Traffic data collection using active mobile and stationary devices

Abstract

In this paper, we study the complementary characteristics of stationary and mobile devices for traffic data collection. Since stationary devices continuously collect traffic data at fixed locations in a network, they can give insight of the traffic at particular locations over a longer period of time. Mobile devices have wider range and are able to collect traffic data over a larger geographic region. Thus, we argue that both types of technology should be considered to obtain high-quality information about vehicle movements. We present a traffic simulation model, which we use to study the share of successfully identified vehicles when considering both stationary and mobile technologies with varying identification rate. The results of our study, where we focus on freight transport in southern Sweden, confirms that it is possible to identify the majority of vehicles, even when the identification rate is low, and that the share of identified vehicles can be increased by using both stationary and mobile measurement devices.