Automated Traffic Control Conceptual Design

Project Conceptual Design Report

Firstly in the semester, our team met with our project partner, Mr. Roger Francis, from Lafayette

School Corporation. Meeting with Mr. Francis gave us an overview of all the possible projects

that LSC has available. After the variety of options that the team obtained from Mr. Francis, after

careful thought and focus on the Senior Design aspect of LSC, the team, along with Prof. King

and TA Frank DeRego, the Transportation Project was chosen as the focus. After this decision,

and after multiple discussions, the team decided to divide the Transportation Project by areas of

focus in the school campus. The campus was divided into the Semi Circular Drive area and the

JR Hiatt Drive area.

Since the team had to work on a project that incorporated Electrical Engineering Senior Design

requirements, we chose to work on the Semi Circular Drive for the Senior Design group. Since

the senior design requirements involve basic electrical engineering concepts and applications, it

was needed that this project be transformed into an automated project. The main objective of the

Automated Traffic Control Project was to suggest when and where we can implement possible

automated solutions as a part of an overall traffic flow plan within a particular LSC campus.

Over this semester, as our focus lay within Jefferson High School and Tecumseh Middle School,

we visited both schools to understand the traffic problems related to the campus area, and

investigated all possible problems. After understanding and evaluating the situation, we came to

the realization that any school campus that is going through a traffic crisis will at some point

requires an unmanned solution to resolve this problem. Our objective was to design a generalized

automated solution that could be applied to any school campus to reduce traffic congestion by

selectively allowing vehicles to enter through specific routes.

Figure 1: Arrow 1 indicates the Semi Circle Drive at Jefferson High School, the area which was

studied by the Automated Traffic Control Group

To commence this process, the team firstly conducted onsite research at Jefferson High School

and Tecumseh Middle School. The team obtained cameras and other equipment to document all

problems that were occurring in the area. After several days of observation and study, the team

1

2

found that the major problems at the school campus were the disregard of posted signs, traffic

congestion at Tecumseh campus, lack of traffic flow enforcement and the lack of visibility of the

Hiatt drive gate. After realizing the problems the team used various tools to analyze the traffic

and pedestrian and bus flow in the campus area. This was accomplished using node arc charts,

PowerPoint demonstrations; the GIS map obtained from the Tippecanoe County, counts of

student pickups and drop-offs, other numerical data and studies of the recorded videos at

Jefferson High School. Our ultimate goal was to help fix all these problems while keeping the

safety of the children the number one priority.

After identifying the problems at the campus, the team brainstormed possible solutions and

reached a conclusion that a part of the solution must be an automatic system that controls the

flow of traffic. After much consideration, we decided that a general appropriate solution for any

school campus could be a sensor controlled gate that would allow selective vehicles to pass

through at certain areas. This solution could be applied to many school campuses; therefore the

team decided it is an apt answer.

The Automated solution would be a sensor driven gate that will open or close based on a signal

that it receives. This signal would be sent through specific vehicles, which are attached to the

vehicle. A transmitter would be the component in the vehicles that would transmit the signal to

the gate receiver. A receiver is component that will receive record and decode the signal to

decide whether the gate should open or not in order to allow or disallow the vehicle. There will

be minimal or no manpower utilized to operate the gate. Mostly the gate would be automatic in

the sense, that it will decide on it own whether to open or to close. The only option the gate has

is to open on close depending on whether it receives the correct signal or not. And the gate

would be operated on during certain times of day as needed. The user will obtain the entire

product accompanied by a manual to operate it. As the product will be implemented on a real life

scale later, the information required of the user will increase. When the product is implemented

on a larger scale, it is required of the group to present the details of implementation such as cost,

manufacturability, etc.

Multiple variations of potential solutions such as our product are already available in the market.

But these solutions are not exactly what our group is trying to build. Within the research

conducted in our group, the group has not found any product that is exactly the same as what we

are trying to accomplish. And solutions that are similar would not be as cost effective as the

prototype we are building. What makes our project unique is the ability of this gate to select

vehicles that it will allow to enter, which makes this gate exclusive. There is a possibility for

patent opportunities, but the group has not completely investigated over this issue at this stage.

