This article describes the Safe-T-Cam system for automatic monitoring of the movement of heavy vehicles on major highways, which was developed by an Australian public-private partnership. Safe-T-Cam has three separate but totally integrated subsystems: (1) remote site; (2) central site; and (3) wide area network (WAN). The remote site subsystem can operate 24 hours a day in all but extreme weather conditions, and capture still digital images of vehicles at speeds up to at least 200kph. It has modules for: (1) detection and classification; (2) image acquisition; (3) number plate recognition; and (4) transaction transmission. The central site subsystem processes remote site vehicle detections for: (1) registration and average speed infringements; (2) alerting to vehicles with number plates of special interest; and (3) fatigue violation. The WAN subsystem is a high-availability ISDN-based communications network. Safe-T-Cam is now being used to collect data from nine sites on major roads around Sydney, NSW, Australia. It is currently being used to enforce driving hour restrictions and speed limits, but it is being expanded to incorporate road pricing, toll violations, and weigh-in-motion facilities.
Abstract