Method and system for traffic performance analysis, network reconfiguration, and real-time traffic monitoring

Abstract

A method and system for traffic performance analysis, network reconfiguration, and real-time traffic monitoring and surveillance is described. Traffic performance analysis and congestion detection is achieved through discrete event simulation. The road network is translated to a graph. The translation is the result of the processing of a high resolution satellite or aerial image consisting of road extraction. In the resulting graph, road intersections are represented by vertices and road sections by edges. Edges have several properties such as the capacity of the section, presence of traffic signs and traffic lights, rate of generation (vehicles leaving parking), and rate of absorption (vehicles going to parking) Temporal simulation allows detecting congestions as well as congestion propagation. Real-time traffic monitoring consists of detecting abnormal traffic slowdowns. This is achieved by observing traffic with a camera. The video is processed to compute the optical flow which allows the computation of the traffic speed. Individual vehicle speed is also computed to detect speeding vehicles by comparing their speed to the nominal speed limit in the road section. The whole system can be grouped in a traffic control room or a traffic information system.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of the filing date of provisional application No. 61 / 593,291, filed on Jan. 31, 2012. The contents of the provisional application are incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of Invention[0003]The present invention relates to intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and road traffic control, and more particularly to a method and system detecting congestions, enhancing traffic performances, and real-time traffic surveillance.[0004]2. Related Art[0005]The size and complexity of transport problems continue to increase with the growth of cities, road networks, and the number of motor vehicles. The main issue in urban transportations is traffic congestion and poor traffic performances. Traffic congestion is due to several factors such as the infrastructure, the ratio of number of vehicles with respect to the capacity of the road network, and the traffic signaling to...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes a system and method for analyzing traffic performance, detecting potential congestion, and reconfiguring the network to alleviate congestion. The system uses satellite images and image processing techniques to create a road map with road signs and markings. The road map is then used to detect congestion using maximum flow or min cut algorithms. The system can also process an existing urban road network and suggest changes to alleviate congestion through discrete event simulation. Additionally, the patent describes real-time traffic monitoring using cameras and video analysis to measure traffic speed and request human operators to fix any issues. The estimated run times between points in the road network are displayed on variable-message signs. Overall, the patent provides a technical solution for improving traffic performance and reducing congestion.

Problems solved by technology

The size and complexity of transport problems continue to increase with the growth of cities, road networks, and the number of motor vehicles.

The main issue in urban transportations is traffic congestion and poor traffic performances.

If the status quo persists—no new roads are built or no structural nor organizational changes are made, congestions are unavoidable.

They result in economic, social, and environmental costs.

However, depending on the nature of problems at hand, one alternative may overtake over the other.

While this method is good in computing actual vehicles run times, it has several drawbacks: it is very expensive to implement as it requires vehicles to carry transmitting devices; a set of relays has to be deployed to allow for message reception.

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