EVALUATION OF AUTOMATIC VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION FOR SAN ANTONIO'S TRANSGUIDE FOR INCIDENT DETECTION AND ADVANCED TRAVELER INFORMATION SYSTEMS by

Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) is a mature technology having high reliability for vehicle detection. San Antonio TransGuide recently installed a number of AVI readers alongside inductive loop detectors placed on the same freeway sections, allowing side-by-side performance comparison. The principal objective of this study is to perform a systematic comparative evaluation of the performance of AVI as a basis for incident detection and traffic state estimation for public information dissemination (through the Internet, Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS), and/or variable message signs). A starting point is to investigate the quality of traffic state estimates, especially prevailing speeds and trip times, under low market penetration of toll tags. The project provides an extensive calibration and testing of AVI algorithms for incident detection, and compares their respective performance. The project also makes recommendations regarding further expansion of the AVI system and assesses the system’s role within the overall Traffic Management Center (TMC) and ITS architecture.