Module -1

Basic elements of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), focusing on technological, systems and
institutional aspects. Benefits of ITS -ITS Data collection techniques – Detectors, Automatic Vehicle
Location (AVL), Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), video data
collection.

Technology Building Blocks for ITS

The understanding of building blocks is essential for better appreciation of ITS technologies and their
application. The building blocks of ITS are responsible from acquisition of data, analysis of data, application
of various functionalities of ITS and finally communicating the information to the travellers.
Data Acquisition
The collection of exhaustive and accurate data also called data acquisition on real-time basis and rapid
communication is critical for real-time monitoring and strategic planning. An effective data acquisition-
management-communication system integrates tested hardware and efficient software to collect reliable data
for further ITS activities. The different ITS hardware’s/equipment commonly used consist of sensors,
cameras, automatic vehicle identifiers (AVI), GPS based automatic vehicle locators (AVL), and servers
which can store huge amounts of data for meaningful interpretation.
Communication Tools
The efficiency and effectiveness of the ITS systems depend not only on the acquisition and analysis of
traffic-related data, but also on fast and reliable communication, from field to traffic management centre
(TMC) and information derived from data processing and models from TMC to the public. These activities
involve communication between data collection centres to TMC and travel and traffic-related
announcements to vehicles through on-board units and to the travellers through media like VMS, mobile
applications, WhatsApp, Web pages, SMS, etc. Dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) is mostly
used to provide communications between the vehicle and the roadside at specific locations like toll plazas.
DSRC is operated on radio frequencies in the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band. DSRC
comprises road side units (RSUs) and the on-board units (OBUs) with transceivers and transponders.
Wireless communications systems dedicated to ITS and road transport and traffic telematics provide
network connectivity to the vehicles. Continuous air-interface long and medium (CALM) range may be used
to provide continuous communications between a vehicle and the roadside units using a variety of
communication media, including cellular, 5 GHz, 63 GHz and infrared links.
Data Analysis
The process of data analysis includes data cleaning, fusion, and analysis. The data from the collection
devices like sensors, GPS, cameras, etc. that is transmitted to the TMC must be checked for consistency.
Inconsistent data must be discarded and clean data has to be retained for further analysis and application.
The data from different devices may be required to be combined or mixed for further analysis. The cleaned
and mixed traffic data is analysed to estimate and forecast traffic states and for information to the public.
Traveller Information
Travel advisory system (TAS) facilities are useful for relaying transportation-related information to the
vehicle users. TAS facilities include: variable message signs (VMS), highway advisory radio, Internet, short
messaging service (SMS), automated cell phone messaging, mobile applications, public radio
announcement, television broadcast and other modern media tools. Such systems can offer real-time
information on travel times, travel speeds, delays, accidents, route closures and detours, and work zone
conditions, among others. The real-time information is very useful for vehicle users for planning their
journey. The concept of data flow for ITS applications from generation to the users is explained in Figure
 Fig: Concept of data flow from generation

The process of data collection to dissemination of information to the traveller deals with the four major
groups of information and technologies namely,
(i) Sensors and surveillance for data acquisition,
(ii) Telecommunications for transfer of data,
(iii)Data information processing for analysis, and
(iv) Information display and delivery for traveller’s information.
In order to perform the above tasks, there are a number of technologies associated as summarised in Table
below

Various sensor and surveillance technologies for data collection

Purpose Various types technologies Specific technology
Data acquisition Sensor and surveillance Inductive loops, passenger counters, piezo
sensors, laser, radar, CCTV, laser, automatic
vehicle location, smart cards, etc.
Communication Telecommunication Wireless application protocol, copper wire line,
cellular wireless, fibre optics, DSRC, radio and
TV
Data analysis Data mining Data warehousing, voice processing, speech
recognition, Internet, customised software tools
for processing transport information
Traveller information Information dissemination VMS. in vehicle information system, emergency,
and display telephone booth, kiosks, display at bus stops,
mobile

Sensor technologies are applied for use of data collection with respect to the raw data that demonstrate and
characterise the current situations for the transportation network. Various equipment and products, and
services are useful for providing data for multiple applications, such as traffic management, incident
detection, traffic management, transit management and emergency management.
DATA
Data in simple terms is a set of values of the qualitative or quantitative variables. In computing, data is
information that has been translated into a form that is more convenient to move or process. The data is
measured, collected and reported and analysed, after which can be graphically viewed using graphs or
images. Data generally refers to the fact that some information is represented or coded in a way suitable for
the best exploitation or treatments. Data is required to be transmitted from one place to another in the form
of electromagnetic signals through a transmission medium. There are following two types of
electromagnetic signals:
a) Analog signals
b) Digital signals
An analog signal is a continuous wave represented by a sine wave and may vary in signal. Analog data
represents information that is continuous in nature with respect to time and frequency. Analog signal has an
infinite number of levels of intensity for a period of time. As the wave moves from place A to place B, it
transmits a number of different magnitudes of data along its trajectory. It may also said to be continuously
varying that refers to a condition, physical phenomenon, or quantity such as flow, pressure, or temperature.
Examples of analog signal are: (i) analog clock (hours, minutes, and seconds), (ii) human voice, etc.

