Analytical modeling for a video-based vehicle speed measurement framework

Abstract

Traffic analyses, particularly speed measurements, are highly valuable in terms of road safety and traffic management. In this paper, an analytical model is presented to measure the speed of a moving vehicle using an off-the-shelf video camera. The method utilizes the temporal sampling rate of the camera and several intrusion lines in order to estimate the probability density function (PDF) of a vehicle’s speed. The proposed model provides not only an accurate estimate of the speed, but also the possibility of being able to study the performance boundaries with respect to the camera frame rate as well as the placement and number of intrusion lines in advance. This analytical model is verified by comparing its PDF outputs with the results obtained via a simulation of the corresponding movements. In addition, as a proof-of-concept, the proposed model is implemented for a video-based vehicle speed measurement system. The experimental results demonstrate the model’s capability in terms of taking accurate measurements of the speed via a consideration of the temporal sampling rate and lowering the deviation by utilizing more intrusion lines. The analytical model is highly versatile and can be used as the core of various video-based speed measurement systems in transportation and surveillance applications.