to detect traffic, collect measurements, capture live video and transmit this information  back to the supervising  station wirelessly to facilitate rapid, inexpensive and efficient deployment. However, robustness, ease of use and functionality need further improvements while cost needs to be reduced for widespread use. In this paper a low cost, easily deployable detection and surveillance system is presented. The system integrates machine vision sensors for  data collection, compressed digital video for surveillance and wireless communications for information retrieval and remote control. Furthermore, it can be placed on existing or mobile structures and assembled with off-the-self components. Four of these advanced detection systems were deployed at a 1.7 mile long site for wireless, continuous coverage allowing detailed real time data collection and surveillance. This data and video intensive deployment currently serves as a live laboratory for applications ranging from evaluation of new technologies (sensors, video, wireless communications and others) to the testing or refinement of advanced traffic simulation models and accident prevention studies.

University of Minnesota

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

The objective of this research was to assess the feasibility of using an ATMS for real-time,
remote, physician-directed, diagnostic ultrasound imaging during pre-hospital patient transport.
The results of this work indicate that this combination of technologies and medical capabilities
can operate successfully to the benefit of seriously injured or ill patients and their care providers. These and other programs facilitated by synergistic relationships between public safety, medical, and transportation technologies have the potential for developing and fielding advances that can save lives in civilian medical emergencies, mass casualty incidents, and armed forces combat casualty care.

San Antonio Fire Department

Southwest Research Institute

TransGuide, Texas Department of Transportation

Brooke Army Medical Center, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) operates a Courtesy Patrol program in most
metropolitan areas of the state.  These well-equipped and trained crews are dispatched to help disabled motorists and respond to major incidents and public safety emergencies involving
travelers on the freeway system. A pilot project in San Antonio is equipping these crews with
mobile communications capable of exchanging video signals between the Courtesy Patrol
vehicles and TransGuide’s Traffic Operations Center (TOC).  TransGuide operators can display
and distribute video from these mobile platforms the same as video signals from fixed location
roadside traffic surveillance cameras.  In addition, TransGuide operators can send video signals
from roadside cameras or other sources to the crews of Courtesy Patrol trucks while they are
operating on the freeways, providing them with advance information as they are responding to
trouble calls.  The ability to receive video at the TOC from moving or stationary mobile platforms provides new capabilities and opportunities for traffic management and incident response, but also adds new variables to the management and use of video information.  Advances in coordination among emergency response agencies, incident management capabilities, and maintenance operations are planned around these technologies.

Texas Department of Transportation

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

With the objective of reducing injury and accident severity, as well as improving the safety and efficiency of human driving, vision-based driver assistance system becomes an active research area among au-tomotive manufacturers, suppliers and Universities. This paper presents
the real-time monocular vehicle detection system in Ford’s Ford Telemat-ics to Safety (T2S) Concept Vehicle. The system acquires grey level images through a forward facing low light camera and achieves an average detec-tion rate of 10Hz. The monocular system was tested under different traffic scenarios (e.g., simply structured highway, complex urban street, varying
weather conditions), illustrating good performance.

Ford Motor Company

University of Nevada, Reno

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas