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Title:

ESTIMATION OF SPEED FROM PRESENCE DETECTORS

Accession Number:

00226401

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

PRESENCE DETECTORS ARE CURRENTLY IN USE IN SURVEILLANCE AND RAMP CONTROL PROJECTS IN SEVERAL CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. THE DATA OBTAINED FROM THOSE DETECTORS ARE USUALLY PROCESSED TO PRODUCE TRAFFIC VOLUMES AND OCCUPANCIES. BY MAKING CERTAIN ASSUMPTIONS, IT IS POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN ESTIMATES OF THE AVERAGE (SPACE MEAN) SPEED OF A GROUP OF VEHICLES PASSING OVER A SINGLE SENSOR. THE SIMPLEST ESTIMATORS (OF THE FORM LENGTH DIVIDED BY DETECTOR ON TIME) ARE BASED. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER IS TO DEVELOP UNBIASED, MINIMUM MEAN SQUARE ERROR ESTIMATES OF SPEED. THESE NEW SPEED ESTIMATORS DIFFER FROM THE SIMPLEST ESTIMATORS IN THAT ON-TIME ASSOCIATED WITH THE PASSAGE OF INDIVIDUAL VEHICLES ARE PROCESSED SEPARATELY. ALTHOUGH INDIVIDUAL SPEEDS CANNOT BE DETERMINED VERY ACCURATELY, THE ESTIMATORS DEVELOPED HERE ARE CAPABLE OF DETERMINING THE AVERAGE (SPACE MEAN) SPEED OF, SAY, 20 VEHICLES TO WITHIN 4 MPH. A FREEWAY TRAFFIC SIMULATION IS EMPLOYED TO ILLUSTRATE THE SUPERIORITY OF THE ESTIMATORS DERIVED HERE. /AUTHOR/

Supplemental Notes:

Sponsored by Committee on Freeway Operations. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Monograph Accession #:

01410309

Report/Paper Numbers:

No 390 PP 36-9

Authors:

Mikhalkin, Basil
PAYNE, HAROLD J
Isaksen, Leif

Pagination:

pp 73-83

Publication Date:

1972

Serial:

Highway Research Record

Issue Number: 388
Publisher: Highway Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Appendices (1) ; Figures (4) ; References (5) ; Tables (2)

Subject Areas:

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Vehicles and Equipment

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Sep 19 1972 12:00AM

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