A digital signal represents to an electrical signal transformed into a bit pattern. Unlike an analog signal, that
carries continuous signal containing varying amounts of data over time, a digital signal provides a discrete
value or data at each sampling point. The digital signal represents information that has discrete states.
Digital signal has limited number of defined values. Each value can be 1 or 0.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

Communication technology offers various types of sensors ranging from point to area. The point type of
sensor includes inductive loops, video image detector, piezo sensor, radar, laser and closed circuit television
while area type of sensor is concerned with radio triangulation, GPS, wireless transreceiver and cellular
telephone. The building blocks of communication technology addresses various types of electromagnetic
waves for effective communication as a part of intelligent transport system. These are presented as follows:
Radio Waves
Radio waves experience the longest wavelengths of all the electromagnetic (EM) waves. They range from
around one-third metre long to several kilometres long. Radio waves are often applied to transmit data and
have been in use for all sorts of applications including radio, satellites, radar, and computer networks.
Longest wavelength EM waves are used for following applications:
 TV broadcasting
 AM and FM broadcast radio
 Heart rate monitors
 Cell phone communication
 MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging)

There is an increasing use of radio waves in a number of applications in day-to-day life. One of the
examples is the application of RFID where it is proposed to be used in the logistic park being developed as a
part Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor. The logistic park will extensively use the RFID in the form of Reader,
Antenna and Tag to track the movement of freight carriers. The container will tagged for transferring all
necessary information with the reader while entering in to the logistic part and de-tagged after the delivering
the commodity in the logistic park.
Microwaves
Microwaves happen to be shorter than radio waves with wavelengths measured in centimetres. The
microwaves are used to cook food, transmit information, and in radar. It is useful for prediction of the
weather. Microwaves are useful in communication as they can reach clouds, smoke, and light rain. The
universe experiences cosmic microwave background radiation. The electromagnetic spectrum for microwave
wavelengths from 1 mm to m is used for following microwave applications:
a) Microwave ovens
b) Bluetooth headsets
 c) Broadband wireless Internet
d) Radar
e) GPS

Infrared
Infrared waves are found in between microwaves and visible light regions. Infrared waves are many a time
classified as "near" infrared and "far" infrared. Near infrared waves are the waves which are near to visible
light in wavelength. These are called infrared waves which are used in our TV, remote to change channels.
Far infrared waves are supposed to be further away from visible light in wavelength. Far infrared waves are
called thermal and radiate heat. Anything that radiate heat is called infrared waves. This includes the human
body. It uses wavelengths in between microwaves and visible light. Its applications includes the following:
a) Night vision goggles
b) Remote controls
c) Heat-seeking missiles

Visible Light
The visible light spectrum includes the wavelengths that can be seen by the human eye. This is the range of
wavelengths from 390 to 700 nm which matches to the frequencies 430-790 THz. Only type of EM wave
able to be detected by the human eye. It has Violet light which is the highest frequency light while Red light
is the lowest frequency light.

Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet waves are the next shortest wavelength after visible light. The ultraviolet rays from the Sun are
responsible for sunburns. The Sun's ultraviolet rays are protected by the ozone layer. Some insects, such as
bumblebees, can see ultraviolet light. Powerful telescope uses ultraviolet light like the Hubble Space
Telescope to see far away stars. Its applications includes the following:
a) Black lights
b) Security images on money
c) Harmful to living things
d) Used to sterilise medical equipments
e) Too much causes sunburn
f) Extremely high exposure can cause skin cancer

X-rays
X-rays has wavelengths shorter than that of ultraviolet rays. At this point in the electromagnetic spectrum,
these rays appear to be more as particles than waves. They can filter on to soft tissue like skin and muscle
and X-ray pictures of bones in medicine are generally taken at hospitals. It is a tiny wavelength and high
energy wave. Its applications are mostly seen with the following:
a) Medical imaging
b) Airport security

It may damage cells with moderate dose.

