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%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Registration now open for 2015 Polis Conference
    June 30, 2015
    Polis has just released the draft programme for its 2015 Annual Polis Conference, ‘Innovation in transport for sustainable cities and regions’. Technical sessions cover topics such as: transport planning beyond the city, ICT and active mobility, smart parking strategies, urban freight goes electric, translating road safety data into measures, global cooperation for sustainable transport, from open data to transport apps, and more. Early bird rates apply until 30 September 2015. More information is ava
  • Lumenera in the picture at ITS
    April 22, 2013
    Camera supplier Lumenera is exhibiting its camera systems at ITS America first time under its own name. Previously the company’s cameras have been exhibited alongside the traffic surveillance and enforcement products into which they are incorporated.
  • Assocations news worldwide
    May 13, 2016
    ITS America 2016 promises to be anything but ‘business-as-usual’ as its new president and CEO, Regina Hopper, aims to broaden the scope and discussions at the event, billed as “A New Show Representing This Transformative Moment in Intelligent Transportation.” Signifying the changes, this year’s event is in San Jose at the heart of Silicon Valley and has adopted the theme “Integrated Mobility. Transportation Redefined.”
  • Egis offers VR training for French highway patrols
    September 30, 2019
    A new scheme in France aims to give highway police a first-hand view of what to expect in high speed incidents – without putting anyone at risk. Egis has launched the training module for motorway patrollers using a virtual reality (VR) headset and handheld controls. In conjunction with French start-up Immersive Factory it offers training on motorway safety and callout procedures as part of Egis’ contract to operate the A63 motorway between the villages of Salles and St. Geours-de-Maremne. Egis says th