Dilum Bandara, PhD
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Moratuwa
Dilum.Bandara@uom.lk
Some slides adopted from Dr. Chathura De Silva
TRF 2018, Aug 3, 2018

2
Source: PAG Electronics
Source: http://www.ft.lk
Source: http://www.etc.vn

Today 2025
MTC
Stop-and-go
ETC
Single-lane
limited flow
MLFF
E01, OCH, CKE Only on CKE at present
May on E01, OCH when connected
Toll gates on entry/exit ramps
Front office staff
Facilitates vehicle entry control
Limited throughput
On-expressway gantries
Back-office monitoring
Violation detection instead of entry
control
High-throughput
A complete
transformation in
toll administration
3
Source: Dr. Chathura De Silva

 Public or private road for which a fee (or toll) is charged for passage
 Toll based on
 Distance traveled
 Time of day
 Vehicle type or no of axels
 Congestion level
 Types
 Closed systems – entry & exist gates
 Open systems
 Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)
 Enhanced convenience for drivers by enabling cashless toll collection
 Relatively fast
4

5
Vehicle
Detection
Fare
Calculation
Payment
Automation through ETC

Manned Tollbooth
Systems
Self-Service
Automated Tollbooth
Systems
Unmanned
Wireless
Automated
Tollbooth Systems
Open Toll Roads
• Manual Toll
Collection (MTC)
• Stop & Go
• Easy to setup
• Cash based
• Slow
• Costly to operate
• Self service by driver
• Stop & Go
• Cash or card based
• More difficult to
setup
• Language &
technology barriers
• Slow
• Costly to operate
• Use preinstalled wireless transponders
• Or Automatic Number Plate Recognition
(ANR)
• Card based payments
• Costly to setup
• Single Lane
• Limited flow
(physical
constrains)
• Multi-lane
• Free flow
6

7Source: http://daridawg.blogspot.com
Source: www.abelard.org

8
Pros Cons
• Works better with single entry & single
exist
• No need of pre-registration
• Better privacy for drivers
• Language & technology barriers
• Slow & arbitrary delays
• Need exact amount or card-based
payment
• Sock management of pass cards or
tokens
• Pass card or token doesn’t have
information to bill in case of system
failure
• Human support is still need to address
issues & violators

 Based on RFID (Radio Frequency
ID)
 User identified through unique ID
 Can read & write data
 Difficult to counterfeit
 Modest cost
9
Source: root labs
Source: Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System by Rohan S. Kale

 Omnidirectional antenna
 Use active RFID tags
 Battery could last for months
 Interaction time with 10m range
 @ 100 kmph – 720 ms
 @ 15 kmph – 4.8s
 Multi-tag reading with collision detection
 CKE (E03) recommends 20m inter-vehicle gap 10

11

• World largest multi-lane free flow &
distance-based system
• Operational efficiencies
• Toll collection rate 99.8%
• System availability 99.992%
• Environmental benefits
• Petrol Saving > 120 million liters
• CO2 reduction > 290,000 tons
• Time Saving > 375,000 hrs/ Day
12
Source: FETC, Taiwan

13Source: FETC, Taiwan

14
Source: FETC, Taiwan

15

16
Pros Cons
• Supports limited or free flow
• Supports Multi-Lane Free Flow
(MLFW)
• Use on multiple vehicles
• Discounts for using ETC
• Electronic payment settlement
• Full activity logging
• Less chance of corruption
• Can use to estimate vehicle flow rate
• Manual is still need to support
vehicles without transponders
• Cost of transponder to driver
• Need pre-registration
• Borrowed & rented vehicles
• Vehicles on carriers
• Battery issues
• Same transponder should be useable
across all toll roads
• Privacy issues due to tracking
• Transponder could be hacked

17
Source: wikipedia.org
Source: Plate.Vision
Source: roadtraffic-technology.com

18
 Triggered by a laser that
detect vehicle
 Capture front & rear
number plates
 Number detected based on
optical character
recognition (OCR)
 Typically coupled with
number plat database
 Validation
 Vehicle type detection
Source: sensorlink.com.my

