Patent ID: 8368559
Filing Date: 2013-02-05
Classification: G08G

Abstract:
1. A network of traffic behavior-monitoring unattended ground sensors, comprising: a plurality of autonomously-powered sensor nodes in an ordered network, each said sensor node having a programmable power management mode including standby and operations times corresponding to high and low-density traffic behavior, respectively, each said sensor node configured during operations to detect the time and direction of travel of a passing vehicle and broadcast via a communication link a detection message including a node identifier, the detection time and the direction and to receive detection messages from adjacent nodes, each said sensor node operating in a delay mode in which upon passing of a specified time increment from the detection time reported by the adjacent node without detecting the passage of the anticipated vehicle broadcasts an alert delay message including a node identifier, an alert time of vehicle non-arrival and the direction of travel via the communication link, wherein said network of sensor nodes has a calibration node in which the network detects passing vehicles to determine the standby and operations times for the power management mode and gathers statistics on the time increments of vehicles passing adjacent nodes in the network to determine the specified time increments for each said sensor node for the delay mode; and a control station including a computer configured to receive alert delay messages and, knowing the topology of the ordered network and the geolocation of each said sensor node, to facilitate timely dispatch of an asset to investigate the anomalous behavior of the vehicle.