Automated Video Incident Detection (AVID) System

Detection and verification of incidents on major freeways is one of the most critical functions for incident response. Studies show that every seven minute delay in detection results in one additional mile of queue in the system. Therefore, early detection and verification of an incident results in less congestion and faster restoration of traffic flow. One of the methods that Transportation Management Centers (TMCs) use to verify an incident is to manually monitor Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras once the incident is identified. The cameras are typically in idle mode over 95% of the time, performing no functions when not being used for incident verification. The Department lacks an automated method to detect incidents, so existing CCTV cameras are only used passively for manual verification after the TMC is informed of an incident. Currently, TMC operators use CCTV cameras to verify incidents upon either receiving calls from commuters, monitoring California Highway Patrol (CHP) logs and news media, or viewing the Advanced Transportation Management System (ATMS) map, which presents freeway vehicle speeds through the vehicle detection systems that feed information to the TMC. Once informed of an incident, they monitor the CCTV cameras to verify it prior to taking appropriate action in responding to and removing the incident. Therefore, time is lost during the period between the operators being informed of the incident and manually identifying its location using the existing CCTV cameras. This time loss will add a few minutes to the verification time of an incident, resulting in additional total delay. If the Department had a method to automatically detect incidents using existing CCTV cameras, which are currently only used for manual incident verification, TMC operators could detect and respond to incidents more rapidly.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Sponsor Organizations:

    California Department of Transportation

    Sacramento, CA  United States  95819
  • Project Managers:

    Slonaker, John

  • Principal Investigators:

    Recker, Will

  • Start Date: 20150112
  • Expected Completion Date: 20170111
  • Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01620031
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: California Department of Transportation
  • Files: RIP, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Dec 28 2016 11:39AM