Gamma Rays
As the wavelengths of electromagnetic waves are one of the shortest, their energy gets intensified. Gamma
rays are sometimes applied for treating cancer and takes detailed images for diagnostic medicine. Gamma
rays are used in high energy nuclear explosions and supernovas. Different popular CALM communication
modes are developed and available in the market as follows: as shown in Figure below
 a) Infrared
b) GSM (2G, 3G cellular telephone communications)
c) DSRC 5.8-5.9 GHz
d) Various evolutions of the IEEE 802.11 standard WiMAX, IEEE 802.16e
e) MM-wave (63 GHz)
f) Satellite (GNSS: GPS; GLONASS; GALILEO etc.)
g) Bluetooth
h) RFID

The cellular telephone technologies have been witnessing phenomenal advancement in terms of mobile
technology. The first-generation analog mobile systems were introduced in early 1980 and today within a
span of 35 years we have 4G advanced mobile technologies on hand. A brief on evolution of mobile
technology from 1G to 4G is presented in Table.
Evolution of mobile telecommunication technologies
Type Period Technology Services
1st Generation (1G) Early 1980s to late 1980s Analog signaling also  Voice
called analog mobile communication only
phone systems (AMPS)  No SMS, No data
2nd Generation (2G) Late 1980s to late 1990s  Digital signal and the  Voice
speeds up to 64 kbps communication
  Bandwidth: 30-200  SMS
kHz  Slow speed data
transfer
3rd Generation (3G) Since 2000  Based on wide band  Voice
wireless network communication
 Peak data rates of at  SMS
least 200 kbit/s  High speed data
 Bandwidth: 15-20 transfer
MHz  Internet etc.
4th Generation (4G) Since early 2010  Internet protocol (IP)  In addition to that of
packet-switched the services of 3G,
networks some additional
 Peak speed of 1 GB/s features such as
 Use scalable channel multi-media
bandwidths of 700 newspapers, also to
MHz, 800 MHz, watch TV
1800 MHz, 2300 programmes
MHz and 2500 MHz  Very fast data
transfer
5th Generation (5G) Expected from 2019  Based on millimetre-  The wide
wave wireless introduction of real-
communications time services, based
 Peak speed of 20 on sensor and video
GB/s data collection from
 Bandwidth: 3400 vehicle will be
MHz to 3600 MHz possible.
 A host of new-age
services such as
machine-to-machine
(M2M)
communications,
Internet of Things
(IoT), connected
smart cities, self-
driving cars; remote
control surgery to
virtual reality will be
possible.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) are two
dominant technologies for mobile communication. These two technologies differ in the way calls and data
travel over the mobile phone networks take place. CDMA and GSM are both multiple access technologies.
GSM: GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication. GSM networks use TDMA, which stands
for Time Division Multiple Access. It's also called a "time division"
SUMMARY
Any ITS application involves collection, communication, analysis of data to get the desired output. The
building blocks of ITS include data, signals, waves and digital communication. The data is a set of
information which can be measured, collected and analysed. Analog or digital signals are used to transmit
data from one place to other place in the form of waves. Technological advancements in telecommunications
microchip, radio frequency identification technology along with the ultra-modern/traffic guidance have
improved (RFID) and detection technologies like intelligent technical capabilities that provide intelligent
transport systems safety benefits of users worldwide. Detection systems are networked systems
infrastructure based on the vehicle, i.e., intelligent vehicle technologies. Infrastructure sensors are
indestructible (such as reflectors on the way) devices which are installed or embedded in the road or around
the road (e.g., buildings, poles and signals), as needed, that is maintained manually during road construction
or sensor preventive injection equipment for rapid deployment. Vehicle systems with sensor include
infrastructure deployment with respect to vehicle and vehicle for electronic beacon infrastructure for
identifying communications and can also be used reading registration video technologies +or detection
magnetic signature of the vehicle at desired intervals to increase alertness constant vehicles operating in
critical areas.
Questions
1) What do you understand by building blocks for ITS?
2) Why efficient communication tools are important for efficacy of ITS?
3) Differentiate between analog and digital signals.
4) What do you understand by digital communication?
5) Describe various types of electromagnetic waves used for effective communication.
6) What are different transmission modes of signals?
7) Explain different types of telecommunication technologies being used in ITS applications.
8) What do you understand by data and information processing in the context of ITS?
Various Detection, Identification and Collection Methods for ITS
INTRODUCTION
Technology is rapidly altering how transportation officials and transit service providers improve operational
efficiency and safety of traffic in real-time. New and innovative technologies are increasingly being
integrated into both personal vehicles and devices, improving the overall traveller experience. The success
of ITS largely depends upon the technologies deployed in the application of ITS. The collection of data from
field requires recording of events through detection or sensor technologies/components. Some of the most
common technologies used in various ITS applications have been discussed below.

