Skip to main content

UK city deploys wireless sensors to reduce congestion

In a bid to cut congestion, Portsmouth City Council in the UK has installed a wireless vehicle tracking solution in the city. The system, from Danish wireless technology company Blip Systems, was deployed by the company’s UK partner Smart CCTV which has installed BlipTrack sensors on the three most-often congested roads linking to the M27/A27 east-west corridor.
November 19, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In a bid to cut congestion, Portsmouth City Council in the UK has installed a wireless vehicle tracking solution in the city.

The system, from Danish wireless technology company 3778 Blip Systems, was deployed by the company’s UK partner smart CCTV which has installed BlipTrack sensors on the three most-often congested roads linking to the M27/A27 east-west corridor.

The sensors use data received from Bluetooth-enables devices in passing vehicles to measure journey times and speeds, enabling the council to provide queue warnings on VMS displays and mobile apps.   It also provides the city with valuable information about traffic flow for planning and optimising traffic.

According to Smart CCTV’s Managing Director Nick Hewitson, the installation of the BlipTrack sensors costs about one-tenth of the cost of an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system.  He said at a recent 288 ITS UK conference, “BlipTrack catches upwards of 40 per cent of vehicles, compared to with 95 per cent with ANPR, but this is statistically more than adequate for journey time information”.

Related Content

  • February 9, 2018
    Auckland Airport improves city-to-gate passenger flow via BlipTrack
    Beca’s BlipTrack solution has been extended across Auckland Airport’s road infrastructure to help manage both passenger and traffic flow. The solution is designed with the intention of measuring traffic between the Central Business District (CBD) and the airport, delivering real-time data on reliability, vehicle counts and travel time. BlipTrack provides data about the mix of staff and passengers using Park and Ride facility to help the airport to better understand the performance and regularly review
  • October 13, 2021
    Vitronic tackles traffic congestion
    Vitronic is presenting visitors with versatile, flexible, and user-friendly traffic technology solutions. The company is addressing two of the most important questions of future mobility: the climate crisis and increased traffic volume in cities
  • January 30, 2012
    Virtual traffic management centres, a new direction in traffic monitoring
    David Crawford picks up a new direction trend in traffic monitoring The surprise winner in the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) category of the recently-announced 2011 OSMOSE (Open Source for MObile and SustainablE city) Awards for European innovations in urban transport, is the Danish city of Aalborg - which doesn't have a TMC. Alternatively, one might consider its 'virtual' TMC as a signpost for the future in medium-sized cities.
  • July 26, 2012
    Technology advances improve enforcement
    Across the board, technology is being brought to bear to improve the efficiency of enforcement. Bus lane monitoring, parking and controlled access have all benefited from systems introduced in recent months. While speed and red light infringements tend to attract the most attention, there remain several other areas of enforcement where automation can bring significant operational and efficiency benefits. Lane monitoring and access control also continue to benefit from technological development.