Sandrine Cocks (pictured below) - new business product development manager for OPTEX in Europe - discusses the importance of vehicle detection technology for commercial outlets and the methods used.
Retail developments strive or fail on footfall. Encouraging shoppers to out of town retail destinations is a constant challenge and developers, property owners and management companies need to be able to demonstrate visitor numbers on an ongoing basis both to support existing tenants and encourage new ones into the fold.
One of the methods used is to count vehicles on/off site and by averaging passenger numbers in each vehicle to estimate – with some degree of accuracy – how many shoppers have visited an outlet on any one day. Although arguably a comparatively crude figure, it gives those requiring such information a foundation on which to build a complete picture.
Vehicle counting systems, of course, require access to the local highways. Various different systems are available, all with their comparative strengths and weaknesses. Video-based counting solutions, for example, often struggle in poor light environments, or in adverse weather conditions, in snow, rain or fog. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) may claim high degrees of reading accuracy, but are often easily confused by non-standard lettering or typefaces.
One consistent and reliable technology is a groundloop. Groundloops are especially well-suited to sites with multiple entry/exit lanes and/or without a defined vehicle entrance. They are also able to classify vehicles by measuring the field change and identify the same vehicle on its way out to determine the dwell time. While a preferred and proven solution in many environments, they have one significant Achilles heel: the cost and effort of installation and maintenance.
Because they require civil works, the installation often involves closing off lanes, which is an inconvenience to customers, or requires the work to be carried out at night, which is expensive. It can take several hours to dig, to install the loop and to calibrate the technology.
Another issue is that the installation is not always permanent. Depending on the condition of the road, and the volume and weight of traffic passing over it, the ground can deteriorate over three or four years, which means further civil works and further cost. This is especially true when large numbers of HGV and delivery vehicles are driving through the area.
A further issue is one of aesthetics: not every road surface is the same, and in some cases the highways can even be historic. No-one wants to see a beautiful cobbled street dug up for the sake of commerce, when a viable alternative may be available.
Short-range radar alternatives
One such viable alternative for counting vehicles in single lane applications - and one that matches the Groundloop's performance but is much easier, faster and less expensive to install - is a new generation of devices based on frequency-modulated-continuous-wave (FMCW) technology.
These above-ground vehicle counting systems are very quick and easy to install, without sacrificing performance. From start to finish, it only takes between 30 to 60 minutes to install a typical microwave-based solution, without the need (or associated costs) for any civil works or working out of hours.
All that is required is the detector, a data logger, and a power source – the power source typically being a lighting column. The detectors themselves are installed around 50cm above the ground, and at right angles (90 degrees) to the approaching vehicles. The length of the beam can be set (by adjusting the power output) to a maximum of eight meters.
As each vehicle breaks the invisible beam, it is counted, and the data logged. An automated dial up service can then pull the data back to an off-site location where it can be uploaded onto a secure website. Users then have access to their data via a secure log-in, with hierarchies so that different layers of information can only be viewed by those with authority to do so.
Client benefit
Retailers, managing agents and land owners can then use that data to measure vehicle volumes and visitor behaviour. That data can in turn be used to measure the effectiveness of advertising or promotional campaigns, and to inform how the facilities can be best used to determine shift patterns for essential support staff and operations.
In tests, and in practical examinations at a number of retail outlets, shopping centres and motorway service stations across the UK, the radar-based device provides an accuracy of +/- 5%. In the case of the latter, that includes capturing vehicles travelling at high speeds – upwards of 60kph – as they exit a motorway.
Vehicle counting technology has advanced a long way in a comparatively short space of time. And they are not only used for retail applications. They are also used to monitor traffic volumes into our town centres, and to support planning decisions. With the new generation of devices there are many winners. But the real winner is the highway!
