Abstract

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39247-4_6 Road traffic is experiencing a drastic increase in recent years, thereby increasing the every day traffic congestion problems, especially in cities. Vehicle density is one of the main metrics used for assessing the road traffic conditions. Currently, most of the existing vehicle density estimation approaches, such as inductive loop detectors or traffic surveillance cameras, require infrastructure-based traffic information systems to be installed at various locations. In this paper, we present I-VDE, a solution to estimate the density of vehicles that has been specially designed for Vehicular Networks. Our proposal allows Intelligent Transportation Systems to continuously estimate the vehicular density by accounting for the number of beacons received per Road Side Unit, as well as the roadmap topology. Simulation results indicate that our approach accurately estimates the vehicular density, and therefore automatic traffic controlling systems may use it to predict traffic jams and introduce countermeasures. Barrachina Villalba, J.; Garrido Picazo, MP.; Fogue, M.; Martínez, FJ.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Manzoni, P. (2013). I-VDE: A Novel Approach to Estimate Vehicular Density by Using Vehicular Networks. En Ad-hoc, Mobile, and Wireless Network. Springer. 63-74. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39247-4_6 Senia 63 74 Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Abstract

A light-weight, easy to use ground penetrating radar (GPR) system for tracking metal/non-metal pipes has been developed. A pre-production prototype instrument has been developed whose production cost and ease of use should fit important market niches. It is a portable tool which is swept back and forth like a metal detector and which indicates when it goes over a target (metal, plastic, concrete, etc.) and how deep it is. The innovation of real time target detection frees the user from having to interpret geophysical data and instead presents targets as dots on the screen. Target depth is also interpreted automatically, relieving the user of having to do migration analysis. In this way the user can simply walk around looking for targets and, by ''connecting the dots'' on the GPS screen, locate and follow pipes in real time. This is the first tool known to locate metal and non-metal pipes in real time and map their location. This prototype design is similar to a metal detector one might use at the beach since it involves sliding a lightweight antenna back and forth over the ground surface. The antenna is affixed to the end of an extension that is either clipped to or held by the user. This allows him to walk around in any direction, either looking for or following pipes with the antenna location being constantly recorded by the positioning system. Once a target appears on the screen, the user can locate by swinging the unit to align the cursor over the dot. Leak detection was also a central part of this project, and although much effort was invested into its development, conclusive results are not available at the time of the writing of this document. Details of the efforts that were made as a part of this cooperative agreement are presented. Document type: Report