Citation

Yang JJ, Zuo B. Transp. Res. Rec. 2018; 2672(45): 55-63.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0361198118796068

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Wireless magnetometers have been considered as a practical alternative to inductive loops and suitable for large intersections, where span wire is generally used for traffic signal support. In this paper, wireless magnetometers are evaluated for stop bar vehicle detection at signalized intersections. High-resolution detector data were collected in the field subjected to various weather and environmental conditions. Conditional inference trees were used to correlate detection errors with weather and environmental factors that potentially affect the performance of wireless magnetometers. The study results indicated that the wireless magnetometers are fairly robust to various environmental conditions, such as wind, lighting, and visibility. Frequent passing of heavy vehicles, common at large intersections, can cause communication interruption between in-pavement sensors and the access point. This likely increases false and stuck-on call errors, which could be aggravated by adverse weather (e.g., rain, fog, or snow). This communication interruption issue can be mitigated by proper installation of additional repeaters. Provided the interruption issues are site-specific, professional judgment and field test are required for proper system setup, which is critical to delivering accurate and reliable detection for the wireless magnetometer system.

Language: en