This IDEA project successfully optimized a high resolution, distortionless, wide field of view (160 degree), all weather, optical surveillance system. The project’s software development demonstrated the potential for real-time tracking and statistically reporting the omni-directional movements from all vehicles within complex intersections and rotaries.
By this novel optical approach, a single video system replaces the multiple sensors that are presently required to monitor, evaluate, or control the traffic flow within an entire area. Such an area may include each inbound and exiting lane on both sides of a railway, entire toll plaza, complex intersection, rotary circle, divided freeway, parking lot, or storage area.
Distortionless viewing provides fixed scaling across the entire field of view (FOV). Hence, constant speed objects, at a given elevation, have a fixed size and rate on the monitor and in the digitized data arrays for data processing.
Viewing an entire intersection with one distortionless system eliminates the requirement to synchronize, multiplex and process multiple signals normally required to monitor all inbound and exiting lanes of an intersection Therefore, this single sensor reduces the system data processing required to automate the placement of detection zones relative to the observed traffic patterns (patent pending). With automated detection zone placement on all inbound and exiting lanes, traffic surveys and advanced traffic management reports can be implemented with no (minimal) system alignment or software intervention during or after the installation. Such automated reports would provide time phased traffic statistics of the traffic flow between all detection zones (inbound lane to outbound lane) including U-turns.
The software demonstrated that all traffic in the approach and departure lanes about a point of interest can be observed, detected, and tracked, from this system. The certainty now exists that a single system, installed on the railroad’s right of way, could determine if an obstacle intrudes into, or remains on, the right of way of a railway after the gate closing signal has been initiated.
The basic system (surveillance camera, monitor and VCR) provides wide-area, distortion-free, high-resolution surveillance for traffic studies and traffic management centers. Distortionless viewing is acquired for an area 11 times its installed height when aligned normal to the observed surface. With a slight tilt, the camera acquires more than twice installation height on one side of the installation structure and above horizon on the other side. This automated process requires no (or minimal) operator intervention during installation and for subsequent data processing functions.
The final report for this project can be found at:
https://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/archive/studies/idea/finalreports/highspeedrail/HSR-02Final_Report.pdf.
