A high-definition traffic performance monitoring system with the Inductive Loop Detector signature technology

With continuing emphasis on transportation sustainability and fiscal stewardship, utilizing existing loop detector infrastructure to obtain more accurate, reliable, and comprehensive traffic system performance measures is desired by many transportation agencies. We found that the capability of the Inductive Loop Detector (ILD) signature technology to reidentify and classify vehicles along a section of roadway have the potential to provide better performance measures. Therefore, we proposed a high-definition traffic performance monitoring system (Traffic Monitor HD) based on the ILD signature technology and existing loop infrastructure for both freeway and arterial applications. Compared to the traditional performance measurement system, the advantages of the ILD signature technology allow Traffic Monitor HD to provide more comprehensive and accurate performance measurements, including point-based measures (i.e., vehicle counts, classification, and alerts on problematic detectors), section-based measures (i.e., travel time, speed, and estimates on emission), and O-D based measures (i.e., O-D matrix and trip travel time).