Experimental evaluation of a low-cost digital sign-posts architecture for ITS applications

Abstract

Integrating road signs information is becoming a critical goal for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Unlike other driving automation features, this capacity requires not only the vehicle, but also posts and infrastructure to be adapted thus involving an investment that can only be justified by a substantial number of users. In this paper we describe an architecture that aims to facilitate the introduction and deployment of this technology based on low cost devices as the digital sign-posts and the integration of smartphones as an alternative in-vehicle user-interface. Wireless communications based on IEEE 802.11 is used for the basic connectivity requirements. From the results obtained through an experimental evaluation, we show that, despite the smartphone constraints, we can achieve successful detection and recognition experiences at up to 90 km/h. Ultimately the experiment described confirms that the use of smartphones represents an opportunity to expand wireless technology in the traffic sign digitalisation area.