Measuring Traffic Performance using Passive Sensing Technologies on Signalized Arterials

Among other sensing technologies, the wireless Wi-Fi based solution to estimating travel time along arterials seems promising. Similar with the Bluetooth-based solution, a road-side virtual Wi-Fi “hotspot” will capture the unique Wi-Fi MAC address in passing vehicles and then match them at different locations. Nonetheless, the major difference between Bluetooth-based solution and Wi-Fi-based solution is that whenever in-vehicle Wi-Fi MAC addresses are captured, virtual Wi-Fi “hotspot” can immediately record its timestamp. In contrast, the road-side Bluetooth sniffers stamp all captured Bluetooth MAC addresses with the same time only when a complete scan of all possible Bluetooth sub-frequencies is finished. The objective of this project is to extensively test this new solution at different locations in various operational scenarios. The tentative research findings out of this new solution will include but are not limited to: (1) comparison of travel time sample capture rates (valid Wi-Fi-based travel time samples, Bluetooth-based travel time samples, total number of vehicles identified, etc.); (2) estimation of positioning errors and timing errors in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth measurements under various configurations and (3) accuracy of identifying vehicle arriving patterns at signalized intersections.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  University of Nevada, Reno

  College of Engineering
  Reno, NV  United States  89557
• Performing Organizations:

  Arizona State University, Tempe

  Tempe, AZ  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Mirchandani, Pitu

• Start Date: 20150901
• Expected Completion Date: 20160831
• Actual Completion Date: 20180101

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Bluetooth technology; Sensors; Signalized intersections; Traffic estimation; Travel time; Wireless communication systems
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01596602
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Advanced Transportation Education and Research (CATER)
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 21 2016 1:23PM