Search

The total latency (TL) in ADS-B is the difference between the true TOA of the original position measured by the onboard GPS and the TOA in the ADS-B report at the GS. We processed the ADS-B reports extracted from live-data recorded at the Chicago to produce the results in this report. We observed that 99% of aircraft in our data set were broadcasting in non-UTC coupled mode. For these aircraft, STARS exclusively used ADS-B reports to update tracks when available. The calculated ULs for the non-UTC coupled ADS-B reports were well within the budget (-200 ms to +400 ms) allowed by the DO-260B MOPS. Moreover, the mean latencies from both methods were less than +/-50 ms. The latencies obtained from the MTPES method were observed to be in close agreement with the means from the ATPE method. About 1% of aircraft were broadcasting in UTC coupled mode. The reports from these aircraft were identified to have a non-compliant link version, causing STARS to reject these reports for tracking. Moreover, the reported position and TOA were found to be unsynchronized, which conflicts with the MOPS requirement for UTC coupled operation., Comment: 7 pages, for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology

Crowding on train cars is a common problem plaguing the major public transit agencies around the world. On one hand a crowded train car presents a negative experience for the passengers, while on the other hand it indicated inefficiencies in the train system. The Federal Transit Agency is interested in reducing the crowding level on public transit train cars. Automatic passenger counters (APC) are commonly used to count the passengers boarding and alighting the train cars. Advanced APC solutions are available based on EO/IR sensors and visual object detection technology, but are considerably expensive for large scale deployment. This report discusses a low-cost approach to APC by using accelerometer measurements from train car to estimate approximate passenger loading. Accelerometer sensor can measure train car vibration as the train moves along the rail tracks. The train car vibration changes with the passenger loading on the car. Detecting this change in vibration pattern with changing passenger loading level is key to the accelerometer based APC solution. Moreover, accelerometer sensors present a low-cost APC solution compared to existing EO/IR based APCs. This work presents a (i) theoretical model analysis (ii) experimental data driven approach to demonstrate the feasibility of using accelerometer for passenger loading estimation., Comment: Work performed under Phase I SBIR grant DTRT5717C10231 from the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, US Department of Transportation

Crowding in train cars is increasingly a major concern for transit agencies. From the perspective of the passengers and the transit agencies, overcrowding of the train cars has several negative consequences such as: (i) extended duration of passengers boarding and alighting which leads to longer dwell times, (ii) subsequent disruption of the headway and the schedule, and (iii) passenger dissatisfaction (e.g. increased stress and lack of privacy). Moreover, overcrowding during peak service hours also indicates inadequate infrastructure to meet the passenger demands. Realizing the importance of the crowding issue, transit agencies have developed measures to assess the crowding levels. The Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual provides guidelines on thresholds for crowding in transit systems in the United States., Comment: Work supported by Phase I SBIR grant from the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center