The impact of traffic congestion on people’s quality of life imposes significant and increasing economic costs as identified in the Eddington Report and relates to other important priorities including air quality and climate change. Average Journey Time systems contribute to the evidence needed to show how well an authority is performing its network management duties.
Average Journey Time can be tracked over time to see how an authority is managing the road network, and how well it is managing the impact of changing demand for travel, and to assess the impact of its planned improvement. Consequently, average journey time information, provides an evidence-based, targeted approach to tackling congestion.
TDC Systems offers 2 solutions for providing Average Journey Time measurement including Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and the HI-TRAC Blue Traffic Impact Analysis System.
The TDC ANPR Journey Time solution roadside equipment includes an IRIDIS integrated monochrome ANPR camera with infra-red illuminator per traffic lane. The IRIDIS cameras connect into a Hawk ANPR Processor unit. The Hawk Processor communicates the time stamped plate reads to a central web server and database. Plate read accuracy is typically 92%.
The TDC Systems HI-TRAC Blue Traffic Impact Analysis system provides an alternative low-cost and easily deployable solution to collect Average Journey Time and Traffic Origin and Destination data.
The HI-TRAC Blue Traffic Impact Analysis System uses Bluetooth signals to derive Traffic Journey Time information as well as Traffic Movements.
The HI-TRAC Blue reads the unique MAC address of Bluetooth devices that are passing the system. Bluetooth devices include mobile phones, PDA’s, hand-free kits, GPS onboard units, laptops, etc.
The MAC address data is transmitted by the HI-TRAC Blue device via GPRS or cabled Ethernet TCP/IP connection to a central server and database. MAC addresses from other HI-TRAC Blue systems are matched to determine traffic journey times and movements.
The HI-TRAC Blue provides “Invisible detection” for the owner of the detected Bluetooth device. The detection process is unnoticeable for the owner.
The device information collected by the HI-TRAC Blue cannot be associated with the device’s owner, whose privacy and user information is guaranteed. The received Bluetooth MAC Addresses are truncated and then fully encrypted before transmission.
Both solutions communicate number plate and MAC Address data to a central web server communication instation. Data is processed and quality checked and then stored to the database.
Drakewell C2 Web Software with Journey Time Matching Engine provides the client with online reporting of Journey Times through a secure web portal.