 Single & 2-lane detection
 25 - 35m detection range
 Detection up to 250 kmph
 Day & night time operation
 98%+ recognition rate
 Confidence level of ANR
 Speed, travel direction, vehicle class/brand detection
 Traffic flow estimation
 Images as evidence
 Video streaming
 Waterproof IP68
19
Source: siemens.com/mobility

20
Pros Cons
• Supports Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFW)
• Works with any vehicle
• Number attached to vehicle not owner
• No prior registration needed
• No physical installation
• Electronic payment settlement
• Less chance of corruption
• Full activity logging
• Speed detection
• Can use to estimate vehicle flow rate
• Vehicles on carriers skipped
• Manual is still need to support
undetectable number plates
• Non-standard number plates
• Vehicles with trailers
• Not having a check digit for number
validation
• Privacy issues due to tracking
• Transponder could be hacked

 Wireless transponders are more wide-spread
 Recent developments of ANR technologies make them toll road ready
 Typically wireless transponder & ANR used together
 Number plate with RFID tag
 Taiwan RFID-based ETC
 GNSS: Truck Toll Germany
 Sri Lanka needs entry control due to three-wheelers & motor cycles
 Better public acceptance when more transparent & non-invasive
 Some manual intervention is still needed
 Faculty RFID tags
 Need to handle unregistered vehicles
 Undetectable number plates
 Be ready to work incase of system failure
 Interoperability across vehicles & road segments
 Use of existing networking (e.g., CCTV) & IT infrastructure
21

22
Vehicle
Detection
Fare
Calculation
Payment
Automation through ETC

 Toll based on
 Distance traveled
 Time of day
 Vehicle type or axels
 Congestion level
23
Source: Electronic Toll Collection - Approaches, technologies,
experiences by Fritz Busch & Andreas Rau

24

25
Vehicle
Detection
Fare
Calculation
Payment
Automation through ETC

26
Source: FETC, Taiwan

27

28
Source: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com

 Integrated system enables real-time
revenue data & statistics
 Prepaid
 CKK connects BoC accounts
 Cards
 Attach credit cards
 Should support contemporary potions
such as
 Online pre-paid
 Mobile Apps
 Mobile cash
 NFC-base touch cards
29
Source: http://www.midlink.ie

Key Design Considerations
 Suitability in short-term deployment
(MTC/ETC as in E01, OCH, & CKE) while
having scalability towards MLFF
 Compatibility among 4-sections in E01
extension & existing network
 Facilitate migration of existing systems,
compatible with present setup
 Facilitating vehicle entry control
 Objective vehicle identification &
classification through centralized
management
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Vehicle Detection,
Classification, & Identification
Toll Accounting, Collection, &
Violation Detection
Toll Administration & Revenue
Monitoring
Manua
l
Passiv
e RFID
LR
RFID
ANR
Infrastructure compatibility with MLFF
SystemscalabilitytowardsMLFF
Scalable toll system: A layered approach
FrontendcomponentsCentralizedback-officefunctions
Source: Dr. Chathura De Silva

Camera recognize
vehicle no at entry
Registration number
is sent to central
server and
classification is
obtained
For ETC registered
vehicles, account
balance is displayed
Barrier opens & the
leaves
Classification is
obtained from RMV
database
Vehicle can be also
checked for other
parameters like
PR/Watch list,
payment of license
fees, insurance, etc.
Camera
recognize
vehicle no at
exit
Based on registration
no and entry record
toll is computed
ETC vehicles: Toll is
deducted & balance
is displayed
MTC vehicles: Toll is
collected by operator
Barrier opens if the
vehicle is permitted
to enter
Central monitoring
room provides
integrated dashboard
for all aspects
1
2
4
3
5
6
7
9
8
Entry Exit
Source: Dr. Chathura De Silva
5
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 ETC & ANR technologies are quite mature
 ANR still needed & essential with MLFF
 However, solution should match particular countries context
 Non-standard vehicles
 Three-wheelers & motor cycles
 Should be compatible with existing & proposed infrastructure
 Support phased migration
 Public acceptance though transparency, non-invasive, &
flexibility
 Manual operation to classify unclassified or undented vehicles
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