Use of magnetic monitoring of vehicles for proactive strategy development

The proactive operational strategy in the transport system which is a parallel concept associated with the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) seems to be modern and right direction of development. However, the basis for its operation is the "information" in the broad sense of the term, on the functioning of the transport system itself. As new technologies develop, there emerge new opportunities of putting to use a wide array of sensors which can deliver more complete traffic data but using complex matrix of sensors is often unjustified economically and confusing. The paper proposes use of magnetometers as an interesting alternative to pass the requirements of simplicity of application, minimum costs and maximum of acquired information. The process of obtaining the information requires analysis of the quantitative and qualitative changes of the magnetic field. The conducted analyses demonstrate the possibility of using the passive magnetic methods for the purpose of monitoring of vehicles. Placement of the magnetic sensor bear out an important issue and was also discussed. During the experimental research it has been proven that passive magnetic methods enable obtaining the information on the movement of a vehicle as well as on the vehicle itself. Estimations of such values as: vehicle's moving direction, velocity, dimensions, clearance or mass having ferromagnetic properties and even the state of strain in a vehicle's structure were confirmed in practice. In addition thanks to magneto-mechanical effects the theoretical possibility of assessing the stress occurring in the components of vehicles, which could be indicative of the volume of cargo carried. Moreover, the crash experiment showed the possibility of a collision detection using magnetic signal. The need for obtaining information increases from year to year, with information becoming the biggest asset which enables both development and effective use of the transport system. Included researches, proofs emerging opportunity of more extensive use of magnetic sensors and the passive magnetic methods which could be applied in the modern transportation system. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.