DETECTION AND SENSING TECHNOLOGIES

Detection method or sensors are the techniques/components to detect the presence of a vehicle or pedestrians
moving on the road and then to take necessary action accordingly. There are various types of detection and
sensing systems for vehicles and pedestrians.
Sensing systems for ITS are vehicle and infrastructure based networked system, e.g., intelligent vehicle
technologies. Pavement loops are used to detect the presence of vehicle at road intersections and at parking
lot entrances. The presence of pedestrians waiting to cross a roadway is detected by pressure pads.
The presence of vehicle on road can be detected by radar and acoustic sensors. The radar transmits the radar
pulses. A portion of the energy is reflected or scattered from the vehicle and roadway back toward the sensor
and this energy is received and interpreted. The major benefits of radar technology are less power
requirement, most accurate technology for detecting speed, traffic count accuracy and easy installation. The
following section presents an overview of different sensors, detectors, radars, RFID sensors, etc. which are
being used to detect/sense the presence of vehicle or pedestrians and transmit data to ITS applications.

Roadway Sensors
Roadway sensors are provided along with the road to detect the presence of vehicles. The road-way sensors
can be divided in three categories: embedded or Intrusive (i.e. embedded in the pavement), non-intrusive
(i.e., installed off the pavement), and environmental,

Embedded (intrusive) detectors

There are following two types of embedded detectors:
a) Inductive loop: An inductive loop detector is essentially A copper wire embedded In the road surface
in the shape of a loop (e.g., square, rectangular, diamond, etc.), When an electrical current is passed
the through the copper wire, A magnetic field is induced in the vicinity of the loop. Typically, an
inductive loop consists of three to five "turns" of copper wire beneath the road surface. The loop is
connected to a roadside cabinet through a lead-in cable which allows electronic equipment to
monitor the magnetic field and changes in inductance as a vehicle passes over the loop.
b) Magnetometer: The magnetic detectors are small pencil like cylindrical probes which are placed
vertically in or beneath the road surface. They measure changes in the earth's magnetic field as a
vehicle passes over them to detect the presence of the vehicle.
Non-intrusive detectors
The following technologies are used for non-intrusive detectors:
a) Radar: Radar emits radio wave signals and can detect vehicular presence and speed, depending upon
the characteristics of the signal returned to them by the moving vehicles. Generally, there are two
types of radar detectors:
(i) Doppler, which measure the change of frequency between the transmitted and received
signals, and
 (ii) Time of Flight, which measure the difference in time between when the signal is transmitted
and received.
b) Infrared (IR): Infrared is an electromagnetic energy at a wavelength or wavelengths which is
somewhat longer than that of red light. There are two types of infrared detectors: active and passive.
The active infrared detectors send out invisible infrared radiation pointed at the road surface. By
comparing the radiation reflected from a passing vehicle with the radiation from the road surface, the
sensor can detect the presence of a vehicle.
The passive infrared detector measures IR light radiating from all objects with temperature above
absolute zero which means that an IR device does not radiate any energy for detection purposes,
instead IR light is being emitted from vehicles plying on the road and detected by infrared sensors.

