SwRI: Transportation Surveillance Technologies for intelligent transportation systems and homeland security

	Automated monitoring of critical transportation infrastructure assets detects a vehicle that has stopped. View video:  Windows Media or QuickTime.
	Images viewed by the BIMS dispatcher help direct appropriate assistance.
	Watercraft can be detected in nighttime infrared images.
	Anomalous material is detected under a vehicle.

To enhance transportation safety and aid homeland security efforts, the scientists and engineers in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Department at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have been actively engaged in the deployment and integration of ITS surveillance technologies.

Current Transportation Surveillance Technologies

• Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV)—Closed-circuit television provides the traffic images that are obtained from cameras mounted on freeways and surface streets. Traffic management center operators use CCTV camera control to detect incidents and monitor traffic conditions.

• Bus Incident Monitoring System (BIMS)—BIMS provides a bus dispatcher with the ability to locate a distress call, remotely view the incident, direct appropriate assistance to the scene, and accelerate response time.

Applications Using Current Surveillance Technologies

• Automated Monitoring of Critical Transportation Infrastructure Assets—Applies adaptive image processing to signals from a variety of imaging sensors including CCTV, infrared, and image intensifiers. The surveillance software is capable of detecting anomalous events for bridges, overpasses, tunnels, major freeway corridors, mass transit hubs, and waterways.

• Automated Under-Vehicle Surveillance—Inspects undercarriages of vehicles and detects materials that should not be under vehicles, to prevent prohibited materials from being transported into or out of a facility.

Additional Information about Surveillance

• Development of Automated Monitoring of Critical Transportation Infrastructure

• Automated Under-Vehicle Surveillance Capability Demonstration

For more information about transportation surveillance capabilities at SwRI or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Steve Dellenback, Ph.D., PMP, at sdellenback@swri.org or (210) 522-3914.