A research project, called "Application of ITS technologies for urban traffic control respecting environmental bounds", has been carried out, whose final goal is the experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of a simultaneous traffic and pollution control in a middle-size Italian town. The paper describes a work in progress within the research project, focusing on the practical experience which has been realised in the city of Trieste, a middle-size town in the North-East of Italy. In particular attention is paid on the specific measurement device which has been specifically designed and built to provide a continuous measure of pollution in the analysed urban area. This system may be integrated with the Urban Traffic Control System (UTCS), thus realising an urban traffic pollution control system which is now in an advanced phase of implementation. The paper is organised as follows: next section provides a general background about pollution monitoring and recalls the basic concepts of the control scheme which has been study to take into account the mutual linkage between pollution and traffic signal control. The third section describes the experimental project which is still under realisation in the city of Trieste. Then the technical features of the monitoring device are described; moreover the user interface for output and processing of data and the communication system, which allows the on-line data transmission from the unit itself to the UTCS control centre, are pointed out. A sample of collected data is then presented and some preliminary considerations arising from its analysis is discussed. Finally some applicative issues (in particular related to congestion measurement system), conclusions and directions for further works are drawn.For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Abstract