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Wide area traffic surveillance using a multisensor tracking system

  • US 5,696,503 A
  • Filed: 07/23/1993
  • Issued: 12/09/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/23/1993
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of surveilling vehicles in a traffic network, the network defining plural discrete sections and plural discrete fields, the sections comprising plural fields, wherein at least two discrete sections cover discrete fields of view connected to one another by a roadway link, the method comprising:

  • (a) a vehicle detection and flow assessment step comprising;

    (1) for a given vehicle in the network, sensing the vehicle in at least one field,(2) determining the vehicle'"'"'s position within the fields, and(3) characterizing the sensed vehicle based upon predefined attributes and assigning a unique identifier to the vehicle;

    (b) a local tracking and flow assessment step comprising;

    (1) for a given vehicle from those sensed in the vehicle detection and flow assessment step, the vehicle having been determined to be in a first particular field, at a particular position, and having a unique identifier, tracking the vehicle through the field,(2) estimating the time required for the vehicle to travel from the first field to a second field, and(3) associating the identifier of the vehicle with the detection of the vehicle in the second field, the vehicle having been detected in the second field in the vehicle detection and flow assessment step;

    (4) characterizing the flow of all sensed vehicles within a given field; and

    (c) an area wide flow characterization step comprising;

    (1) estimating a state of traffic flow over a section of the network,(2) detecting flow disruptions based upon the state of traffic flow, and(3) characterizing flow over the section.

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