Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994 TAG: 9401110026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Sensors installed this week on U.S. 460 in Blacksburg will be able to count cars and eventually allow researchers to identify the type of vehicle by sound.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg in smart technology," said Greg Pieper, who developed the product for AT&T.
The communications giant is teaming with Virginia Tech's Center for Transportation Research to test the foot-long, box-shaped sensors that hang from the Prices Fork Road exit sign.
Currently, the sensors can basically only count the number of cars and determine in which lane the traffic is moving. That's where Tech comes into the picture.
"What we really hope to do is take the equipment and demonstrate that it can do a lot more than that," said Brian Woerner, an electrical engineering professor at the university.
Each of the sensors contains 76 "ultra-sensitive" directional microphones that will monitor vehicle sounds. They are connected by hard wires to a computer that sits in a protective metal box just off the highway, 670 feet away.
Woerner and other researchers at the Center for Transportation will analyze the sound waves and figure out a way to classify the vehicles in different groups like car, van, bus, light truck and heavy truck.
Crews from the Virginia Department of Transportation eventually will put up two more sensors near the control box that will allow researchers to monitor vehicle speed.
AT&T's "SmartSonic" sensors have been used for years by the military to detect and track submarines underwater, but cuts in defense spending have forced the company to look for commercial applications.
Pieper said Montgomery County is the company's sixth experiment site, but the first in Virginia. The technology also is being tested on roads in Phoenix, New Jersey, Chicago and Anchorage.
In Denver, the sensors are used to detect avalanches.
"Someone actually has to ski in and monitor the equipment," Pieper said.
The AT&T engineer said the New River Valley was selected because it is home to Virginia Tech and because U.S. 460 offers a mix of car, bus, tractor-trailer and van traffic.
"And the great thing about working with Tech is that they are local and they know this technology," said Pieper, who is based in Arlington.
The Highway Department has been able to count vehicles for years with sensors located under the road. Pieper said one of the main advantages to smart technology is that it can be installed cheaper and quicker.
It took just two days to erect the sensors here, despite a lingering drizzle that hindered efforts Friday.
"We're going to catch a death of a cold out here," Pieper said. "But I guess it's not that bad because I was supposed to get some rainy weather data and if it hadn't rained today then I would have had to come back."
by CNB