Freeway Traffic Management System

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Incident Detection algorithms have also been widely used throughout the COMPASS-enabled area of Southern Ontario, Canada. COMPASS is the Freeway Traffic Management System (FTMS) run by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Detectors are typically located as double-loop detectors embedded in the pavement every 500m along the province's major expressways. COMPASS-enabled highways include Highway 401 (one of the highest-volume highways in the world), as well as the Queen Elizabeth Way (or QEW), and Highway 417 (the Queensway) in Ottawa.

The primary algorithm used by the Ministry is known as the McMaster algorithm, designed by Professor Fred Hall of McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario.

Research on new algorithm developments and evaluations is performed at the ITS Centre and Testbed (ICAT), at the Civil Engineering department of the University of Toronto. The ICAT is equipped with direct fibre-optic links to the Ministry of Transportation, and received both traffic camera and loop detector data on a live basis. Visual data can be used to confirm the presence of incidents detected by the various algorithms.

[edit] See also

• Electronic Monitoring and Advisory System - a similar type of system in Singapore
• Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling

[edit] References

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