Skip to main content

Researchers develop remote traffic pollution detection system

A group of research centres and companies in Madrid has created what is said to be the first infrared and remote system able to detect pollutants from cars on highways up to three lanes. The goal is to be able to conduct a global test of automobile emissions. According to the researchers, the prototype, which is ready to be marketed, can make an intelligent measurement of highway traffic by collecting real-time data on traffic density, emissions and consumption associated with each vehicle, and weather c
September 19, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A group of research centres and companies in Madrid has created what is said to be the first infrared and remote system able to detect pollutants from cars on highways up to three lanes. The goal is to be able to conduct a global test of automobile emissions.

According to the researchers, the prototype, which is ready to be marketed, can make an intelligent measurement of highway traffic by collecting real-time data on traffic density, emissions and consumption associated with each vehicle, and weather conditions. With this information, the impact of traffic on the environment can be analysed and road safety can be improved. The prototype is based on the modification of an infrared multispectral image camera with interferential filters and works in a similar way to a radar, although in this case it detects excess pollutants from each vehicle, say the researchers, who work within the framework of the INNPACTO project, led by Technet and employing researchers from CIEMAT, Tevaseñal and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).

Approximately five percent of vehicles are responsible for more than 90 per cent of toxic emissions. With this system, it can be determined which pollute more and policies that facilitate their identification can be created. With this, point out the scientists, traffic emissions (CO2, CO, NOx, HC, PM) would be reduced and energy efficiency would increase, given that a decrease of emissions implies less consumption. In addition, measures for optimising consumption and emissions could be adopted, like varying speed limits on high capacity roads that enter and exit big cities.

According to its creators, the device is the only prototype on the market capable of measuring the emissions of each vehicle on a high capacity.

Related Content

  • Active traffic management increases safety and capacity
    February 2, 2012
    WSDOT is deploying Active Traffic Management in order to increase safety and capacity on its strategic roads. WSDOT's Patricia Michaud elaborates
  • Smart Spanish city trials cell-based traffic management
    November 7, 2013
    David Crawford reports on an urban electronic nervous system. The northern Spanish city of Santander – historically a port - is now an emerging technology showcase attracting global attention as a prototype for a medium-sized smart city of the future. In a move to determine the optimal use of available data, it is creating a de-facto experimental laboratory for sensor and mobile phone-based urban traffic management and environmental monitoring innovations.
  • Monitoring, detection and control systems inside tunnels can do much to improve traveller safety
    August 6, 2013
    ITS technology can do a great deal to improve tunnel safety, as Colin Sowman discovers. It was back in April 2004 that the European Parliament adopted the EU Directive which lays down the Minimum Safety Requirements for Tunnels in the Trans-European Road Network (2004/54/EC). This was the first unitary legislation setting minimum safety standards for European road tunnels and was designed to harmonise the management of tunnel safety at a national level. Operators of existing tunnels have until 30 April 201
  • Align transport infrastructure needs with ITS offerings
    July 19, 2012
    Kallistratos Dionelis, General Secretary of ASECAP, ponders the absence of creativity and innovation in the road management sector. 'Traditional' road managers and ITS specialists share many of the same ultimate goals and yet, he says, a common understanding of what technology can achieve is still conspicuously absent.