Dresden: Video detectors to regulate road traffic flow

20 May 2008 | News

Licensing opportunity

The Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (IVI) has developed a sensor system based on video cameras that will improve traffic management. The technology is available for licensing and Fraunhofer is seeking collaborations with companies within the hardware industry.

The team of researchers led by Ulf Jung and Georg Förzter at IVI developed their refined methods for channeling road traffic as part of the Operative Regional integrated and Optimised Corridor Control (ORINOKO) transport research project, creating a central database that contains digital maps of road networks, software interfaces that record data such as journey times and tail back lengths, and a video-based sensor system.

Video detectors automatically determine traffic statistics that are directly fed into the central data, as images or data. The information is interpreted in real time. Jung  says: “This combination of advanced computer technology and the image processing software developed by us delivers data of a similar quality to those of conventional induction loops, but is much cheaper and more flexible to use.”

The IVI says this technology is cost-effective and reliable, as it provides a continuous stream of data allowing on-the-spot traffic management.


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