Method and system to control traffic speed through intersections

1. A speed detection system for vehicle traffic, the system comprising:

a plurality of sensor pods positioned along a vehicle pathway, each of the plurality of sensor pods positioned to detect presence data of a plurality of vehicles and broadcast to a base station the detected presence data; and

the base station positioned remote from the plurality of sensor pods and configured to:

receive the detected presence data; and

determine speed of each of the plurality of vehicles even when one or more of the plurality of sensor pods fails to detect the presence of one of the plurality of vehicles, the vehicle speed being determined at a periodic interval responsive to a predetermined distance between the plurality of sensor pods and a difference in a detection time of the vehicle at each of the plurality of sensor pods, wherein determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles comprises:

calculating distances between each of the plurality of sensor pods for each measurement present in the presence data;

calculating a difference of each arrival time in the presence data;

calculating a sum of all the distances between the plurality of sensors; and

calculating a sum of all differences of arrival times.

2. The speed detection system for vehicle traffic of claim 1 , further comprising:

an access point positioned to receive the detected presence data from the plurality of sensor pods and transmit the detected presence data to the base station.

3. The speed detection system for vehicle traffic of claim 1 , further comprising:

a remote device that is configured to:

receive the determined speed of each of the plurality of vehicles; and

display a graphical user interface comprising the determined speed of each of the plurality of vehicles in response to receiving the determined speed of each of the plurality of vehicles.

4. The speed detection system for vehicle traffic of claim 1 , wherein:

the plurality of sensor pods are spaced apart along the vehicle pathway in a location underlying the vehicle pathway, and

two or more of distances between any two of the plurality of sensor pods are not the same.

5. The speed detection system for vehicle traffic of claim 1 , wherein:

the plurality of sensor pods are spaced apart along the vehicle pathway in a uniform manner.

6. The speed detection system for vehicle traffic of claim 1 , wherein:

determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles comprises:

examining arrival time data for evidence of directionality of a particular vehicle; and

using multiple sensors in a same position to reduce a possibility of incorrect directionality determinations.

7. The speed detection system for vehicle traffic of claim 6 , wherein:

determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles further comprises:

correlating the arrival time data with events associated with a passing of individual objects;

limiting errors in direction determination;

reporting a direction and speed determined of the individual objects; and

reporting any case in which the direction determined does not match data of a predetermined direction of a traffic flow direction.

8. A method for controlling vehicle traffic of a plurality of vehicles when traveling along a vehicle pathway, the method comprising:

generating, from a plurality of sensor pods spaced apart along a roadway, presence data of each of a plurality of vehicles;

transmitting the presence data to a base station;

determining, at the base station, a speed of each of the plurality of vehicles, the speed being determined at a periodic interval based at least in part on both 1) a predetermined distance between the plurality of sensor pods and 2) a difference in a detection time of each of the plurality of vehicles at each of the plurality of sensor pods, wherein determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles comprises:

calculating distances between each of the plurality of sensor pods for each measurement present in the presence data;

calculating a difference of each arrival time in the presence data;

calculating a sum of all the distances between the plurality of sensor pods; and

calculating a sum of all differences of arrival times; and

displaying the determined speed on a graphical user interface thereby to control traffic along the vehicle pathway.

9. The method for controlling vehicle traffic of a plurality of vehicles when traveling along a vehicle pathway of claim 8 , wherein:

transmitting the presence data to a base station comprises a first transmission of the presence data from the plurality of sensor pods to an access point and a second transmission of the presence data from the access point to the base station.

10. The method for controlling vehicle traffic of a plurality of vehicles when traveling along a vehicle pathway of claim 8 , wherein:

generating the presence data comprises outputting sensed data from each of the plurality of sensor pods in a form of an arrival time corresponding to the presence of the plurality of moving vehicles.

11. The method for controlling vehicle traffic of a plurality of vehicles when traveling along a vehicle pathway of claim 8 , wherein:

determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles comprises:

generating a first data table with columns for each sensor and rows to be populated with one or more distances between the plurality of sensor pods;

generating a second data table with columns for each sensor and rows to be populated with one or more arrival times associated with the plurality of moving vehicles sensed by the plurality of sensor pods;

providing a predefined amount of timeout value representative of a time to wait to perform speed determinations after observing the one or more arrival times; and

correlating the one or more arrival times.

12. The method for controlling vehicle traffic of a plurality of vehicles when traveling along a vehicle pathway of claim 11 , further comprising:

populating data related to detection events in a table;

checking for the detection events;

entering the detection events to a detection data table if a detection event is found;

resetting a timer to repeat the data populating of the table;

incrementing a timer when no detection event is found; and

checking a count of the timer against the predefined amount of timeout value.

13. The method for controlling vehicle traffic of a plurality of vehicles when traveling along a vehicle pathway of claim 12 , wherein:

the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles is determined only when the predefined amount of timeout value has been met.

14. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of sensor pods, presence data of each of a plurality of vehicles;

determining a speed of each of the plurality of vehicles, the speed being determined at a periodic interval based at least in part on both 1) a predetermined distance between the plurality of sensor pods and 2) a difference in a detection time of each of the plurality of vehicles at each of the plurality of sensor pods, wherein determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles comprises:

calculating distances between each of the plurality of sensor pods for each measurement present in the presence data;

calculating a difference of each arrival time in the presence data;

calculating a sum of all the distances between the plurality of sensor pods; and

calculating a sum of all differences of arrival times; and

sending the determined speed of each of the plurality of vehicles to a remote device, thereby causing the remote computing device to display a graphical user interface comprising the determined speed.

15. The method of operating a base station of claim 14 , wherein:

the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles is further determined based at least in part on an earliest arrival time as detected by each of the plurality of sensor pods.

16. The method of operating a base station of claim 14 , wherein:

determining the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles comprises determining an average speed and variance of the speed of each of the plurality of vehicles.

17. The method of operating a base station of claim 14 , wherein:

the speed for at least one of the plurality of vehicles is determined using only presence data from a subset of the plurality of sensor pods.

18. The method of operating a base station of claim 14 , wherein:

the presence data is received from the plurality of sensor pods via an access point.

19. The method of operating a base station of claim 18 , wherein:

the access point is positioned within 700 feet of at least some of the plurality of sensor pods.