Infrared communication for dynamic route guidance and driver information services

The paper gives an overview of the field trials and deployments and also explains the pro´s and con´s of infrared (IR) beacon communication for road traffic management. During the early eighties, first concepts for dynamic route guidance systems appeared in Europe, the US and Japan. In Europe, after successful performance of the LISB field trial in Berlin, EURO-SCOUT-using IR beacon communication-was developed. In Japan, field trials with microwave (MW) beacons (in RACS) as well as RF communication (in AMTICS) were carried out and recently, the Japanese National Police Agency (NPA) has opted for short-range communication using IR beacons. NPA sponsors today a large scale field trial with 3000 IR beacon heads and 500 participating vehicles. In Germany, the newly founded private company for route guidance and driver information services COPILOT has already deployed IR beacons in Stuttgart and Berlin. Operational field tests with IR beacons are also being performed in the US. Furthermore, in the German electronic toll collection field trial, qualified technologies compete in a multi-lane, free-flow, and high speed environment. Siemens participates with its ChipTicket System relying on IR communication between roadside and vehicles