Investigation of Driving Direction and Vehicle Position Recognition With Fluxgate Sensors 2006-01-0345

The objective of this work is the investigation of a new measurement system for automatic recognition of the driving direction and position of moving vehicles. The centre of activity was the development of a self-controlled automotive component, which is able to read a magnetic barcode that has been applied to the road surface. Of prime importance is independence from external systems (like GPS, induction meander or light barrier), the simplicity of the data processing method and minimum amount of instrumentation. The signal data, collected by a fluxgate sensor, is transferred to a special ECU and is analyzed with a new method, called zoom-and-grid. The zoom-and-grid method puts out digital values corresponding to the definition of the magnetic barcode (i.e. “right”, “wrong”) or a positioning value (i.e. “P1.4”), which could be applied to the road surface. These values can be used for visualization, to trigger electronic signals or they can be wirelessly transferred to a host traffic regulation system. The stability and functionality of the zoom-and-grid method were simulated and strenuously tested in a laboratory, on a proving ground and under real conditions in the city and on the highway. The evaluation of over 4200 data sets has shown that the zoom-and-grid method works solidly and reliably.

The main advantage of the system is that it is independent of the vehicle's electronics with its own local intelligence and it can be applied in highways, cities, car parks or production halls.