Dual roadside seismic sensor for moving road vehicle detection and characterization

Area of Science:

• Geophysics
• Transportation Engineering
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Traditional vehicle detection methods face limitations in cost and installation.
• Accurate vehicle characterization is crucial for effective traffic management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel dual roadside seismic sensor system.
• To extract key vehicle parameters like speed and axle spacing using seismic data.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a dual roadside seismic sensor array.
• Employing generalized cross-correlation with phase transform (GCC-PHAT) for time delay estimation.
• Analyzing seismic signals in fixed time intervals for vehicle data extraction.

Main Results:

• Successfully detected moving vehicles and extracted characterization information.
• Achieved less than 20% error in vehicle speed and axle spacing measurements during field tests.
• Demonstrated the system's effectiveness on an urban street in Seattle.

Conclusions:

• The dual seismic sensor offers a cost-effective and easily installable solution.
• The system provides valuable data for diverse traffic management applications.
• This seismic approach enhances vehicle detection and characterization capabilities.