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Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

TransCore helps New York survive hurricane devastation
February 28, 2013
New York’s Traffic Management Centre faced its toughest test yet when Hurricane Sandy hit the United States at the end of October last year. Power was maintained to the building in Long Island City, Queens, throughout, although backup systems were operational and ready to supply critical transportation systems if power had been lost. Support from TransCore staff included making sure the TMC networks and transportation systems were operational, including the TransSuite Traffic Control System (TCS), which had
Developing Mexico's ITS standards and infrastructure
February 28, 2013
Promoting open market conditions for ITS deployment remains a major part of Mexico’s recent infrastructure modernization program. Travis P Dunn, partner at D’Artagnan Consulting, looks at the progress so far. In the past six years, Mexico has embarked on an ambitious infrastructure modernization program, calling for the construction and improvement of more than 19,000km of road infrastructure and the deployment of advanced technologies that improve safety, efficiency, and convenience for road users. One of
Flir takeover of Traficon and the role of thermal imaging
February 28, 2013
Andy Teich, president of commercial systems at Flir, discusses the growing role of thermal technology in ITS and his company’s latest high-profile acquisition with Jason Barnes. Andy Teich, Flir’s president of commercial systems, doesn’t want to talk about infrared (IR). Instead, he’d prefer, he says, to discuss ‘thermal technology’. It is, he explains, to differentiate between the imaging technologies which his company specialises in and the LED illumination of IR cameras, an altogether different beast. Fl
Iteris expands video detection range
February 28, 2013
US–headquartered Iteris has increased its Vantage video detection product suite with two new products, SmartCycle and SmartSpan. SmartCycle accurately detects vehicles and cycles with a single video detection camera facing a dedicated approach. Transportation agencies can now benefit from cycle-specific virtual detection zones that can be placed anywhere within the approaching traffic lanes. “SmartCycle provides traffic engineers with a cost-effective way to bring their traffic management systems into comp
The benefits of combining enforcement and traffic management
February 27, 2013
Jason Barnes considers how combining enforcement equipment with other traffic management technologies might benefit our future – if only the will were really in place to do so. During the ITS World Congress in Vienna in October last year, Navtech Radar and Vysion­ics ITS announced a strategic partnership that would combine the expertise of Navtech in millimetre-wave wide-area surveillance technology with Vysionics’ machine vision-based automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and average speed measurement
Project of the year win for TransCore Silicon Valley project
February 27, 2013
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s (VTA) State Route (SR) 237 Express Lanes, for which TransCore serves as lead integrator, received the 2012 Transportation Project of the Year Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). VTA is implementing the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program to provide congestion relief in one of its major Bay Area commuter corridors. As part of the program, the SR 237, US 101, SR 85 and parts of I-680 corridor will convert the existin
Caltrans upgrades video wall
February 26, 2013
When Caltrans district 7 began the first phase of a multi-phase audio-visual (AV) system upgrade at its Los Angeles facility, it contracted with Electrosonic to create a brighter, more reliable video wall for traffic monitoring that takes advantage of the latest in projection technology. “Caltrans district 7 has more than 400 cameras on the highways of Los Angeles and Ventura counties,” says Electrosonic project manager Guy Fronte. “They can review camera feeds 24/7 in the facility and when there’s a traffi
Aberdeen opts for wireless vehicle detection
February 26, 2013
After several years’ experience of loop detector failures, primarily identified as being caused by damage from roadworks or degradation of aging road surfaces, Aberdeen City Council opted to use the Golden River M100 wireless detection system from Clearview Traffic. Each compact M100 sensor is typically installed in the middle of a traffic lane where it detects the presence and passage of vehicles and communicates this information wirelessly to the traffic signal controller via an access point and contact c
Thailand launches intelligent transport system project
February 25, 2013
Thailand’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has launched a new intelligent transportation project to manage and improve the country’s traffic system. Announcing the project, called Smart Thailand via Intelligent Transport System Empowered by MOST, MOST minister Worawat Uea-apinyakul said that current technology helps facilitate better traffic and reduce cost. “Many intelligent transport systems (ITS) effectively solve traffic problems, reduce accidents, and help preserve the environment in several
New USB3 vision standard available for download
February 22, 2013
The Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the vision and imaging industry’s trade association, has released the new USB3 vision camera interface standard and it is now available for free download on the AIA website. This easy-to-use standard is based on the prevalent USB 3.0 consumer hardware already in use. The AIA says vision component manufacturers have embraced the standard and are expected to widely adopt it; many components are already selling today. Based on the USB 3.0 interface (SuperSpeed USB), USB