Projects
None of us drivers likes when the traffic is tailing back and there are traffic jams on the roads. But if it occurs, we would like to learn most accurate information about where they are, how long we will be delayed, and possibly which way they can be effectively bypassed. In today’s technical world, it should not be much of a problem – we have satellite radios and smart phones with the Internet access. But few realize that there are people behind this whole technology, delivery of information, and system development.
Along with the developed supercomputer, we can solve problems about which could only dream while we were using ordinary computers. Among other things, we deal with modelling, management and optimization of transport. We developed the system viaRODOS, which informs drivers of the current traffic online. We receive entry information from 130,000 reference vehicles whose movement is monitored by satellite systems. Satellite units, which give information about the position and velocity every single minute, are places along five percent of all roads in the Czech Republic. Based on the tests and the references, it is now clear that this is one of the most accurate traffic monitoring systems in Europe.
Another significant help for the movement of drivers is monitoring cities – Prague, Brno and Ostrava. On an interactive map, drivers can display the current traffic situation in individual streets, every train of vehicles and the length of waiting with minute precision.
Our application is still improving. Not only do we monitor traffic on roads in cities and outside them, but we are developing a system to predict the traffic situation in the country. We continuously analyse huge volumes of historical data and compare them with the current measured situation. The resulting model allows us to predict when and where the traffic will start tailing back on the road, how long the delay will be, and it will enable us to propose currently the best route for each user in terms of time and transportation costs.
The Transport Systems Development Centre (RODOS), which operates under the National Supercomputing Centre IT4Innovations of VŠB-TUO