Efficient Collection of Ridership and On- Time Performance Data

Transcription

1 INIT Innovations in Transportation Karlsruhe - Chesapeake Provider and Systems Integrator of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for Public Transit Efficient Collection of Ridership and On- Time Performance Data Andreas Rakebrandt Version 1.0 Mailing Address INIT GmbH Käppelestraße KARLSRUHE Postmaster@init-ka.de Ph Fax INIT, Inc Crossways Blvd., Suite 110 CHESAPEAKE, VA, USA postmaster@initusa.com Ph Fax Copyright INIT - Modifications according to technical progress reserved. Without our written permission and without source specification, these documents may not be copied, multiplied or be made accessible to third persons, in particular competitors.

2 Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction Technical Overview Partnership Vehicle System Vehicle Counting Components Infrared Array Sensor The Analyzer Unit GPS Receiver On-Board Computer COPILOTsmart with Integrated WLAN Required Signals Network Overview Standard Data Receiving Unit: WLANstation (Garage server) Data Security Central System Reports... 11

3 Introduction 1 Introduction Reliable ridership data is not only important for government reporting but also necessary to help better plan public transit services. The costs and efforts for manual passenger counting are extremely high, the sampling plans are often not representative and the results are inaccurate. Automatic Passenger Counting (APC) collects highly accurate ridership data and no manual ride checkers are needed. APC is often integrated into an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system, however also available as a stand alone system. This stand alone version allows transit agencies who don t have an AVL system to benefit from the advantages APC offers. Metro in St. Louis is using APC as a standalone system on 40 buses and 87 LRV s. In particular, APC data was a critical component in the service reduction analysis in 2004 when approximately $2 million dollars per year were saved through the service reduction without significantly impacting overall ridership. In order to manually collect, analyze and manage the route data which Metro receives from the Automatic Passenger Counting System, the agency would have to spend a minimum of $700,000 per year. Metro measures on-time at every time point for arrival and departure. In addition, the data is stored in a shared network drive so operations can review how an operator is performing by printing the history and going over with the operator how to improve the schedule adherence. 1.1 Technical Overview Infrared sensors, mounted above each door, combine passive and active technology to achieve highest accuracy. The sensors are connected to an on-board computer which retrieves and stores the counts together with GPS location. As soon as the vehicle arrives in the garage area the collected data is uploaded wireless LAN from the vehicles to a central server. A unique algorithm which does not require any manual intervention matches the passenger counts to the schedule. A projection feature extrapolates sample data to the full service. It should be specifically noted that no driver interaction is required ( black box solution). The turnkey APC system works from end to end fully automated! All data is subsequently available in database for ad-hoc and automatically scheduled statistical reports. Results are presented in tables, graphs and in a graphical information system (GIS). NTD reporting is integrated. 1.2 Partnership INIT has more than 6500 sensors installed in North America and Canada on buses and Light Rail Vehicles. The APC system has been developed in conjunction with INIT s cooperation partner IRIS Infrared & Intelligent Sensors GmbH, Berlin (INIT AG is major shareholder of IRIS GmbH). TAB 5, A Page 3 of 13

4 Vehicle System 2 Vehicle System The standard APC system consists of components to count people and components to store, transmit and evaluate the count data as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Overview Of The Standard APC Components TAB 5, A Page 4 of 13

5 Vehicle System The APC System in the vehicle consists of the following modules: On-Board Computer COPILOTsmart including the WLAN unit GPS-Receiver Passenger counting sensors Passenger counting analyzer The core unit of the vehicle system is INIT s on-board computer, COPILOTsmart which stores the APC data received from the analyzer unit(s), and transmits the data via Data Transmission Unit to the post-processing system for evaluation and analysis. 2.1 Vehicle Counting Components The sensors are installed above the door. The typical counting components for a LRV are shown in the picture below. Four analyzers are needed per train, (one analyzer for two doors), 16 sensors per train, (2 sensors per door), 1 COPILOTsmart per train. A bus will need at least two sensors, one analyzer. Figure 2: Basic Components Of The IRMA APC System The figure includes the following components: TAB 5, A Page 5 of 13

6 Vehicle System "IRMA" vertical infrared array sensors detect the number and direction of movement of boarding and/or de-boarding passengers. The dimensions of the housing are 90x32x34 mm = 3.54x1.26x1.34 (LxWxH). Two sensors per a wide door (Door width 48 ) The sensor consists of active and passive components to eliminate as many errors as possible. Due to inner and outer curtain, the intelligent sensor is able to distinguish between boarding /de-boarding passengers. The sensor is self calibrating the active and passive sensing components after the door is closed. NO further adjustments are necessary! IRMA" analyzer unit (connected to the sensors) transforms the infrared information provided by the sensors into passenger counts per direction per door and transmits the data to the on-board COPILOTsmart. The analyzer is connected to on-board computer COPILOTsmart which, after each stop, interrogates the results with regard to counts at each door and distinction between ons and offs and stores the data in correlation with GPS and time. The door contact input of the analyzers is connected to the train line to receive the door open and close signal. Cables and connectors between sensors, passenger counter and on-board storage device Infrared Array Sensor The main component of the APC system is the sensor. The sensor consists of three components: Passive component (pyro-electric detector) Active component (light scanner) Combined photo diodes (constant light receiver) TAB 5, A Page 6 of 13

