Automatic monitoring of traffic conditions by re-identification of vehicles

Due to economic and ecological restraints there is an increasing demand for traffic monitoring and control systems in order to operate road traffic within the existing road network more efficiently. The basis for such systems is the knowledge of the actual traffic condition within the whole network; a traffic data acquisition system is required to deliver this information automatically, reliably and in real-time to authorities and drivers. A system called MAVE is introduced which uses pattern recognition principles and correlation methods to measure the so-called section-related traffic data such as journey speed and traffic density. The system works completely passively, i.e. it does not require additional on-board devices for vehicles, therefore an identification of individual drivers is not possible