Idris at World Congress 2008
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Location: Ontario, Canada
Client: Ministry of Transportation for Ontario (MTO)
Application: Idris AT600, SmartToll Application
ITP: Quixote Traffic Corporation
Product: Quixote Traffic ADR6000TM incorporating Idris DR420 software
Project: Traffic data collection in Canada
Background: Traffic has significantly increased in the past ten years, and the number of cars on the road is
projected to continue increasing by as much as 50% in the next decade. As vehicle traffic increases, it has
become increasingly difficult to collect traffic data accurately on congested routes using traditional sensors such
as piezos, roadtube or standard inductive loops.
Quixote Traffic is one company who continue to develop and improve their comprehensive portfolio of data
collection and classification solutions. Their response to the critical problem was to combine 40 years of
expertise in data collection and inductive loop knowledge with the advanced inductive loop detection
algorithms known as Idris®. At the top of the data collection portfolio is the state-of-the-art ADR6000TM counter/classifier.
Project Detail: The MTO had a requirement to purchase approximately 70 data recording units for the ongoing
collection of traffic data. They were to be installed in a number of environments, from rural 2 lane roads to
urban areas with densely populated traffic such as Toronto & Ottawa with up to 6 lanes of traffic. They needed
a technology able to count and classify to greater than 95% accuracy levels and operate in all weather and
traffic flow conditions.
This specification raised several requirements which standard data collection units were unable to meet. Firstly
some of the rural sites would see sporadic traffic flow, therefore needing a technology which operates in low
flow rate, has a high mean time before failure and low maintenance costs. Traditional sensors do not count
accurately at low speeds and suffer from mechanical degradation.
At the other end of the scale, the urban sites were more likely to contend with bumpertobumper
traffic. Most sensors cannot operate in congestion or stopgo
traffic. In these traffic flow situations traditional inductive loop
technology can join vehicles resulting in lower counts. Piezos and road tube sensors miss axles or miscalculate
spacing at low or irregular speeds resulting in inaccurate vehicle classification.
One data collection product which would enable MTO to collect data to the FHWA from their arterial routes
and urban freeways, especially at peak times, was the ADR6000TM.
How It Works: The ADR6000TM counter/classifier uses stateoftheart inductive loop signature analysis with
patented Idris® technology. It is a modular single or multilane
data collection system that offers accurate
vehicle count and axlebased
classification in traffic conditions ranging from freeflow to stopandgo congestion. The ADR6000TM, enhanced by the Idris algorithms, utilises sophisticated signal processing
techniques to extract minute changes in inductance from standard loops. This enables intelligent profile and
axle classification with wide area tracking of vehicles. The unit is capable of determining
tailgating versus towing vehicles and also identifies vehicles straddling lanes and places them
into the correct lane. The classification scheme is based on features extracted by the ADR6000TM, these include
length, speed, number and spacing of axles. It is the only traffic data counter/classifier that collects vehicle
volume and class data with greater than 95% accuracy in all weather and traffic conditions.
Conclusion: The installation of the 70 units has been ongoing beginning prior to 2002 and there is continued
development work with MTO to enhance the systems capabilities. The expected accuracy level for the ADR6000TM is greater than 95%. However for the MTO installations, very long loop leads were required instead of a
standard length and tar rather than loop sealant was used. In light of these deviations, a lower accuracy level of
90% was agreed upon. That being said, the systems typically perform well above 90% (normally above 95%).
The data collected is binned and uses the standard rule file based on FHWA scheme F using a standard 2 main
loop array and the patented axle loops. The ADR6000TM units continue to meet MTO's accuracy expectations
under all traffic flow conditions.
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