VinstaR

Cost-Efficient Detection of Traffic States in Cities

Project Description and Tasks of the Chair

In a lot of small and medium-sized cities there are hardly any detection devices or other information sources that can determine the present traffic state or permit the operation of dynamic traffic management.

The use of currently available sensor types is not cost-effective because large numbers of individual detectors have to be installed and service and maintenance of the devices have to be regularly performed. Therefore, most municipalities are not capable of managing traffic detectors on a large scale either financially or in terms of personnel. Hence, it is reasonable to look for alternative cost-effective methods that can be used for the determination of traffic states.

In this context, the determination of traffic states using navigation units in vehicles offers a new approach. In this process the data of vehicles’ movements (FCD: Floating Car Data) are recorded by means of a mobile connection to a server. Hence, the speed as well as a corresponding quality index for a road segment can be determined.