Efficient vehicular traffic monitoring using mobility management in cellular networks

In this paper, we are interested in how the know-how in wireless communications research can be applied to gather real-time vehicular traffic information efficiently. Mobility management makes it possible for the cellular system to track a mobile user as it roams around within the wireless network using occasional location updates. We describe how mobility management is used for monitoring traffic conditions of roadways. The cellular network collects Global Positioning System (GPS)-based location information from the individual mobile units and passes the information to the transportation network, which maps the location of the mobile unit to a specific link within the transportation network. This information is then processed to estimate occupancy on all links. We report the performance of the proposed traffic data collection scheme and compare these results with the actual values of the traffic condition using simulations on a simple transportation network.