This study reports on the use of Media Access Control (MAC) Readers through the Bluetooth protocol using off-the-shelf equipment to measure arterial travel performance (segment travel time, average running speed, and origin-destination). First, the MAC reader technology was deployed at the identical time traditional floating car method travel time runs were conductedto evaluate the general reliability and accuracy of the MAC technology. Second, the MAC reader technology was used to track before and after changes to signal timing along the corridor to measure the effectiveness of theadjustments, proving its real-world applicability, while requiring far less resources than traditional data collection means. A comparison of the Bluetooth MAC address data with traditional global positioning system (GPS)floating car studies suggests the larger data set from the Bluetooth dataset more effectively captures performance characteristics of the arterial. The research test site was a 2.5 mile suburban signalized arterial in Portland, Oregon over 27 days. This paper concludes by discussing the system architecture for a permanent real-time deployment and other areas for future research. The real-time MAC reader information provides substantial opportunity to add new control and performance monitoring capability to other intelligent transportation system (ITS) components, such as ramp metering, transit signal priority systems, and adaptive signal control.
Abstract