Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Introduction

The Hard Shoulder Monitoring System (HASMOS) is a prototype decision support tool, developed to assist Regional Control Centre operators in the management of hard shoulder running schemes.

HASMOS began as a project to research the feasibility of fusing data from different vehicle detector systems and has progressed to its current status as a proof of concept, using radar as a primary means of detection.  The most recent work has involved an on-road evaluation on the M42, which has shown the technology to be effective and has highlighted some areas for further development.

The system can also be deployed in other situations where the continuous monitoring of a section of road is required.

What does the system do?

The Hard Shoulder Monitoring System monitors the hard shoulder for vehicles, vehicle size objects and pedestrians.
By intelligently combining output data from radar, and potentially other detector types, the system is able to detect obstructions in the hard shoulder. HASMOS achieves better detection and lower false alarm rates than can be achieved with individual detectors.
The system provides alert data, for use in a Control Centre Interface, to inform operators of hard shoulder obstructions.

What has been done so far?

Off road and on road trials have been conducted. Results show that the system can enhance the capability of radar detector technology and can also provide a reduction in the rate of false alarms. However, further detector and system performance improvements are required if the false alarm and detection rates are to reach a level that can facilitate system use in an operational environment.

Further work has been proposed to improve the data quality of existing detectors and investigate alternative detectors which can be introduced to improve system performance.

How does it work?

The Hard Shoulder Monitoring System algorithm uses Bayesian analysis to combine the output data from multiple detectors and provides a measure of confidence (probability) in the detected road state. A detection function then determines whether an incident alert should be raised. Detector types other than radar can be employed.

The system connects to the detectors through a Universal Detector Interface which provides a standardised means for connecting additional detectors to the system. The interface is based on XML over HTTP, and will operate over the National Roads Telecommunications Service, allowing detectors to be located at the roadside with the system itself located elsewhere.