Wireless data collection system for real-time arterial travel time estimates.

OTREC 10-16 / SPR 500-410This project pursued several objectives conducive to the implementation and testing of a Bluetooth (BT) based system to collect travel time data, including the deployment of a BT-based travel time data collection system to perform comprehensive testing on all the components. Two different BT-based travel time data collection systems were installed. The first system, composed of two DCUs, was installed on a corridor located in Salem, OR. Extensive testing was done on this system, including the collection of travel time samples. A second system composed of five DCUs was installed along 99W in the city of Tigard, OR. Very limited data collection was done on 99W due to the lack of network connectivity.Six different antenna types were characterized using the two DCU BT-based travel time data collection system. The result of the antenna characterization tests showed that vertically polarized antennas with gains between 9 and 12 dBi are good candidates to support a BT-based travel time data collection system. Antennas with circular polarization do not seem to improve the performance, despite the lack of control regarding the orientation of BT-enabled devices in most applications. Travel time samples were also collected with this system. The results indicate that a trade-off exist between the number of samples obtained and the accuracy of these travel time samples. This trade-off is most likely the result of differences in road coverage areas provided by the different antenna types