Open Road Tolling
The benefits of Open Road Tolling (ORT) to toll authorities and customers alike are changing the industry today. Customers can drive through ORT lanes at highway speeds without stopping or slowing at toll plazas, avoiding congestion and interruptions in travel plans, and still pay their toll with toll tags (transponders). In some instances, they can even do it without toll tags.
Toll authorities implementing ORT solutions are leveraging technology to establish completely electronic toll collection. This means no toll booths, no attendant staffing, and no collection and management of cash; the operational cost savings are significant.
The UTS ORT solution uniquely combines vehicle classification, violation enforcement imaging, RF-Tracking, and a Digital Video Auditing System (DVAS) to form consistent and accurate toll transactions
UTS ORT solution leverages these core technologies
- IVIS (Intelligent Vehicle Identification System) – Our patented classification method provides accurate axle-based vehicle classification. The in-ground IVIS sensors do not have moving parts like a treadle does and are not affected by weather conditions such as heavy rain, snow and ice. These specialized sensors can be installed in new or existing roadways to ensure optimal coverage of the entire ORT zone, including shoulders and lane-straddling areas.
- VES (Vehicle Enforcement System) – Our imaging system takes advantage of accurate triggers to consistently capture both the front and rear vehicle license plate images. These VES images are high resolution digital color images that are associated with an individual customer transaction. VES images of vehicles that are straddling lanes or on the shoulder are also captured by our system to ensure every vehicle is imaged. We go a step further to programmatically isolate the license plate image itself, a region-of-interest (ROI) which can be used for optical state recognition (OSR) and optical character recognition (OCR) analysis or image processing by review personnel. The quality and accuracy of this VES system support violation enforcement as well as video tolling capabilities.
- RF-Tracking – There are several providers of RF toll tags in the United States. Our RF-Tracking system will work with any of the current toll tag providers. We have developed an RF-Tracking solution that utilizes multiple UTS patented and patent-pending systems to accurately synchronize the vehicle and its toll tag (transponder) and track the vehicle as it travels through the tolling zone. This allows the tolling authority to utilize the toll tag as a method of revenue collection and properly account for the customers as they travel through high traffic volume and congested roadways.
- OCR (Optical Character Recognition) – Vehicle Enforcement System images that use "region-of-interest" (ROI) plate processing can be digitally analyzed to determine license plate data without human intervention. Using our automated OCR processing is a cost effective method of analysis that can reduce the burden on violation processing resources and eliminate errors introduced with manual plate reviews.
- OSR (Optical State Recognition) – The VES "region-of-interest" (ROI) plate may also be analyzed by our OSR system to digitally discern the origin of the plate. With over 5,000 state plate designs currently on the roadway, the OSR is another layer of analysis which ensures each customer’s transaction data is correctly identified, thus saving the tolling authority a tremendous amount of time and money.
- Video Tolling – Our customers can leverage VES images and offer Video Tolling as a viable means of creating a transaction in an ORT zone. IVIS and VES data can be combined to provide video tolling as an alternate solution for customers that do not have valid toll tags (transponders). This is an ideal solution for infrequent users of a tolled roadway, such as visitors to a city who use rental cars.
- DVAS (Digital Video Auditing System) – The DVAS system provides video and still image capture of the entire multi-lane ORT zone. In addition to the VES images, UTS cameras mounted in the gantry capture digital video and still images in the ORT Zone. These images and video are synchronized to the transactional data and are stored digitally on a server for immediate retrieval. When necessary, personnel can use our video and image viewing tool to search and retrieve DVAS images associated with vehicle transactions within the ORT zone
- Live Video Surveillance – Authority or management personnel can see traffic flow and activities on a multiple-monitor workstation from live “real-time” video feed of the lane areas, interiors of the facility, and any remote ramps. The monitors show several camera views simultaneously. The views can be customized and grouped for convenience, for example, “All Southbound ORT Lanes”. The live video can be used to observe traffic and roadway conditions, as well as performing spot audits for system accuracy verification.
- Infinity ∞ Digital Lane System – The Infinity ∞ Digital Lane System for Open Road Tolling uses redundant ORT Controllers and Lane Servers to consolidate IVIS, VES, and ETC data to form a complete individual vehicle transaction. This is a unique ORT solution that runs on the same blade-based hardware as our single lane solution: blade-based components that may be hot swapped while the system continues to run and process traffic. The configuration is specific to the environment. The ORT transaction formed in the lane is stored at the Plaza and replicated in the Service Center. One critical element of an ORT solution is the system availability – it must be continuously available 24/7/365. We are pleased to report that since the opening of the first road using the UTS ORT Infinity ∞ Digital Lane System, we have experienced one hundred (100) percent availability without a single system shutdown