7 Vehicle System Figure 3a: Sensor Description Passive Component Active Component The detector contains 6 detector elements, the The detection range of the light scanner is detection range of which has been arranged as also arranged as two parallel curtains. two parallel curtains. Figure 3b: Arrangement Of Sensor Detection Area When a person passes the recording area of the sensor, he/she is viewed by both the passive component and the active component as well as by the double photo diode. All signals generated in the sensor are amplified and digitized by the sensor and then transmitted to the analyzer unit via synchronous serial interface. The signals are transformed into counts by the analyzer unit. TAB 5, A Page 7 of 13

8 Vehicle System The Analyzer Unit From the signals transmitted by the sensor(s), the analyzer determines the number of persons getting on and off the vehicle. These counts are interrogated and stored by the on-board computer. The data are transmitted from the analyzer to the on-board computer via dedicated data cable. 2.2 GPS Receiver A GPS receiver is providing every 4 seconds the vehicle position. 2.3 On-Board Computer COPILOTsmart with Integrated WLAN The core unit of INIT s on-board APC equipment is the COPILOTsmart computer and acting as the interface to both the vehicle electronics such as Automatic Passenger Counting system and the vehicle location component such as GPS. With the integrated WLAN card it is utilized as the link between the APC equipment and the post-processing system. 2.4 Required Signals No Motion Signal (LRV) Odometer (Bus) Door Open Sensor Ignition Battery Power 2.5 Network Overview The Access point is installed at the garage. As soon as the vehicle arrives in the range of the access point the data is transmitted to the Wlan Garage server. The FTP client on the central server retrieves the data from the garage server and the data is matched with the schedule information once a day. The matched APC information is exported into MOBILEstatatistics and available for reporting. All reports can be accessed through the Oracle data base. TAB 5, A Page 8 of 13

9 Vehicle System 2.6 Standard Data Receiving Unit: WLANstation (Garage server) Additionally to the wireless LAN clients (COPILOTsmart) in the vehicles, some infrastructure is needed for the WLAN network on stationary side. To build a wireless network, garage stations called access points (AP) are used. Every AP has a maximum communication range of 500 feet. Also, one wireless LAN server (PC) is needed on the garage location. The PC is the main communication partner of the COPILOTsmart. The access point is connected to the Server (WLANstation) through the Ethernet network. The WLANstation server contains two network cards in order to separate the APC network from the company network. 2.7 Data Security Overall, wireless connections are always susceptible to allowing open access unless a protection structure has been integrated into the system. Every b compliant client adapter may log into a wireless system and transfer data. The best way to counteract the possibility of external users is by means of a customary protection based on a Cisco platform. INIT has done extensive research and has comprehensive experience in locating the safest and most reliable system available. TAB 5, A Page 9 of 13

10 Central System 3 Central System The central system is composed of the following subsystems: Software for Scheduling Data import and Management including conversion of Geocoordinates Data Base software - MOBILEcore Data Validation and Matching software MOBILEstatistics software MOBILEstatistics server MOBILEstatistics client software As described previously in the proposal Figure 4: illustrates the data flow in the central system of INIT s APC system. Figure 4: Data Flow APC System TAB 5, A Page 10 of 13

11 Central System 3.1 Reports Based on the data in the database, data standard reports and ad hoc reports can be generated. The basic MOBILEstatistics client includes the following reports: Passenger Flow per Door Passenger Flow per Stop Passenger Flow per Trip Passenger Flow per Line Passenger Flow per Vehicle Passenger Flow by Time Passenger Flow Overview The following screen shots show examples of APC data evaluation and post processing. Figure 5: Example for Passenger Flow per Door TAB 5, A Page 11 of 13

12 Central System Figure 6: Example for Passenger Flow per Stop Figure 7: Ridership per Trip by Train TAB 5, A Page 12 of 13

13 Central System Often times Transit Authorities will couple 2 LRV s together to form a Train. As illustrated by the Ridership per Trip by Train report above; INT is fully capable of providing reports and statistics for this type of configuration. All recorded data is available in Oracle database and it can be accessed through a third party interface module. TAB 5, A Page 13 of 13