An application of acoustic sensors for the monitoring of road traffic

Abstract

Assessment of road traffic parameters for the developed intelligent speed limit setting decision system constitutes the subject addressed in the paper. Current traffic conditions providing vital data source for the calculation of the locally fitted speed limits are assessed employing an economical embedded platform placed at the roadside. The use of the developed platform employing a low-powered processing unit with a set of microphones, an accelerometer and some other sensors, for the estimation of the essential road traffic parameters is presented in the paper. Acoustical signal processing-based vehicle counting attempts were made, and an acceleration sensor was used in order to detect the heavy vehicles pass-bys. Obtained results based on the measurements were discussed in the paper. Evaluation of the proposed methods is provided.