Vehicle Loops - SCATS data collectors ....
The presence of cars moving over the loops in each lane of an approach and the speed and "gap" between vehicles are all data that SCATS® uses to determine which approach should get more green time.
SCATS® primary aim is to get rid of the traffic for the most heavily used approaches such that in time it can return to normal flow and because it is fully adaptive it if configured to do so, is able to determine what normal traffic flows and cycle times.
The Vehicle Detector Loop can be:
- is an inductive loop cur into the road surface which is 4.5m long and 1.7m wide or
- a video detection camera interfaced to a TSC/4 compliant controller or
- another detection technology that has clean contact outputs that can be interfaced to a TSC/4 compliant controller.
In the case of the inductive vehicle loop, the Australian Standard 2703 defines the physical and electrical characteristics of the loops to be created at each approach managed by the Traffic Signal Controller connected to SCATS®. Refer to the Standards section of this web page for details.
The critical element to an efficient fully adaptive urban traffic control system are the vehicle detector loops (video detector loops can also be used for the same purpose) as they act as "voting" elements, as more vehicle cross, SCATS® essentially determines that the volumes are such that it needs to "extend" the green phase to give an approach more time to eventually reduce the green phase back to normal levels.
Benefits of Adaptive Road Traffic Management
A fixed time system is totally unable to do so, as it cannot dynamically change the cycle splits as SCATS® and the Traffic Signal Controller can do in tandem. SCATS® has many other qualities and is able to provide priority to Emergency Service vehicles, reduce stop time and CO2 emissions, but most of all is able to create "green waves" where vehicle travelling along a route at the indicated speed limit will move across sequential intersections during the green phase.
SCATS® can be configured for different mode of operation at differing times of day. It also handles special events, such as patrons leaving en-mass from a sports stadium, with a SCATS® system, there is no need for special police presence to manage that traffic.
Visit the
SCATS website to learn why SCATS® is the world's leading fully adaptive Urban Traffic Control system.