A novel real-time traffic information system based on wireless mesh networks

Probe-vehicle technique is an effective method of collecting real-time traffic information on road networks. A technically feasible and cost-effective wireless communication network is in great demand so that large amounts of traffic data sampled by probe vehicles over a large geographical area can be sent to the Traffic Management Center (TMC). However, how to design such a wireless network forms a major bottleneck of probe system, due to high dynamics of the network. In this paper, we address a Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) architecture which is independent of any existing wire or wireless network, and needs very low communication cost. We describe the architecture of a WMN-based traffic information system, and provide the details of the network protocols. By means of computer simulation, we evaluate the WMN performance, and find that the WMN scheme is low up-front cost, easy network maintenance, robustness and large reliable service coverage for the probe data transmissions.