Bluetooth-based traffic detection

Traffax has launched BluFax, based on the globally ubiquitous Bluetooth digital communications protocol, which operates by detecting the MAC addresses of Bluetooth signals from passing cars.
February 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A BluFax freeway installation in Indiana
2262 Traffax has launched BluFax, based on the globally ubiquitous 1835 Bluetooth digital communications protocol, which operates by detecting the MAC addresses of Bluetooth signals from passing cars. By positioning two units at distances of between 1-3km, vehicle travel times are calculated from the relative detection times recorded by the two units. Traffax has licensed the patent-pending technology from the University of the Maryland, where the concept originated under the support of the Maryland State Highway Administration.

Traffax says Bluetooth address matching can be used for a number of applications including measurement of travel times on both freeway and arterial roadways, measurement of origin-destination patterns, and tracking of pedestrian flows. Since it directly measures travel times and space-mean speeds, Traffax claims BluFax is one of the few technologies that offers the ability to accurately measure arterial travel times. The company says that demonstrated detection rates exceeding five per cent of the total traffic stream, yield sample sizes adequate for reliable measurement of arterial flows.

There are two versions of the Traffax BluFax unit. An off-line version is offered that stores its measurements on removable storage media for subsequent processing. This device is typically used for traffic studies, performance measurement and validation of other data collection techniques. It is self-powered and requires no communications.

A real-time version is also offered that continuously transmits the MAC addresses and detection times of passing vehicles to a collection site for continuous processing. The real-time unit is used for such applications as display of travel times on variable message signs, and data inputs to 511 telephone systems.
Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

Related Content

  • January 20, 2012
    Pioneering sensors collect weather data from moving vehicles
    ITS International contributing editor David Crawford foresees the vehicle as 'sentinel being'
    Read More
  • January 26, 2012
    New technology revolution in urban traffic control?
    Urban traffic control is a well-defined and practised art. Nevertheless, there are technologies here and on the horizon with the potential to revolutionise how we do things. By Gavin Jackman and Andrew Kirkham, TRL, and Jason Barnes. Distributed monitoring and control of urban traffic networks and flows is nothing new. PC-based Urban Traffic Control (UTC) is now well established and operating in many locations around the world. However, it is worth considering the effects of the huge growth in the use of sm
    Read More
  • June 11, 2015
    Transportation applications move to machine vision’s mainstream
    The adaptation of machine vision to transport applications continues apace. That the machine vision industry is taking traffic installations seriously is evident by the amount of hardware and software products tailor-made for ITS applications that are now available on the market. A good example comes from US-based Gridsmart Technologies which has developed a single wire fisheye camera that provides a horizon to horizon view for use at intersections. Not only does the single camera replace four or more in a
    Read More
  • July 23, 2012
    Wireless - the future of vehicle detection
    Peter Cattell of Clearview Traffic analyses different wireless communications methods and explains how these are changing the face of vehicle detection. With the continued expansion of traffic data collection solutions, providing a robust, reliable, scalable and secure method of collecting information becomes increasingly important. Over many years, various mobile wireless technologies have been utilised to make the remote collection of data a reality but recent developments are changing the way that this w
    Read More

Highlighted Content