Skip to main content

Cisco’s low-cost fibre optic solution for traffic monitoring

Cisco’s display focuses on a novel way of detecting traffic speeds, congestion and incidents without the use of loops. The company is using a fibre optic cable positioned alongside the road and down which it shines a light. Vibration created by passing vehicles create vibration which disrupts the passage of the light. Cisco has developed algorithms that can translate these disruptions to determine what type of vehicle is passing, in which direction, the lane it is using and the speed it is travelling. The
March 21, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Niels van den Berg

1028 Cisco’s display focuses on a novel way of detecting traffic speeds, congestion and incidents without the use of loops. The company is using a fibre optic cable positioned alongside the road and down which it shines a light.

Vibration created by passing vehicles create vibration which disrupts the passage of the light. Cisco has developed algorithms that can translate these disruptions to determine what type of vehicle is passing, in which direction, the lane it is using and the speed it is travelling.

The fibre optic cables run in lengths of up to 80km and are divided (virtually) into five to 15 metre sections for detection purposes and it is said to be far cheaper and less disruptive to install and maintain than its traditional counterpart.

According to the company’s Niels van den Berg, the Dutch authorities have proved the new system’s accuracy by comparing it with the current loop-based results.

Stand: 11.209

%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external www.cisco.com Cisco website link false https://www.cisco.com/ false false%>

Related Content

  • Getaround brings car-sharing service to Atlanta
    April 8, 2019
    Getaround is launching its car-sharing platform in the US city of Atlanta, allowing residents to earn money by making their car available to rent. The company says the platform utilises cars already on the road and will therefore help to reduce traffic and congestion. Each car is equipped with Getaround Connect, a proprietary technology that allows renters to locate and unlock the car using the company’s app, removing the need to meet the owner in-person for a manual key exchange. Getaround’s safety
  • USDoT calls for comment on V2X integration
    December 21, 2018
    The US Department of Transportation (USDoT) is seeking public comment on how Vehicle to Everything (V2X) technology should be integrated into the transport environment. The organisation says it intends to maintain the priority use of 5.9Ghz spectrum for transportation safety communications. It points out that the automotive industry and local authorities “are already deploying V2X technology and actively utilising all seven channels of the 5.9 GHz band” and says that technology such as Cellular-V2X (C-V2
  • Car2Go launches e-car rental service in central Paris
    January 17, 2019
    Daimler subsidiary Car2go has made its electric car rental service available to Parisian users in a 77km square area within the city’s Périphérique motorway. Drivers are charged between €0.24 to €0.34 per minute depending on the location and time of the rental, and can charge the vehicles at around 1,100 charging stations in the French capital. The details flesh out Car2go’s announcement last year of plans to deploy 400 electric Smart EQ Fortwo vehicles in the city. The company intends to add more ve
  • Uber to redirect focus to bikes and electric scooters
    August 28, 2018
    Uber intends to focus more on its electric scooter and bike business as it says individual modes of transport are better-suited to inner city travel. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, believes users will make more frequent, shorter journeys in the future, the Financial Times reports. "During rush hour, it is very inefficient for a one-tonne hulk of metal to take one person ten blocks,” he says. Uber’s Jump electric bikes are now available in eight US cities such as San Francisco and Washington DC, and are