CHENNAI: By the end of the month, Chennai Traffic Police will be equipped with an Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS) that would provide a real-time and minute-by-minute update on traffic congestion. It would allow the police to monitor and regulate traffic better. The public will be able to seek information on delay, travel time and alternative routes via a web-based portal.
This hi-tech system has been jointly developed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Thiruvananthapuram under Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) funded by the Union Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
It will be officially handed over to the city police this month, Gitakrishnan Ramadurai of Centre of Excellence in Urban Transport, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, told Express.
“We have worked for nearly three years on the project. This offers an array of features to the police and commuters providing dynamic traffic information. The 15-km corridor covering parts of Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Velachery-Taramani Road, Velachery Main Road, Velachery Bypass Road, Sardar Patel Road and Raj Bhavan Road has 9 signalised intersections. This was used as the study corridor or test bed to implement the project. It’s a technology demonstrator, which can be easily scaled-up to the entire city,” Ramadurai said.
On the operational part, an IIT official said GPS gadgets have been fitted to 120 buses plying in the study corridor. These provide data, using which, different sets of information are processed and fed into data dissimilation database, which in turn is relayed on Variable Message Sign (VMS) boards. To a query on how it is different from Google Maps, Ramadurai said under unexpected situations such as an accident or road block, ATIS scores big as police are provided manual override option where they can enter updates and put it across to travellers via VMSs.
“Also, we provide live images of the traffic movement with the help of 24 high-definition cameras installed en route which adds reliability,” he said, before adding that `4.2 crore was invested in the development of ATIS.
Already, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed with the city police, which has earmarked funds for the maintenance of the infrastructure. Ramadurai said a 45-inch monitor and workstation has been set-up at police commissioner’s office. “The project staff will assist the police for a few months until they get comfortable with the system,” he said.
Abhay Kumar Singh, the former Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), told Express the concept was good but its success depends on scalability. Currently, it is only a technology demonstration covering a 15-km stretch.
The Transport Engineering Division of IIT Madras is working closely with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The technology transfer would take place after formal approval from the Central government.