Skip to main content

Concerto aims to reduce vehicle emissions

Led by the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London and involving a range of industrial partners, Concerto – which stands for Co-operative Networked Concept for Emission Responsive Traffic Operations – is a three-year research programme that aims to use the sophisticated test environment of the innovITS Advance city circuit to develop next-generation technologies that reduce motor vehicle emissions.
May 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSLed by the Centre for Transport Studies at 500 Imperial College London and involving a range of industrial partners, Concerto – which stands for Co-operative Networked Concept for Emission Responsive Traffic Operations – is a three-year research programme that aims to use the sophisticated test environment of the 67 innovITS Advance city circuit to develop next-generation technologies that reduce motor vehicle emissions.

The Concerto programme began in the autumn of 2010 and aims to build upon previous research programmes carried out by Imperial College London, drawing together, and combining the technologies that each of them has delivered. This previous work includes the development of Vehicle Performance and Emissions Monitoring System (VPEMS) technology and both local and grid based roadside emissions monitoring systems as developed in the Mobile Environmental Sensor System Across GRID Environments (MESSAGE) project. By linking these with local weather information and precise real-time location details for each vehicle, as well as using data available from the Engine Control Unit (ECU), a wide range of potential future innovations may be possible, enabling urban traffic to behave in a co-operative and actively managed manner in order to reduce emissions and hence improve local air quality.

“We were particularly keen to use the innovITS Advance city circuit for the initial testing programme of Concerto,” said Dr Robin North, Lecturer in the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London. “This facility provides us with exactly the type of highly controllable, repeatable and measurable environment that we need for this form of research.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Improving road safety with better road safety indicators
    January 16, 2013
    A new report from the International Transport Forum, a global transport policy platform with fifty-four member countries, entitled Sharing Road Safety states that governments can more effectively improve road safety by making better use of indicators that reliably quantify the reduction of crashes due to interventions in the road-traffic system. Almost 1.3 million people die in road crashes every year, and between 20 and 50 million are injured. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among youn
  • Measuring vehicle lengths with a single loop - promising results
    July 27, 2012
    District 7 of Caltrans has been conducting trials to see whether the use of a single inductive loop to measure vehicle lengths and so identify heavy trucks is feasible. So far, the results have been very promising, according to Lead Transportation Engineer Steve Malkson. Between them, the adjoining ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the US's two biggest, cover some 10,700 acres (43km2) and 68 miles (109km) of waterfront.
  • IBM Big Data helps Dublin improve transport operations
    May 17, 2013
    The city of Dublin is using IBM Big Data identify and solve the root causes of traffic congestion in its public transport network throughout the city, which means improved traffic flow and better mobility for commuters. Integrating data from a citywide network of sensors with geospatial data means that city officials are able to better monitor and manage traffic in real time. To keep the city moving, the council’s traffic control centre works together with local transport operators to manage an extensive ne
  • Ports are facing a digital sea-change
    March 24, 2021
    Next-generation cellular will revolutionise the ports and maritime sector. Its arrival is just in time, as the industry faces a variety of challenges which require new technological solutions