An Open Data Platform for Traffic Parameters Measurement via Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Video

Abstract

Multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle video observation can obtain accurate information about traffic flow of large areas over extended times. This paper aims to construct an open data test platform for updated traffic data accumulation and traffic simulation model verification by analyzing real time aerial video. Common calibration boards were used to calibrate internal camera parameters and image distortion correction was performed using a high-precision distortion model. To solve external parameters calibration problems, an existing algorithm was improved by adding two sets of orthogonal equations, achieving higher accuracy with only four calibrated points. A simplified algorithm is proposed to calibrate cameras by calculating the relationship between pixel and true length under the camera optical axis perpendicular to road conditions. Aerial video (160 min) from the Shanghai inner ring expressway was collected and real time traffic parameter values were obtained from analyzing and processing the aerial visual data containing spatial, time, velocity, and acceleration data. The results verify that the proposed platform provides a reasonable and objective approach to traffic simulation model verification and improvement. The proposed data platform also offers significant advantages over conventional methods that use historical and outdated data to run poorly calibrated traffic simulation models.