TESTING ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF MAC READERS TO MEASURE ARTERIAL TRAVEL TIMES

摘要

The use of Media Access Control (MAC) Readers for travel time data collection providesrelatively accurate and inexpensive way to collect travel time data. In spite of availability ofof-the-shelf commercial MAC Readers many research institutions are developing and testingtheir own devices, mostly for research purposes. This study presents and evaluates such aresearch-driven MAC Reader developed at Florida Atlantic University. The studyinvestigates the impact of multiple factors that could possibly affect the readings from MACReaders such as location of the Bluetooth devices within vehicle, approaching speed ofvehicles with Bluetooth devices, location of the MAC Readers with respect to position of theintersection, and the type of antennae. The results indicate that MAC Readers resemble traveltimes which are collected by other methods in arterial networks. Other findings show thatBluetooth devices placed in the vehicle’s dashboard are detected more easily than thoseplaced in the driver’s pocket; vehicles traveling at lower speeds are detected more reliablythan fast-moving cars; and Omni-directional antenna was more successful in detecting than aunidirectional antenna.