Bluetooth®-Based Travel Time/Speed Measuring Systems Development

Agencies in the Houston region have traditionally used toll tag readers to provide travel times on freeways and High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, but these systems require large amounts of costly and physically invasive infrastructure. Bluetooth is a widely used technology embedded in cellular telephones and in-vehicle applications for exchanging data over short distances. The initial demonstrations of wireless address matching were primarily designed to prove the ability for Bluetooth technology to produce matches between two points on a roadway outfitted with the proper Bluetooth reader equipment, with a resulting travel time and speed calculated. Costs for Bluetooth travel time measurement systems are one to two orders of magnitude below costs for traditional toll tag reader equipment, depending on the application. This cost advantage could significantly lower the threshold for hundreds of agencies and private entities to enter the travel time measurement market, but there is little guidance on the application. Development and testing of various prototype software and hardware platforms were conducted to use the anonymous Media Access Control (MAC) address from each Bluetooth device to measure and report real-time traffic conditions. Several issues were examined and resolved in order to develop a true first generation “product.” The development of this method and process is pending patent approval.

• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/18163
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University Transportation Center for Mobility

  Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University System
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Puckett, Darryl D
  • Vickich, Michael J
• Publication Date: 2010-6-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 56p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bluetooth technology; Cellular telephones; High occupancy vehicle lanes; Infrastructure; Real time information; Technological innovations; Traffic speed; Travel time; Wireless communication systems
• Uncontrolled Terms: Media access control addresses
• Geographic Terms: Houston (Texas)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01173253
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: UTCM 09-00-17
• Contract Numbers: DTRT06-G-0044 (Grant)
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 16 2010 12:42PM