For cost effective traffic control, efforts are on to create GPS based road traffic monitoring systems. Researchers, individuals, groups, and telecom companies are studying the prospects of such a system. This article discusses a cell phone based model while also considering its practicality.
At present, most road traffic monitoring systems use sensors and video cameras to check the speed of vehicles and to take snapshots of vehicles that violate signals. However, the cost of this equipment has restricted the current video camera-based road traffic monitoring systems to certain very important areas and important highway intersections - where there are greater possibilities of traffic congestion and accidents.
The government is willing to cut down the costs of the "sensor and video camera based road traffic monitoring system" so that it can implement it widely. To achieve this, it has permitted several research groups and telecom companies to come up with a model- both practical and cost effective- covering large areas (not only certain portions of the city and highway intersections). There are several research projects going on, some using government grants and some on their own – conducted by telecom giants such as Nokia, UTStarcom, and others.
The common point in all these researches is that almost all of them are considering GPS-based road traffic monitoring system to bring down the overall costs of maintenance because the costs of the GPS devices are low and are showing a further downward trend. Almonst every person with a vehicle has a GPS device or can afford a GPS device, which means that the stage is already set. We just need to put the different components in place so that the desired GPS-based road traffic monitoring system can be put into place.
The following section discusses the cost effective model of GPS based road traffic monitoring system proposed by Nokia, a leading telecom company.
The model for GPS-based road traffic monitoring system presented by Nokia is based on the fact that almost every vehicle driver already has a cell phone. If the model is implemented, the cell phones can be upgraded to ones that contain GPS units if the existing ones do not have one already. The basic concept of this model is to trace "each" vehicle using the signals sent out by the GPS unit in the cell phone. The model claims to monitor real time flow of traffic using the GPS enabled cell phones while securing the privacy of cell phone users.
The model suggested by Nokia for GPS based road traffic monitoring system employs use of: 1) GPS enabled cellular handsets; 2) a central server for each area; 3) the Internet; and, 4) a unit to view the traffic condition. This unit can be the cell phone itself, a GPS unit, or any other device capable of connecting to the Internet and displaying the traffic conditions.
Each area under observation will have a central server of its own, thereby using several servers to cover a larger area. These central servers can be integrated using wireless connections to create a network that covers an entire city.
Each car will be equipped with a GPS-enabled mobile phone. The GPS unit will contain some software that will send signals carrying data on the vehicle's speed and location to the central server for that area. With all vehicles in an area sending signals to the central server, there will be ample data to compute the traffic conditions of that area. Once computed, the results will be uploaded to the Internet in form of images (graphs or charts). This information can be viewed by anyone on his/her cell phones or any other device able to browse the Internet. The best thing about this model is that both drivers and the traffic police can view the traffic conditions in real-time with a delay of only few milliseconds.
While speaking on the model's feasibility, a Nokia staffer says, "Enlisting GPS-equipped cell phones into traffic monitoring systems could help provide information on everything from multiple side-street routes in urban areas to hazardous driving conditions or accidents on vast stretches of rural roads. GPS-based systems can pinpoint a car’s location with an accuracy of a few meters and calculate traveling speed to within three miles per hour." This is quite true but there are certain obstacles that will have to be considered for implementing this model of GPS based road traffic monitoring system.
The next page discusses these problems and Nokia's outlook on tackling these hindrances to its GPS based road traffic monitoring system.