Patent Granted: System to Accurately Measure Vehicle Speeds from Video for Law Enforcement Applications

Tech Field

Computer Vision; Automated Traffic Monitoring; Law Enforcement

Background

UCF scientists have developed an automated traffic monitoring system with the added benefit of being less expensive than currently utilized radar devices. The proposed system employs accurate and remote methodologies for passively monitoring traffic. The digital camera system used is also capable of monitoring multiple lanes of traffic simultaneously. It can also compute the speed of vehicles on highways by processing captured video. Offending vehicles and the corresponding owners are identified through image processing and time stamped video records of the offenders can be used to settle in-court disputes.

The dangers associated with speeding drivers have increased over the past years and speed limit signs posted on highways seem to have little effect on regulating the problem. A more effective deterrent is to identify and prosecute violators. One practical solution is to automate the process of identifying violators. Some attempts at automation have already been made and implemented using microwave, laser or radar devices to identify speeding vehicles. Such systems have some inadequacies though and inaccuracy is a major drawback. In order for the radar systems to detect traffic information accurately, the monitored vehicle must be the only one within the beam path of the radar gun. Otherwise, it is impossible to detect exactly which vehicle’s speed is being detected. For this reason, the radar system can only be used to monitor a single lane of traffic at a time. Even then, accused violators can often challenge the charge and win, because of the lack of precision. Another shortcoming of the radar system is that drivers can easily purchase detectors to alert them of the exact location of the radar monitors. Thus, drivers are able to avoid detection, while they violate speed regulations outside of the monitored field. As a result, the challenge exists to create an automated traffic monitoring system that is accurate and able to monitor multiple lanes of traffic, while undetectable to the driver.

Invention

System, apparatus and methods for accurate, automated highway traffic monitoring capable of passively detecting speed violations and issuing citations accompanied by supporting video evidence.

Application

This technology can be used to monitor traffic in multiple lanes on highways and for ticketing based on vehicle speed. It can also be used to provide supporting evidence in contested citation cases since the citations will be accompanied by visual proof.

Advantages

• Facilitates monitoring of traffic in multiple lanes
• Low error rate
• Less costly than laser and radar based camera systems since it does not need camera calibration
• Uses existing infrastructure
• Passive camera technology is undetectable by current in-car devices

Lead Inventor

M. A. Shah, Ph.D.

Contact

Attn: Andrea Adkins University of Central Florida Office of Research and Commercialization 12201 Research Parkway, Suite 205 Orlando, Fl 32826-3246 Phone: (407) 823-0138 (407) 823-0138 Fax: (407) 882-9010 aadkins@mail.ucf.edu

United States Patent

"Homography-Based Passive Vehicle Speed Measuring"
Shah et al.
Patent No.: US 8,238,610 B2
Issued: Aug. 7, 2012