Road Control Area Positioning for Accurate Toll Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for determining the position and shape of control areas for generating usage charges in road segments are prone to errors due to GNSS positioning inaccuracies, leading to incorrect charging of vehicles and non-users.
Innovation Solution
A method that optimizes the position and shape of control areas by segmenting road sections, characterizing GNSS errors, and defining probabilities to ensure accurate detection, involving a transaction application server that calculates and transmits control areas to client devices, ensuring at least two positions within the control area are detected and minimizing false charging probabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If control areas are defined for detecting vehicle usage of road segments, then usage charge generation is enabled, but positioning errors cause incorrect charging of users and non-users
Solution Approach 1:
The road segment is divided into multiple control areas (first control area, second control area, etc.) along the direction of travel. By segmenting the detection zone, the system ensures that a vehicle must be detected in multiple sequential areas to trigger charging, which compensates for individual positioning errors and prevents false charging of non-users while ensuring reliable charging of users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-calculates and defines the optimal position and shape of control areas before deployment, taking into account expected positioning errors and vehicle speeds. This preliminary configuration ensures that the control areas are positioned and sized to guarantee at least two detections for legitimate users while minimizing false positives for non-users.
2Reliability
If control area size is increased to account for positioning errors, then false charging of non-users increases, but if decreased then legitimate users may not be detected
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single large control area that would cause false charging, the system segments the detection zone into multiple smaller control areas arranged sequentially along the road. A vehicle must trigger detections in multiple areas (e.g., at least two) to initiate charging, which maintains detection reliability for legitimate users while preventing false charging of non-users who may偶然ly enter one area.
Solution Approach 2:
The control areas are positioned and sized with different local characteristics optimized for their specific locations. Each control area's dimensions and position are carefully calculated based on local conditions such as vehicle speed, positioning accuracy, and road geometry, allowing the system to achieve reliable detection without excessive false charging.
3Reliability
If control areas are positioned to guarantee multiple detections for users, then the control area secant segment length must be sufficient, but this increases the area size and potential for false detections
Solution Approach 1:
The detection zone is segmented into multiple control areas positioned sequentially along the direction of vehicle travel. The control area secant segment length (the portion of the control area boundary intersected by the road) is optimized to be sufficient for detecting at least two positions of a moving vehicle without making the overall control area excessively large, thereby balancing reliable multiple detections with minimized false detection risk.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for determining the position and shape of a control area on a road on which a vehicle is travelling, and to which a usage charge applies. According to the invention, a segment of the road is divided into segment sections and the perimeter of geographical coordinates of the control area associated with each segment section is calculated. At at least two different moments, a GNSS receiver calculates the position of the vehicle, said calculated positions being inside the control area; a control area being provided that is defined by a perimeter of geographical coordinates, fulfilling the requirements in terms of charging availability being above a pre-determined threshold value and the probability of a charging error being below a threshold value.