Press Release
During 1998 Transport Data Systems obtained the largest single AVC subcontract ever awarded. During 2000 and 2001 MFS Transportation Systems will install a total of 574 TDS AVC systems on the Garden State Parkway (344) and the New Jersey Turnpike (230).
MFS was awarded the contract for the Regional Consortium
Project in February of 1998. During the 2nd quarter of 1998
they held a competition for the AVC portion of the project.
TDS successfully competed against 5 other international
competitors and was awarded the contract in August of 1998.
A prototype unit was immediately installed in a lane on
the New Jersey Turnpike and in early November in a controlled
four hour test using live traffic, the TDS AVC system demonstrated
an accuracy of 99.86 per cent, correctly classifying 723
out of 724 vehicles according to the New Jersey Turnpike
classification structure. This included the ability to differentiate
small and large buses from the normal mix of commercial
and private vehicles.
At the present time TDS is testing on the Garden State Parkway to demonstrate the accuracy of the AVC system using the GSP class structure. The formal prototype testing of the entire lane system is scheduled to be completed by May of 2000. It will include extensive testing performed by Vollmer Associates to accurately measure the ability of the AVC system to classify vehicles against the classification schedules used by the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike.
The system uses a new digital Doppler radar from Eaton Vorad and a 120 beam light curtain supplied by STI. It also employs a four strip treadle from The Revenue Markets to provide for dual tire detection. The AVC processing in the fielded design will performed by the MFS lane controller running the Lynx multi-tasking real-time operating system. The AVC software was ported to the Lynx multi-tasking real time operating system during the last quarter of 1998. The MFS lane controller includes the violation enforcement software as well, yielding a very tightly integrated transaction processing system. The porting activity was completed in approximately 2 months, indicating the ease with which the software can be integrated into any lane controller which runs a preemptive, deterministic real-time operating system.
With the patented use of the Doppler radar, the TDS unit is capable of generating a very well defined vehicle profile even in stop and go traffic. Once the profile has been generated, the amount of detail captured allows the classification system to differentiate vehicles into a large number of different classes. The tight spacing and excellent separation characteristics of the light curtain provide for highly reliable detection of hitches.
If you have a complex set of classifications and need a reliable field proven system, contact us and provide us your requirements. We would be glad to respond with an AVC design concept that is appropriate to your needs.