Brought to you as a public service of the Open Spectrum Foundation (Stichting Open Spectrum), Amsterdam - Prague

NEWS

Solar-powered roadside RFID readers

From "Solar-Powered RFID Reader Measures Road Traffic" by Claire Swedberg, RFID Journal, 17 November:

"Transportation researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) are testing a solar-powered mobile RFID interrogator that will monitor traffic flow by reading EZPass tags attached to passing cars. Motorists use the tags to pay for bridge and highway tolls wirelessly. Last week, Rensselaer began testing a single RFID reader on Jordan Road in Troy, NY. In the spring, they plan to hold a pilot involving six solar-powered readers.

New York State currently monitors traffic flows on certain roads via 15 permanently stationed readers, which collect data from the EZPass tags. The new solar-powered portable solution provides a method of monitoring traffic flow for situations where it's too costly or unnecessary to install a permanent RFID reader - such as on roads where construction is underway, or on those traveled heavily only for special events.

" 'There are lots of traffic-monitoring points out there, but they rely on AC power,' says Paul Manuel, vice president of sales and marketing at the Mark IV IVHS, which manufactures the solar-powered solution. Providing a permanent power source, he explains, is not always practical under such conditions...

"The system will ultimately be used to calculate how long it takes traffic to move from one installed RFID reader to another. However, the current pilot is only testing read rates. Eventually, traffic data from the mGate system could be used to reroute traffic when congestion looms, or to alert motorists via signage or the Internet about slow-moving road conditions, reducing the need for employees to identify problems as they arise.

Researchers received a $3.9 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to fund the program, says Jeffrey Wojtowicz, a research engineer in civil and environmental engineering at Rensselaer. Also participating in the pilot are the New York State Thruway Authority, and North Carolina State University.

"Annese and Associates is providing some of the software needed for the pilot. This software will scramble the unique ID numbers captured by the readers so the system cannot be used to identify individual drivers, or to collect data about their movements or speed.

"The portable device on Jordan Road is positioned on the side of the road; its two RFID antennas can be raised above the road to capture the EZPass tags on passing motorists' vehicles. At present, approximately 18 million EZPass battery-powered transponders are in use in New York. The mGate interrogator slated to collect the data from such passes is powered by a single 100-watt solar panel. Manuel declined to name the solar-technology provider but described it as an "off-the-shelf" solution.

"Data from the mGates could eventually be integrated with data derived from existing permanent traffic-management readers, Wojtowicz says...

"This spring, the team will put six mGate units at various sites on the Route 4 area in and around Troy to prove such devices can capture travel times on local arterials. 'Deploying six readers will give us the ability to monitor vehicles taking different paths,' Wojtowicz says, and to capture their speed between several points along those paths..."

[RFID 21 November 2006]