The ITS Equant consortium has utilised satellite connectivity to provide traffic management at a road with the Westcott Venture Park in the UK.
ITS Equant uses space technologies to enable ITS to become more efficient and ubiquitous.
Westcott is a business park used by 88 companies that test new technologies in a range of sectors, including automotive, engineering as well as space and rocketry. It is located in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England.
The test shows that consortium member Valerann can provide full insight into the road's traffic irrespective of its communication infrastructure.
Valerann – a Software as a Service company – successfully ingested data collected from the road using its Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and cameras provided by consortium member Excelerate. It then linked though a satellite connection into its cloud-based Real Time Fusion Engine to enable event detection and vehicle tracking including wrong way driving, stopped vehicles, slow moving vehicles and speeding.
According to Valerann, the engine leverages machine vision and data fusion algorithms allowing access to real-time traffic insights.
This achievement is part of a year-long project which will lead to a pilot installation of satellite connected cameras linked to Valerann’s intelligent traffic management platform. The system is expected to provide up to 100% full visibility in real-time to a UK operational control centre improving safety and traffic flow while also reducing carbon emissions.
The test also included input by the European Space Association (ESA) and Satellite Applications Catapult.
Kieran Arnold, chief architect for future communications systems at the Satellite Applications Catapult, says: “This trial has marked a major milestone for Valerann in demonstrating what real time information can bring to the intelligent transport sector, and the vital role satellite connectivity plays in providing a resilient network for this.”