IR detectors can detectors can detect presence of vehicles, speed and density of vehicles. It is easy to
install infrared sensors for detection along with good resistance even in poor weather conditions
such as rain, fog, dust and snow.
c) Microwave: The term microwave refers to the wavelength of the transmitted energy, usually between
1 cm and 30 cm. It is also called as Doppler sensor or radar or RF that helps detect walking, running,
human targets, etc. The roadside-mounted microwave radar emits energy toward an area of the
roadway from an overhead antenna. When a vehicle crosses the antenna beam, a part of the
transmitted energy is reflected back towards the antenna. The return energy then enters a receiver
where the detection is made and vehicle data, such as volume, speed, occupancy, and length are
calculated. The microwave sensors can be effectively used for recording traffic data.
d) Ultrasonic: Ultrasonic detectors emit continuous (Doppler) or short interval (pulsed) signals directed
to the road surface where the detection of vehicle is required. The Doppler detector measures the
shifts in frequency of signals reflected by passing vehicles to detect and determine their speeds. The
Pulsed detector measures the time taken by reflected signals to return to the sensor.
e) Acoustic: Acoustic detectors make use of microphones and signal processing technology to listen for
sounds made by passing vehicles to determine the presence of a vehicle.
f) Video image processing (VIP): VIP makes use of the images provided by video cameras installed
near the roadway. "Machine Vision" algorithms are integrated with computerised pattern recognition
software to detect passing vehicles.
g) Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras: CCTV cameras are very useful in continuous
monitoring of traffic flow conditions and verify traffic congestion and incidents. The CCTV cameras
provide video images to assist the area traffic control (ATC) in determining and verifying causes of
congestion, such as collisions, vehicle breakdown load spills, construction/maintenance activities,
police/fire operations, or just heavier than normal traffic.
Video vehicle detection (VVD) is one of the most widely used methods of detection used as ITS tool
Video detection is essentially an image processor which consists of a microprocessor based CPU and
software that analyses video images. Using a mouse and interactive graphics the user places virtual
"detectors" on the video image displayed on a monitor. Information/data can be progressively
transmitted to a server for real-time analysis. The advanced video analytic software can be used to
detect any unusual pattern, violations, incident or accident.
Environmental Sensors
a) Atmospheric sensors: These sensors measure weather-related data, including wind speed and
direction, air temperature, humidity, precipitation occurrence/accumulation and visibility. The video
images can also be utilised in addition to atmospheric sensors to confirm weather conditions like
rains, visibility, etc.
 b) Road surface sensors: These sensors measure the temperature as well as ascertain a variety of
information with respect to the road surface such as wet or dry, presence of chemicals (e.g., anti-
icing, de-icing, etc.), presence of snow, ice or frost, etc.
c) Sub-surface sensors: These sensors measure the temperature at different depths in the substrate
directly below the roadway.
Probe-Based Sensors
Probe-based sensors are on-board probes which are fitted on the vehicles. These on board probes monitor
and measure the movement of a percentage of the vehicles in the traffic stream in order to assemble real-
time traffic information. The probe-based monitoring is an effective method of data collection for wide area
monitoring where large geographic areas are involved. The probe-based sensor typically measures the link
speeds, link travel times, and origin and destination of vehicles. The vehicles which are equipped with on-
board probes, allow the time and location of the vehicle to be tracked and monitored using automatic vehicle
identification (AVI) or automatic vehicle location (AVL) devices. Examples of commonly used probe based
sensors include global positioning systems (GPS) for AVL such as those used for monitoring of commercial
vehicle fleets and E-Z pass transponders for AVI purposes. Cellular telephones can also be used for this
purpose where the handset is located using either GPS or through information collected via the cellular
transmission towers.

BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth is an accurate and inexpensive way to measure travel time and analyse origin and destination
pattern of the traffic. Bluetooth with a short wavelength used wireless system to communicate between
electronic devices like mobile smart phones, headsets, navigation systems, computers, etc. The bluetooth
based road sensors are able to detect bluetooth MAC addresses from bluetooth devices of the passing
vehicles that stretch of the road. If these sensors are interconnected, they are able to compute travel time and
provide data for origin and destination matrices. Compared to other traffic measurement technologies,
Bluetooth measurement has some differences:
a) It offers accurate measurement points with absolute confirmation to provide to the second travel
times.
b) It is non-intrusive, which can lead to lower-cost installations for both permanent and temporary sites.
c) It is limited to how many bluetooth devices are broadcasting in a vehicle so counting and other
applications are limited.
d) The bluetooth based systems are generally quick to set up with little or no calibration needed.
RFID
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a kind of wireless communication which uses radio waves to
identify and track the objects. An RFID system has readers and tags that communicate with each through
radio waves. The information is stored in the tags in electronic form. RFID tags are too small to need a
battery to store information and exchange data with readers. This property of RFID tags makes it easy and
cheap to apply tags to all kinds of things that people would like to identify or track.
The RFID system of detection is now widely used in industries and transportation and communication
purposes. For example, RFID placed in the road infrastructure can identify and communicate with the
vehicles plying on the road through the following RFID system.
The RFID system can be defined with the frequency band for operation dealing with low frequency, high
frequency, and ultra-high frequency. Frequency is concerned with the size of the radio waves to
communicate between RFID systems components. RFID systems can work in low frequency (LF), high
frequency (HF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands. Radio1 waves differ in each of these frequencies
with merits and demerits associated with using each frequency band. An RFID system operating at a lower
frequency has a shorter read range and slower data read rate, but increased capabilities for reading near or on
metal or liquid surfaces. An RFID system operating at higher frequency, it generally has faster data transfer
rates longer read ranges than lower frequency systems, but more sensitivity to radio wave interference
caused by liquids and metals in the environment. The three types of frequency bands used for
RFID system are explained in following section:
LF RFID
The frequency of LF band ranges from 30 kHz to 300 kHz. Typically LF RFID system works at 125 kHz.
There are few frequencies that operate at 134 kHz. This frequency band covers short read range of 10 cm
only. However, it has ability to slower read speed than the higher frequencies with very low sensitive to
radio wave interference. The applications of LF RFID include access control and livestock tracking.
International standards for LF animal-tracking systems can be referred in ISO 14223, and ISO/IEC 18000-2.
The LF spectrum is not accepted a truly universal application due to some differences in frequency and
power levels.
HF RFID
The frequency of HF band ranges from 3 to 30 MHz. Most of the HF RFID system works at 13.56 MHz
with reading distance ranges between 10 cm and 1.0m. HF system offers moderate sensitivity to
interference. HF RFID is commonly used for ITS applications like ticketing, payment, and data transfer.
A number of HF RFID international standards are in place, such as the ISO 15693 standard for tracking
items, and can be referred from the ECMA-340 and ISO/IEC 18092 standards for near field communication
(NFC)-a short range technology that is normally considered for data exchange between devices/
components. Other HF international standards refer to the ISO/IEC 14443 A and ISO/IEC 14443 standards
for MIFARE technology, which are related to smart cards used in electronic money cards.
UHF RFID
The frequency of UHF band limits ranges from 300 MHz to 3 GHz. The systems meeting the standards of
the UHF Generation 2 standard for RFID typically use frequency band of 860 to 960 MHz.
The read range of UHF RFID system is around 12 m in passive UHF systems, with faster data transfer rate
than LF or HF. However, it experiences the most sensitivity to interference.
A number of UHF product manufacturers have developed designing tags, antennas, and readers to ensure
desirable performance high even in difficult situations. The passive UHF tags are simpler and less costly to
manufacture as compared LF and HF tags.
UHF RFID are found in the market with variety of applications, varying from retail inventory management,
to pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting, to wireless device configuration. The mass products of new RFID
projects prefer UHF over LF or HF due to higher range of UHF. The specification of UHF frequency band is
guided by a single global standard called the ECP global Gen2 (ISO 18000-6C) UHF standard.

