Single-board Computer for Rural Traffic Counting System

A rural traffic counting system was implemented using single-board computer paired with laser photodiodes. The system locally records the timestamp, length, and velocity of passing vehicles on a two-lane road. The system robustly worked with approximately 92% accuracy based on a one-day field test conducted in Nijo District, Masuda Municipality, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The system offers several advantages over conventional road surface-bound vehicle detectors and traffic video surveillance pipelines, including mobile setup, absence of road obstruction, and higher possible data throughput. Furthermore, the system could be improved using data fusion with additional sensors and network connectivity between sensor nodes. The system provides an alternative for rural traffic counting, which could otherwise be unreliable, expensive, and difficult to update.