Next-Generation Automated Vehicle Location Systems: Positioning at the Lane Level

• Published in: IEEE transactions on intelligent transportation systems Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 48 - 57
• Main Authors: Jie Du, Barth, M.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway, NJ IEEE 01.03.2008; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Accuracy; Applied sciences; Digital map construction; Displays; Exact sciences and technology; Geographic information systems; Global Positioning System; Global Positioning System (GPS); Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; high-accuracy positioning system; Intelligent transportation systems; Intelligent vehicle highway systems; Intelligent vehicles; Lanes; Position (location); Position measurement; Probes; Real time systems; Road transportation and traffic; Road vehicles; Roadways; Satellite navigation systems; Transportation systems; vehicle lane determination; vehicle navigation; Vehicles; Wireless communication; vehicle lane determination; vehicle navigation; Digital map construction; high-accuracy positioning system; Global Positioning System (GPS); Positioning; Motor car; Navigation; GPS system; Fleet management; Transportation system; Position control; High precision; Radiolocalisation; Traffic lane; Real time; Automatic cartography; Traffic management; Database; Wireless network; Localization; Artificial intelligence; Radio communication; Intelligent system
• ISSN: 1524-9050; 1558-0016
• DOI: 10.1109/TITS.2007.908141

The majority of today's automated vehicle location (AVL) systems use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, which can provide position information with an accuracy of approximately 15 m. Recently, low-cost Differential GPS (DGPS) receivers, which have a positioning accuracy of approximate 2-3 m, have become available. With this increased accuracy, it is now possible to perform AVL down to specific roadway lanes. In this paper, a vehicle-lane-determining system is described, consisting of an onboard DGPS receiver that is connected with a wireless communications channel, a unique lane-level digital roadway database, a developed lane-matching algorithm, and a real-time vehicle location display. Lane-level positioning opens up the door for a number of new intelligent transportation system applications such as better fleet management, lane-based traffic measurements from probe vehicles, and lane-level navigation. The developed low-cost system has been tested on a number of roadways and has performed very well when used with accurately surveyed map data. Based on more than 100 000 s, it has correctly determined the lane 97% of the time.