Using Computer Vision and Dead Reckoning Technology to Monitor Transit Service Reliability

This article presents a computer vision/dead reckoning based monitoring of transit service reliability in urban areas. The traditional dead reckoning and signpost technologies for position determination, which many agencies use, suffers from a number of limitations, including the drift of the dead reckoning system and the incapability of the signpost system to locate a vehicle on a continuous basis. In an urban area a GPS based system also may have problems in positioning; i.e., signal reflect from buildings and other reflective surface or building canyons and overpasses can block some or all of a satellite signal. To overcome these limitations, we suggest an integrated positioning system, consisting of a dead reckoning unit coupled with a computer vision system.