Passive, Active, and BAP RFID Systems

The RFID systems can further be classified as active, passive and battery assisted systems on the basis of
source of power being used to transmit data. A brief of their concepts and applications are presented as
follows:
Active RFID systems
The active RFID systems use battery-powered RFID tags which continuously transmit their own signal.
Active tags send their own signal to transmit the information stored on their microchips. It is operated in the
ultra-high frequency (UHF) band and covers a long range which may be up to 100 m. In general, active tag
is fixed on large objects, such as rail coaches, wagons, containers, other objects that require to be monitored
over long distances.
There are two main types of active tags: (a) transponders and (b) beacons.
Transponder: It is "activated" when they get a radio signal from a reader along with power- on and
automatically respond by sending a signal back. As transponder does not radiate radio waves until reader
sends signal, it conserve battery life.
Beacon: It works in most real-time locating systems (RTLS), in order to monitor, the precise location of an
object continuously. Unlike transponder, beacon emits signals at pre-timed intervals. Based on desirable
level of locating accuracy, the beacons can be adjusted to emit signals every few seconds, or once a day.
Reader antennas receive each beacon's signal that is near the perimeter of the area being monitored. It
communicates the tag's ID information and position.
Passive RFID systems
The passive RFID systems use tags with no internal power source, instead they are powered by the
electromagnetic energy transmitted from an RFID reader. The reader and reader antenna transmit radio
signal to the tag. The RFID tag then receives and activates the transmitted signal to power-on, and sends
energy back to the reader.
The passive RFID systems use the low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) or ultra-high frequency (UHF)
radio bands. The ranges of the passive RFID system are controlled by the power of the tags, the radio signal
which is reflected from the tag back to the reader. Typically it is less than 10 m. As passive tag does not
need a power source or transmitter, it needs only a tag chip and antenna. It is cost effective, smaller, and
easier to manufacture than active tags.
The passive RFID can be packed in many different ways, as per the specific RFID application requirements.
These tags may be sandwiched between an adhesive layer and a paper label to create smart RFID labels. The
passive tags may also be placed through layers in a variety of devices or packages to protect the tag resistant
from extreme temperatures harsh chemicals.
The passive RFID can be used and applied to track packages in the supply chain, to inventory assets in the
retail industry, to ensure the authenticity of the products such as pharmaceuticals, and to place RFID
capability in a variety of devices. It can effectively be used in warehouses and distribution centres, though it
is shorter range, by setting up readers at choke points to monitor asset movement.
Battery-assisted passive (BAP) systems
It is a type of passive tag which includes a crucial active tag feature. It uses the energy from the RFID
reader's signal to power on the tag's chip and backscatter to the reader, BAP tags use an integrated power
source (usually a battery) to activate the chip, therefore all of the captured energy from the reader can be
used for sending the signal back. Unlike transponders, it does not offer their own transmitters.
MOBILE REPORTS
Conventionally, the emergency telephones or call boxes installed along roadside have been used to report
traffic problems a to a traffic operations centre. With the increasing use of mobile phones and improvement
in the cellular network in recent years, the call boxes have been replaced by mobile communication. Mobile
reporting from patrol vehicles and private citizen calls through toll-free hotlines has become a valuable
source of information for quick detection of incidents and collection of traffic and incident information. The
mobile communication system has the advantage of low start-up cost and two-way communications between
the caller and the response agency. Further, the mobile applications are being developed which can be used
to report any incident or cause of concern and photos of the site can also be uploaded. However, the mobile
communication system can cause a high volume of calls when a major incident occurs. Moreover,
sometimes it is difficult to identify the location of an incident when calls are received from private callers.

