INSIGMA: an intelligent transportation system for urban mobility enhancement

Multimed Tools Appl (2016) 75:10529–10560 DOI 10.1007/s11042-016-3367-5 INSIGMA: an intelligent transportation system for urban mobility enhancement Wojciech Chmiel1 · Jacek Dańda1 · Andrzej Dziech1 · Sebastian Ernst1 · Piotr Kadłuczka1 · Zbigniew Mikrut1 · Piotr Pawlik1 · Piotr Szwed1 · Igor Wojnicki1 Received: 5 October 2014 / Revised: 10 February 2016 / Accepted: 15 February 2016 / Published online: 26 May 2016 © The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) aim to improve safety, mobility and environmental performance of road transport. The INSIGMA project provides a fresh look at the possible innovations in this field, by enhancing the functionality and accuracy of ITS in urban environments. This paper describes the architecture, sensors, processing algorithms, output modules and advantages of the developed system. A comparison of existing ITS systems has been provided as background. Special attention has been given Work has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the Innovative Economy Operational Programme, INSIGMA project no. POIG.01.01.02-00-062/09.  Sebastian Ernst Wojciech Chmiel Jacek Dańda Andrzej Dziech Piotr Kadłuczka Zbigniew Mikrut Piotr Pawlik Piotr Szwed Igor Wojnicki 1 AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland 10530 Multimed Tools Appl (2016) 75:10529–10560 to performance and privacy issues, as the system includes social aspects such as location monitoring. Keywords Intelligent transportation systems · Video detector · GPS · Architecture · Route planning · Traffic control 1 Introduction Modern Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) [32, 50] are a useful and necessary tool to help battle traffic congestion. Among other advantages, it is expected that dynamic traffic control and vehicle navigation will largely raise the constraints of road infrastructure development. Currently, such systems are mainly based on statistical data acquired from historical traffic statistics, which is insufficient, especially in case of a sudden increase in traffic related to accidents and road collisions. Often, there is a narrow range of parameters in control programs that can be tuned. A similar situation occurs in car navigation systems. Statistical traffic data no longer allows to avoid traffic jams and optimal solutions based on real-time data are necessary. The INSIGMA project [31] is focused on providing advanced tools for traffic monitoring and for detection of dangerous events. The main objective is to analyse traffic parameters using dynamic data, obtained from existing and custom-developed sensors. One of the core concepts of INSIGMA is the dynamic map: a representation of the road transport infrastructure, combined with information about current traffic intensity as well as historical traffic data. Such a set of data includes map-related parameters stored in a database, which can be visualised and delivered to the end user via a dedicated mobile or web interface. The system includes algorithms for dynamic route optimisation, which operate on real-time dynamic data, as opposed to statistical data used by many existing road navigation applications. The automotive sector is quickly progressing and the total number of vehicles in the world increases quickly. By some estimates [67], already in 2010, over a billion cars have been in use worldwide. The largest increase can be observed in China and other developing countries with large numbers of residents. In turn, the largest percentage of vehicles per capita can be observed in well-developed countries, particularly in Europe, USA, and Japan. In both groups, it is important to maintain an adequate road infrastructure that would meet the growing demands and expectations of its users. The current capacity of roads is insufficient in many places, especially in big cities, and intersections and access roads are the critical parts. ITS plays a very big role in streamlining the movement of public transport vehicles in big cites which have to cope with the variable traffic volume. Especially in Poland where the motorization levels are greater than, for example, in USA (on the basis of information from Poland Central Statistical Office). These problems are particularly noticeable during rush hours. Such situations result in tangible economic losses: time irretrievably lost in traffic jams and lost fuel [14]. The environmental aspect of the road traffic is just as important, because a standstill dramatically increases the emission of toxic compounds contained in exhaust gases from internal combustion engines. Another issue is related to the social effects associated with low comfort of transport for vehicle users. There are further transportation challenges including, among others: dangerous goods transportation [23], safety of critical infrastructure [51] or even risk assessment for transportation of hazardous materials in tunnels [43]. Multimed Tools Appl (2016) 75:10529–10560 10531 Nowadays it is substantial to provide tools for efficient traffic control and threat detection. Existing solutions for map creation and traffic management, often lack efficient tools that enable conversion of object location data and audiovisual data into dynamic maps. In practice, traffic control is often based on low-frequency components of traffic dynamics. In case of mass events, such as popular football matches, existing systems are incapable to respond quickly enough. In such scenarios, traffic problems can be first detected as late as half an hour after they occur. The dynamic traffic component still remains unaddressed and relevant traffic conditions need to be personally recognised by the user in advance or, worse, in the place of event. Thus, in case of a jammed metropolis, the efficiency of route optimisation is often far from what is expected. This is particularly important in daily operations of emergency services, fire brigades, police, etc. Another problem is the limited coverage of the sensor devices. Traffic detectors are mostly deployed in major highways, but their use in access roads is very sparse. Besides adding more sensors to the infrastructure, it is crucial to develop automatic methods of visual object observation and registration of their trajectory parameters using cameras and other sensors. These systems will provide low-level data from road junctions for generation of dynamic maps. In result, the INSIGMA system will enable interfaces to access optimal routes, information about dangerous events and other intelligent services. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. In Section 2, basic functions and services of ITS are discussed; in the following Section 3 the system architecture, basic types of sensors and control algorithms are presented. Conclusions are provided in Section 4. 2 ITS functions and services Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) [ (...truncated)