Computational & Technology Resources
an online resource for computational,
engineering & technology publications
Civil-Comp Proceedings
ISSN 1759-3433
CCP: 17
KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEMS FOR CIVIL & STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Edited by: B.H.V. Topping
Paper VIII.2

Development of a Real Time Image Analysis System for Traffic Monitoring Applications

M.S. Thomson*, C.L. Wan* and T.D. Binnie+

*Department of Civil and Transportation Engineering
+Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
M.S. Thomson, C.L. Wan, T.D. Binnie, "Development of a Real Time Image Analysis System for Traffic Monitoring Applications", in B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), "Knowledge Based Systems for Civil & Structural Engineering", Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, UK, pp 189-195, 1993. doi:10.4203/ccp.17.8.2
Abstract
Image processing offers unparalleled potential for traffic monitoring and control. For many years engineers have attempted to perfect the art of automatic data abstraction from sequences of video images. This paper outlines a research project undertaken at Napier University by the authors in the field of image processing for automatic traffic analysis. A software based system implementing TRIP algorithms to count cars and measure vehicle speed has been developed by members of the Transport Engineering Research Unit (TERU) at the University. The TRIP algorithm has been ported and evaluated on an IBM PC platform with a view to hardware implementation of the pre-processing routines required for vehicle detection.

Results show that a software based traffic counting system is realisable for single window processing. Due to the high volume of data required to be processed for full frames or multiple lanes, system operations in real time are limited. Therefore specific hardware is required to be designed. The paper outlines a hardware design for implementation of inter-frame and background differencing, background updating and shadow removal techniques. Preliminary results showing the processing time and counting accuracy for the routines implemented in software are presented and a real time hardware pre-processing architecture is described.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £60 +P&P)