Applications of signal and data processing technology to vehicular traffic monitoring

This paper describes how optical sensor signal processing and data association methods that have been developed for Aerospace applications can be applied to the traffic monitoring function of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). It first discusses techniques that have been developed for background estimation and detection of vehicles on a roadway. Then, the transformation to tracking coordinates and the multiple target tracking (MTT) algorithm that produces traffic flow observation data are outlined. An extended Kalman filter that takes observed flow data from multiple sensor sites and produces flow estimates for an entire roadway is described and its application to incident detection discussed. Preliminary results using simulated and actual freeway data are presented. Finally, techniques for presenting this data to the user and the manner in which these signal and data processing techniques relate to an overall ATMS design are outlined.