REAL-TIME TRAFFIC MONITORING USING CELLULAR NETWORK AND GPS PROBE

The real-time measurement of traffic speed and travel times are the basis of advanced travel information
systems (ATIS) that provide information to roadway users to help them in making various decisions, such
as route choice, departure time choice, etc. The real-time information can be made available to user
through various means like mobile applications, navigation tools, Internet, roadside variable message
signage, etc. The historic data of traffic flows is very useful to plan and design various components of road
infrastructure.
The static means such as inductive loop detectors, CCTV cameras, RFID tags are mostly being used to
collect traffic flow data. Although, these fixed tools are accurate but are expensive to deploy, operate and
maintain. Therefore, these tools are mostly installed at critical locations like intersections, diversions, etc.
Alternatively, floating vehicle (test vehicle) equipped with GPS can be used to measure travel time of
vehicles on a particular a road section; however, this method does not offer real-time information.
Mobile phone equipped with GPS system and Internet access is now being used as a sensor to collect real-
time information on traffic flows. With increasing penetration of GPS enabled vehicles and smart phone
users, the GPS probe data can be used for real-time travel speed estimation. The data from mobile phones of
vehicle users can be used to assess the traffic flow on the road where the vehicle is moving. The mobile
phones generate data packets containing its position and speed at regular intervals and send it to a designated
server. On the basis of information received from several vehicles (mobile phones), the traffic estimation
software can generate real-time traffic flow. The protection of privacy of data of the users has been a major
challenge in using mobile phone location and speed data for traffic flow estimation. To protect
the identity of the user, the information is encrypted and decrypted across multiple layers of the software so
that the movement of a user cannot be tracked by the system. The example of real-time traffic monitoring
system using mobile phone data as developed by University of California, Berkley in association with
Nokia, NAVTEQ is presented below;
Real-time traffic monitoring system using mobile phone data a system by University of California,
Berkley
When phone takes a measurement, it creates a data packet containing its position, speed and anything else
that might be of interest. This packet is encrypted using the public key of the data processing server, but
instead of going straight to that server, it goes to a proxy server that strips the packet of any identifying
information. Then the packet is passed on to a virtual trip line (VTL) server that processes it and sends it to
the data aggregation servers.
Reading the contents of the packet requires a decryption key. The proxy does not have the private key
needed to perform the decryption, so although it knows the identity of the phone, it does not know where the
data comes from. The packets that arrive at the VTL server have no identifying information. There is not a
single machine that can be compromised to provide position and speed information that can be attached to a
particular phone.
Preventing paths from being reconstructed was trickier and required the use of virtual trip lines (VTLs),
something Nokia developed for this purpose. Instead of constantly reporting location and speed, each phone
checks its current location against a downloaded database of VTL positions, and measurements are only sent
when the phone crosses a VTL location. This drastically reduces the amount of data collected from any one
phone, lessening the likelihood that someone could reconstruct individuals' paths from the data.
This still leaves the possibility a sequence of measurements can be processed to build a up a trajectory.
Nokia created an algorithm for placing the virtual trip lines in order to minimise the probability that two
measurements from consecutive VTLs could be linked to the same vehicle.
Matching up measurements means taking a reading from one VTL and correctly associating it with
another reading taken at the next VTL down the road. The more measurements are from the next VTL that
could match the first, the harder it is to determine which belong together. The algorithm uses the number of
cars on the road and their speeds to determine the best spacing to maximise the number of the cars that
might match going through any given VTL pair. In addition, server that decides where to put the VTLs is
separated from the one that processed the incoming data, making it less likely anyone could manipulate VTL
placement to make tracking a car easier.
Finally, another layer of protection comes from randomising measurements. Instead of transmitting when
crossing every VTL, the phones perform a virtual coin flip to decide whether to transmit. This makes it
much harder to reconstruct individual trajectories.
The location of all the cellular users are tracked by the infrastructure may have an error of 100-500. It is
feasible to this erroneous location data of vehicles collected from cellular network for edge level speed or
travel time estimation, however, with some data processing to minimise the error. Chaturvedi and Srivastava
(2016) has developed a model for optimal placement of ITS infrastructure by exploiting the large scale
availability of the cellular network and sparse but accurate GPS probes data. The erroneous location data of
vehicles collected from cellular network are processed using an innovative map matching algorithm to
generate vehicle trajectories and count vehicles. The vehicle count information is used to compute vehicle
flow, space occupancy and congestion estimation in real time. This enables accurate vehicle counting on all
the edges and permits vehicle flow, space occupancy and congestion estimation. The edge level speed
estimation is not feasible using cellular network data due to large location error. The historically collected
congestion profile of edges is used to select edges for ITS infrastructure deployment. The ITS infrastructure
and the historically collected GPS probes data are used in an innovative manner for edge level speed
estimation in real-time.
The real-time traffic flow information can be used for travel time predictions, creation of smart roads where
tolls and signals can adapt to changing conditions and provides urban planners with accurate pictures of
traffic usage and its effects and improve planning.

