VersiCam Vehicle Video Detection Proves an Effective Alternative to a Conventional SCOOT Loop Detector

One evening in May on Bristol’s busy A38 Gloucester Road, one of the main arterial roads in and out of Bristol, a SCOOT detector at a busy junction with an adjacent side road fails. Despite lockdown restrictions having eased traffic levels slightly, for this constrained part of Bristol’s road network, a rapid resolution was vital.

Bristol Traffic Control Service’s principal UTMC engineer Jackie Davies was tasked with resolving the issue. Having determined that the considerable cost and disruption of invasive road works and three-way traffic management to repair SCOOT loop detector was not a viable solution.

We proposed the trial of a cost-effective alternative technology that could be quickly installed and would perform the same role as the original SCOOT detector.

A decision was made to trial Iteris' VersiCam™ video detection camera – an integrated machine vision processor and camera with remote zoom and focus functions. With a high sensitivity colour imager (CCD) for accurate vehicle detection in all lighting conditions, the VersiCam includes an Interface Communication Controller (ICC) that resides in the roadside cabinet. All user interface functions are performed through the ICC such as virtual zone placement, detector output assignment and video monitoring.

The VersiCam camera was installed in a few simple steps onto a nearby traffic signal head and powered using six spare cores available within the head. The detection zone was set, and the camera wired into the controller in the usual way as an above-ground SCOOT detector.

The SCOOT link was validated and the camera left operating for a few weeks to collect the relevant data from the site for detailed analysis. The detector was tested on a range of parameters including SCOOT Saturation and Traffic Counts for consistency and reliability.

The trial data provided conclusive evidence that Iteris' VersiCam could be effectively used as a SCOOT detector.

For the full details of the trial findings download our case study

This article was originally published at C&T Technology.