Passive road sensor for automatic monitoring and method thereof
First Claim
1. A system for passively monitoring traffic flow and adherence to traffic laws and regulations comprising:
- a passive road sensor comprising;
an acoustic signal generator installed in or on the road surface; and
a detector to detect an acoustic signal generated from impact of wheels of a vehicle to the generator as the vehicle is driven over the generator and conducted through the generator to the detector.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An automatic traffic monitoring system for enforcing traffic laws and regulations and for general purpose traffic monitoring includes a novel passive road sensor that accurately detects the kinematics of moving vehicles. A passive road sensor includes a detector protected in an enclosure, which is embedded in a road opening, is in a continuous listening mode. When the wheels of a passing vehicle come in contact with either the road opening, the enclosure, or both, the resulting mechanical impact generates a disturbance that triggers the detector. A processor unit of the automatic traffic monitoring system records the signal sensed by the detector and analyzes its temporal characteristics to determine the precise time of impact.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A system for passively monitoring traffic flow and adherence to traffic laws and regulations comprising:
a passive road sensor comprising; an acoustic signal generator installed in or on the road surface; and a detector to detect an acoustic signal generated from impact of wheels of a vehicle to the generator as the vehicle is driven over the generator and conducted through the generator to the detector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
27. A method of monitoring and recording traffic flow and traffic-law violation events comprising:
-
providing openings on a road; providing passive road sensors, each including a sound detector enclosed within an enclosure, the enclosure being positioned within each road opening on the road, and the sensors in continuous communication with a remote control processing unit; providing a video camera in line with the sensors to capture images of traffic flow events; providing a communication module to pass images to the processing unit; measuring vibrations caused by wheel impact of a moving vehicle with the road sensors to generate signals in the detectors, the signals triggering a computing process in a central processing unit to determine the nature of the traffic event; and activating an operating system in the processing unit to communicate with the road sensors to control the video camera and communication module, to automatically generate a report and citation to a traffic law violator.
-
Specification