Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

Video surveillance, access control and licence plate recognition could soon be available to a broader user base. Montreal-headquartered security industry and IP solutions provider Genetec has entered into a strategic multi-year alliance with Microsoft to develop powerful Windows Azure-based hosted security solutions including video surveillance, access control and licence plate recognition (LPR) as a service. The new cloud-based security solutions will be built on Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud-computing

Motorists using the M90 in Scotland will face the country’s first variable speed limits in three weeks time when a new traffic control system is launched on the road north of the Forth Road Bridge. The intelligent transport system, which goes live on 4 December on the M90 northbound, has been installed as part of construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing, which is due to open in four years time. Speeds will be automatically lowered by traffic sensors under the road surface when they detect congestion,

Nick Lanigan, managing director of Clearview Traffic, considers the current outlook in the ITS sector from an SME's perspective. Interview with Jason Barnes. When times are hard, businesses can invest or cut. Either way, they need guidance from customers – governments – on where best to concentrate their efforts. Prolonged economic slowdown is currently an issue. A short recession, however sharp, would have left many industry players able to ride the bow-wave of governments’ multi-year spending on strategic

SQLstream’s Ronnie Beggs discusses with Jason Barnes the potential and pitfalls of using social media for traffic monitoring and management. cataclysmic events such as hurricanes and tsunami have challenged perceptions of what constitutes robust traffic management infrastructure in recent times. Presumptions that only fixed systems could offer high levels of unbroken service, accuracy and communication bandwidth, have been taught some hard lessons by nature. In many respects wireless systems now represent t

Pete Goldin reports on a new Egis project in Canada, providing open road tolling operations for the widest bridge in the world. A bridge can present a bottleneck in a system of roads or it can support the smooth and unobstructed flow of traffic. Much depends on the bridge design, surrounding infrastructure and tolling system. By adding lanes and deploying open road tolling (ORT), the new Port Mann Bridge located in the metropolitan Vancouver area in British Columbia, will alleviate congestion at one of the

The Future Standards Forum (FSF), a joint initiative by European Machine Vision Association (EMVA), Automated Imaging Association (AIA) and Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA), has been set up to provide proactive, strategic guidance to the development of industry standards and to minimise the creation of conflicting standards within the machine vision industry and in related industries. The FSF believes the machine vision industry is a knowledge driven industry which experiences an ever increasing

Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) is in the final phase of preparing an ITS master plan, while smart transport solutions have already been integrated in the traffic system in the country, with the aim of implementing a fully integrated Intelligent Transport System (ITS) before the FIFA World Cup 2022. Plans include special lanes for buses, more advanced surveillance cameras, a dedicated radio station to raise traffic awareness and special operation rooms to deal with accidents and other emergencies.

San Mateo County in California is to implement a US$35 million dollar smart corridor project which will apply the latest management technology along twenty miles of El Camino Real from San Bruno to Menlo Park and on local streets in San Mateo County. “We’re working together to help people get to where they are going easier and faster,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “This is a good example of how technology can help us make better use of the roads we already have.” The Intelligent Transportation

Siemens WiMag wireless traffic detection, which is an alternative to conventional loop and radar traffic detection systems, uses magnetic disturbances to detect vehicles and low power wireless technology to transmit data to host controllers. The company says WiMag can offer a more flexible solution than traditional loop detectors, particularly where detection is required at significant distances from the traffic controller. Battery-powered, wirelessly linked and smaller in size than traditional loop detecto

By combining the compact GT20 camera which captures clear images of moving vehicles in all conditions, with its RT3 tracking radar, Gatso says its new T-Series enforcement system offers an enforcement solution platform which can be adapted and expanded to meet future traffic enforcement needs. Specially designed for traffic enforcement, the 20 megapixel CMOS in the GT20 combines speed with sensitivity to deliver high quality image capture at 30 full-resolution frames per second, enabling the system to captu