Any design records related to the research conducted on this prototype and the technologies used

is documented in the team’s notebooks. This will include any processes that the team researched

and found to be relatively important to the design of the prototype as well as all the processes

that were not helpful towards the design.

Our project involves many design constraints. Economically, the team must consider the overall

budget, which includes funds from the EPICS department ($1500) as well as those provided by

the LSC, which is open ended. For every purchase, the team must document a concrete purpose

and analysis for the expenditure, and update the budget periodically. During our research, our

team had to consider the total costs of the technologies used in solutions currently available in

the market, and decide whether those technologies could be used in the construction of our

prototype. There are no environmental constraints for the prototype of the sensor gate, there are

no environmental issues at stake, but towards the implementation of this prototype in the real

world the team will later on look at the environment surrounding the area of where the project

solution will be implemented. On the ethical side, we should ensure that no design ideas or any

part of the solution would be plagiarized. The team must always credit the sources of their

research. Ethically, the team must also follow their team credo values, and support the rest of the

group in all means possible. The technology used for our solution will not pose any direct health

and safety risks to the user or beneficiary, and its operation will ensure the safety of the students,

parents and the school community. On the manufacturing phase, the team will ensure that all

steps to designing and production are clearly defined and stated so that the product can be

reproduced to serve other school campuses also. We will also ensure that the manufactured

product is easy to use for the customer. We will also make sure, the product will be of quality,

and this will be maintained for every replica. The product will be easily manufactured to be able

to serve any school having the need for it. Politically, there are not many issues for the team to

deal with. Socially, we will ensure that the product is safe in an environment where children are

involved. Also, it will not pose more problems for the parents of schools but in fact try to help

alleviate traffic congestion and safety. The product will also ensure security, since the gate

allows restricted access. The product will also be sustainable and it will be of proper quality so

that it does not break down during usage or create any safety hazards. The customer satisfaction

will be important to the group’s work towards the project. The product will look presentable and

appealing. It will also be made so as not to break traffic laws.

Research on Decision Taken

Reference

I Pass Not useful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-PASSTagMaster RFID

Technology used here

http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/contractors/access%5Fcontrol/tagmaster/

Railroad Design

Not useful http://www.acroname.com/brainstem/tutorials/rrxing/rrxing.html

Barcode Not useful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BarcodeRFID Useful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID

Research

I-Pass

I-PASS is the electronic toll collection system used by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority

on its toll highways. It uses the same transponder as the E-Z Pass system used in the

Northeastern US. It aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads. It is a technological implementation

of a road pricing concept. It determines whether the cars passing are enrolled in the program,

alerts enforcers for those that are not, and debits electronically the accounts of registered cars

without their stopping, or even opening a window. The technology implemented by an I-Pass is

Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI), which is the process of determining the identity of a

vehicle subject to tolls. The majority of toll facilities record the passage of vehicles through a

limited number of toll gates. At such facilities, the task is then to identify the vehicle in the gate

area. Current AVI systems rely on radio-frequency identification (RFID), where an antenna at

the toll gate communicates with a transponder on the vehicle via Dedicated Short Range

Communications (DSRC). RFID tags have proved to have excellent accuracy, and can be read at

highway speeds. The major disadvantage is the cost of equipping each vehicle with a

transponder, which can be a major start-up expense, if paid by the toll agency, or a strong

customer deterrent, if paid by the customer. The reason why we did not find this product to be of

help to our research was due to its cost side effects as well as the functionality of the product

which focuses on pricing the vehicles. Therefore, this is not an applicable area to our product.

Tagmaster

TagMaster is a world-leading supplier of long-range identification systems based on 2.45GHz

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The TagMaster system identifies and

positions all kinds of vehicles with high precision, at high speed and in the most demanding

environments.

The system consists of readers and ID-tags, developed and proven to meet the specific

requirements of access control and parking applications. The AVI system identifies and

authorizes entry and exit for vehicles to gated communities, parking areas, airport terminals or

any other area that needs fast and secure access. By using the globally accepted 2.45GHz

frequency with a very low output power, the TagMaster reader can be installed in most countries

around the world without site license. The system is easily integrated with numerous kinds of

control systems, thanks to industry standard interfaces.