Designated Spotters
These are vehicles which are designated to be utilised to act as vehicle probes and/or as spotters for traffic
incidents. These vehicles can be select vehicles from a government agency fleet (e.g., road maintenance,
service patrol, etc.) or vehicles of regular commuters.

SMART CARDS
Typically, the smart card comprises of microchip embedded in a plastic card. The smart card is usually of
the size, 3.37 x 2.12 inches (85.60 x 53.98 mm) with approximately 0.030 inch thickness (0.76 mm). It
offers properties of credit card as well as debit card. The circuitry of microchip of this card contains the
program which is designed for transferring/receiving the information for card reader. The smart cards can be
used for wide range of applications ranging from payment, access control, etc. In transportation system, it
may be used for electronic payment, online payment (e-challaning), driving licence, registration certificate
of vehicle, permits for goods vehicles, common ticket for different modes of travel (details of smart card
can be referred in the later chapter), etc. The capabilities of smart card can be categorised as memory card
and microcontroller cards. Depending on the application for which the card has been developed, the cards
can be of general purpose or specific purpose. The following types of smart cards are generally being used in
transportation systems:
a) Contact cards
b) Contactless cards
c) Hybrid cards

Contact cards: The contact type cards work as soon as it is touched or swiped or tapped at the card reader.
The contact area of this card is approximately 1 cm? (0.16 inch-) and consists of number of contact pads. As
soon as the contact pad touches the card reader or inserted in card reader, the card communicates with the
system. It works on same technology of passive infrared tags. The contact card does not have any inbuilt
power source. It works by using the power of card reader. It is cheaper than contactless and hybrid cards.
The contact cards are also not possessing inbuilt power source. It works on RF induction technology
(incident radio-frequency interrogation signal) which provides relevant power to the card from the reader
device.
Contactless card: In case of contactless card, the reader can read the card from a distance without making a
physical contact. In contactless smart card, the chip communicates with the card reader through an induction
technology. These cards require only close proximity to an antenna to complete a transaction. They are
mostly used when transactions must be processed fast or hands-free, such as on mass transit systems, where
a smart card can be used without even removing it from a wallet. The Smart Card of Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation is a contactless card.

Hybrid cards: It allows the chip to work in both contact and contactless interfaces.

SUMMARY
Various detection methods explained above are increasingly becoming important to assess the magnitude
and nature of traffic movement on the road. Based on the various detection methods the violation of traffic
with respect to speed, jumping the red light, type and magnitude of traffic travelling on the road, detection of
presence of pedestrian at the traffic light have become extremely simpler and easier. Presently even in India,
there are a number of toll booths where collection of congestion fee or toll under heavy traffic condition is
not only finding this ITS application extremely beneficial but also experiencing the reduction of delay to the
vehicular to a great extent.
The pace of change of the technology has been perhaps the fastest in recent days during the history of
mankind. Everyday new and revolutionary inventions in information technology are created. IT has changed
almost every aspect of human life beyond imagination. The adoption of IT technologies in transport sector
has proved to be a game changer. This change will continue with development of advanced IT solutions
almost every day.

Questions
1) What do you understand by automatic pedestrian detection? Explain its application.
2) Describe the application of red light violation detection system.
3) What are different sensing technologies used in ITS applications?
4) Differentiate between intrusive and non-intrusive sensors.
5) What do you understand by RFID? Describe various applications of RFID in ITS.
6) Write short note on following in context of ITS:
a) Mobile reports
b) Designated spotters
c) Bluetooth
d) Environmental sensors
7) Describe use of smart cards in ITS.
8) Write short note on emerging technologies for ITS.