Passing Vehicle Road Occupancy Detection Using the Magnetic Sensor Array

Abstract

The increasing presence of vehicles on roads necessitates intelligent traffic management solutions in areas where video cameras cannot be utilized. Currently, there are limited choices for depersonalized vehicle reidentification systems. This paper introduces a system that later will be used for vehicle reidentification. The system uses anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors and is based on the hypothesis that each vehicle leaves unique magnetic signatures which can be used for comparison and matching. Vehicle location on the road perpendicular to sensor array detection methodology is presented in this work. An array of magnetic sensors is installed in asphalt across the vehicle’s driving direction. The system continuously measures Earth’s natural magnetic field and detects distortions when vehicles pass an array of a sensors and then logs magnetic signatures. Useful parameters from raw sensor axes are calculated– modules and derivatives. Applying signal-to-noise ratio calculation for module derivatives between ambient noise and signal gives important features for neural network input. Different types of neural network architectures and output result interpretation techniques are investigated. Further, after evaluating network output it is possible to label sensor nodes that are directly beneath the vehicle. Experiment results show that implemented algorithm is highly sufficient for valid sensors under the vehicle selection. Correct sensor selection is important for further re-identification algorithms.