The RFID technology used here with Tagmaster seems to suit our need for the automated traffic

control project, where we need to selectively let vehicles through certain gates, and so, should

work and fit in, in a useful manner, as the technology that we would want to use ultimately.

Railroad Design

The gate goes up and the sensor looks for a train.  An object in the detection range of the sensor

will make the gate go down and the lights flash.  When the object is gone, the gate will go back

up and the lights will stop flashing.

The first task is to find some way to detect a train.  An ideal sensor would require no

modification to any train cars and be small enough to fit easily in a scale model scene.  The

Sharp GP2D120 is a good choice.  It is a short range infrared proximity sensor.  Its output

voltage is proportional to the distance between it and an object directly in front of it.  It works

well in a variety of lighting conditions and has a package that is small enough to fit in a structure

in a model railroad scene.  When pointing sideways, it can detect passing trains. This

methodology might be useful only for a type of situation that would be similar to that of a

railroad crossing section, where a train comes in perpendicularly towards a crossing. It doesn’t

exactly serve our purpose of a gate opening at any point in time, for a particularly tagged vehicle,

upon its approach, by detecting the signal being transmitted.

Barcode

A barcode (also bar code) is a machine-readable representation of information in a visual format

on a surface. They can be read by optical scanners called barcode readers or scanned from an

image by special software. Barcodes are widely used to implement Auto ID Data Capture

(AIDC) systems that improve the speed and accuracy of computer data entry. A barcode reader

(or barcode scanner) is a computer peripheral for reading barcodes printed on various surfaces.

Like a flatbed scanner, it generally consists of a light source, a lens and a photo conductor

translating optical impulses into electrical ones. Additionally, nearly all barcode readers

currently produced contain decoder circuitry analyzing the barcode's image data provided by the

photo conductor and sending the barcode's content to the scanner's output port. A practical

application of barcode technology today would be in areas such as, rental car companies keep

track of their cars by means of bar codes on the car bumper, and in grocery stores that keep track

of all the items in their stores and reduces instances of shoplifting.

By installing barcode tags on the vehicles that would be allowed in to the restricted areas of pick

up, our team thought the traffic problem could be resolved. These barcode tags on the authorized

vehicles need to be scanned by the barcode reader or scanner. Our team believed this device

required the application of some programming language as the image obtained by the reader

needed to be decoded, and since none of our members are Computer Engineering/Science

majors, we concluded a solution involving this technology would not be designable.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)

RFID, which is an acronym for Radio Frequency Identification, is not a new technology. RFID

Systems consist of a transponder, also known as a tag, which is basically a microchip connected

to an antenna. The tag is mounted to an item, such as a pallet of goods in a warehouse, and a

device called a reader communicates with the tag via radio waves. Depending on the type of tag

that is used, the reader can receive detailed information or it can receive data as simple as an

identification number. RFID is similar to barcode systems in which data, such as a price, is

accessed when the barcode is read. The main difference is that the barcode must come in direct

contact to an optical scanner/reader and the RFID tag can transmit to the reader via radio waves

and does not have to be in direct contact. An RFID reader can receive data from as many as

1,000 tags per second. The basic types of RFID tags can be classified as read/write and read

only. The data stored on read/write tags can be edited, added to, or completely rewritten, but only

if the tag is within the range of the reader. The data stored on a read only tag can be read, but

cannot be edited in any way. Read/write tags are much more expensive than read only tags, so

they are not used for tracking most commodity items. RFID tags are further categorized as:

Active tags, which contain a battery that powers the microchip and allows it to transmit a signal

to the reader. Semi-active (or semi-passive) tags, which contain a battery to run the circuitry of

the chip, but must draw power from the magnetic field created by the reader in order to

communicate with the reader. Passive tags, which rely solely on the magnetic field created by the

radio waves sent out by the reader to create a current that, can be received by the antenna within

the passive tag. RFID tags operate under different radio frequencies, depending on the

application. The FCC of the US government determines the limits on power output of RFID

systems as well as the different radio frequencies that can be used. Low, high, and ultra-high

(UHF) frequencies are used with RFID transponders. This technology is helpful to the product as

the product will directly deal with RFID and its applications. The team is currently conducting

more research on RFID and how to begin building components related to RFID.