• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2008

Video image processing systems (VIPS) offer numerous benefits to transportation models and applications, due to their ability to monitor traffic in real time. VIPS based on a wide-area detection algorithm provide traffic parameters such as flow and velocity as well as occupancy and density. However, most current commercial VIPS utilize a tripwire detection algorithm that examines image intensity changes in the detection regions to indicate vehicle presence and passage, i.e., they do not identify individual vehicles as unique targets. If VIPS are developed to track individual vehicles and thus trace vehicle trajectories, many existing transportation models will benefit from more detailed information of individual vehicles. Furthermore, additional information obtained from the vehicle trajectories will improve incident detection by identifying lane change maneuvers and acceleration/deceleration patterns. However, unlike human vision, VIPS cameras have difficulty in recognizing vehicle movements over a detection zone longer than 100 meters. Over such a distance, the camera operators need to zoom in to recognize objects. As a result, vehicle tracking with a single camera is limited to detection zones under 100m. This paper develops a methodology capable of monitoring individual vehicle trajectories based on image processing. To improve traffic flow surveillance, a long distance tracking algorithm for use over 200m is developed with multi-closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. The algorithm is capable of recognizing individual vehicle maneuvers and increasing the effectiveness of incident detection.