Quashing chaos and congestion

One news story that is the same every day, all over the world starts at about six in the morning and sometimes doesn’t end in earnest until long after the sun sets. It’s the daily grind we all go through, the chaos and congestion on the roads. For many, there’s no alternative to the time-consuming, daily traffic jam.

But what if reasonable detours redirected traffic just seconds after an accident? Or speed limits were adjusted accordingly to the flow of traffic? Suppose extra lanes became available before the bottleneck? It’s not magic and it’s not your imagination wandering while you wait behind the wheel, wondering if walking wouldn’t be faster. It is the up-and-coming technologies of Automatic Incident Detection (AID), incident management, and the support such systems lend to traffic control room operators.

Roadside AID
There are already many different kinds of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) across the globe from CCTV systems and sensors to variable message signs (VMS). Some nations, such as the Netherlands, have traffic cameras capable of license plate recognition monitoring entire highway infrastructures in order to enforce speed limits. Other countries, like the United States, use cameras and sensors more often to implement everything from speed limits in school zones to fines for drivers who run red lights. While these systems do help to ensure road safety, AID allows for more extensive systems in which a single operator can monitor hundreds of cameras simultaneously and promptly manage traffic flow and incidents, as necessary.

With AID, intelligent algorithms continually analyze specific pixel clusters for changes and alert operators within seconds of the type of incident and its location. From a centralized control center, the notified operator can visually verify and assess the situation and react appropriately. This may entail adjusting lane control signs, variable speed signs, or dynamic message signs as well as informing authorities, such as the police, fire department, or emergency medical services. In this way, traffic can continue more smoothly and safely, despite obstructions or mishaps.

Sensible solutions
Traditionally, CCTV installations have been used to monitor certain areas, such as tunnels and bridges. Operators would then watch computer or television screens and look for unusual situations. However, the vast amount of information collected by even a single camera makes the operator’s job, in this case, nearly superhuman, obliging constant vigilance throughout a shift. Asking an operator to monitor multiple cameras is, as such, clearly impossible.

Yet, by integrating video analysis technologies into existing CCTV installations, operators are suddenly able to oversee a plethora of cameras in various positions or places. Such AID technology analyses video image data and instantly alerts operators of all kinds of events, from pedestrians, stopped vehicles, wrong-way drivers, and lost cargo to queuing, speed drops, and even the presence of smoke. This results in a powerful tool with which operators can instantly evaluate the severity of an incident and respond quickly and confidently.

However, even with intelligent AID algorithms and visual CCTV oversight, transmitting and archiving analog video material is resource intensive and can sometimes even diminish image quality or limit the realizable scope of a system. That is why Optelecom-NKF, a developer of high-end, IP video networking systems and the creator of the Siqura product line, and Traficon, a specialist in the field of automatic incident detection, decided to join forces.
 
The Siqura TrafficServer®
By embedding Traficon’s field-proven incident detection algorithms into a Siqura encoder, the two companies were able to create a cutting-edge, IP product that not only increases the quality and effectiveness of the AID system on the whole but also reduces the resources required.

By sharing cameras for both incident detection and video monitoring, the Siqura TrafficServer calls for fewer cameras. This decreases power consumption and installation space requirements, which, in turn, ultimately results in less maintenance and lowers the total cost of ownership.

Since the Siqura TrafficServer uses a dedicated DSP to implement the incident detection algorithms, all the number crunching is done locally, on the video server itself, and it therefore requires less processing power than traditional, centralized AID solutions. This dedicated DSP also cuts back the amount of data lost in transmission. As a result, the system uses less bandwidth while actually improving video quality.

An additional dedicated DSP allows the Siqura TrafficServer to transmit the promising, new H.264 as well as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and MJPEG, simultaneously. Consequently, the Siqura TrafficServer is able to offer a selection of streaming options for several different purposes. Using MPEG-2 for live viewing, for example, offers a high-quality picture with relatively low-bandwidth while H.264 provides an excellent image that doesn’t take up much space, making it perfect for storing video material. Alternatively, MPEG-4 has a lower resolution but is optimal for streaming to web applications, and MJPEG is best used for transmitting image data to remote devices. The power to choose between these different video compression algorithms ensures an easy and effective integration of the Siqura TrafficServer with other, existing applications as well as with future additions.

Moreover, the Siqura TrafficServer is making life easier for operators and systems integrators. Each individual stream can be merged with incident detection information, giving operators a complete overview of the traffic data and events, and allowing them to easily access, maintain, and enhance traffic conditions.

Safety and security
That driving on freeways and sitting in traffic jams is an inevitable part of modern life seems all too apparent. Yet, the bore of a bottleneck is exacerbated by the familiar fact that the roads are risky and can even be life-threatening. Motor vehicle accidents are, according to the Center for Disease Control, the leading cause of death for people under 30 in United States. The Austrian research project, Video Based Image Analysis for Tunnel Safety (VITUS), cites that more than 50,000 people die each year on European roadways. It is therefore imperative that the risks involved in automotive transportation are unremittingly reduced.

The necessity for safer highways is reflected in new governmental regulations and stricter safety measures. Tunnel safety in Europe, for example, has come under increased scrutiny in recent years after a number of fatal accidents plagued the turn of the century. The result has been a directive from the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport requiring higher safety standards for all tunnels longer than 500 meters on the Trans-European Network. In the United States, new policies divulge that detecting potential security threats on bridges or other such infrastructures is a rising concern of government agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security.

Research shows that incident management plays a crucial role in improving safety. It also reveals that successfully supervising unfortunate occurrences depends on rapid recognition and visual verification. Operators need to know immediately that something has happened so that they can readily assess the circumstances, appropriately divert traffic from potential danger, and notify authorities before calamity compounds. Consequently, AID systems are attracting a lot of attention around the world.

A saving system
The acute interest is, of course, to make roads safer and to streamline the flow of traffic. Realizing this goal entails combining intelligent transportation technologies in a user-friendly way so that operators can easily handle the system. Tools like the Siqura TrafficServer, variable message signs, variable speed signs, and lane control signs all need to be at an operator’s finger tips to allow him to swiftly and suitably deal with any traffic situation.

Ultimately, such systems will not only save time and money, but they will also reduce pollution and, above all, prevent the needless loss of life. So, as you’re steering your way through the gridlock and dreaming of driving on the hard shoulder, you might be comforted by the fact that technologies fulfilling these dreams, like the Siqura TrafficServer, are just around the corner.