Abstract

Wireless magnetic sensor networks offer an attractive, low-cost alternative to inductive loops, video, and radar for traffic measurement.  The network comprises sensor nodes glued to the pavement where vehicles are to be detected.  The nodes send their data via radio to the “access point” or AP on the side of the road.  The AP forwards sensor data to the Traffic Management Center via GPRS or to the signal controller.

Vehicles are detected by measuring the change in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by the presence of a vehicle near the sensor. Two sensors placed apart a few feet measure speed.  A vehicle’s magnetic ‘signature’ can be processed to classify the vehicle type.  Measurements from an array of nodes provide a ‘fingerprint’ that can be used to re-identify vehicles. The talk will present experimental results.

The key engineering challenge is to reduce power consumption so that the nodes can last in the pavement for 10 years under battery power and can withstand the impact of heavy trucks.

Biography

Pravin Varaiya is Nortel Networks Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.  From 1975 to 1992 he was also Professor of Economics at Berkeley.  His research is concerned with communication networks, transportation, and hybrid systems.

Varaiya has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Miller Research Professorship.  He has received two Honorary Doctorates, and the Field Medal and Bode Prize of the IEEE Control Systems Society.  He is a Fellow of IEEE, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science.  He is on the editorial board of Discrete Event Dynamical Systems and Transportation Research--C. He has co-authored three books and 300 technical papers.  The second edition of High-Performance Communication Networks (with Jean Walrand) was published by Morgan-Kaufmann in 2000.  “Structure and Interpretation of Signals and Systems” (with Edward Lee) was published in 2003 by Addison-Wesley.