Researchers from the National University, Medellín headquarters, and Jaime Isaza Cadavid Polytechnic, members of the Mobility and traffic control project in the city of Medellín (Moycot) have worked for six years in the development of solutions that use information technology and Communication to improve mobility.
This time, the chosen resource are drones: these small flying cameras have been linked to the traffic analysis software with which the research team works, thus generating views from the air that allow to identify, without obstacles, the needs of mobility.
One of the premises of the project consists in measuring the behavior of the vehicular flow. Deciphering the way cars, motorcycles or buses behave on city roads.
The researcher Jorge Ernesto Espinosa Oviedo, PhD in Engineering and professor at the Jaime Isaza Cadavid Polytechnic, explained that this tool allows images up to 120 or 130 meters high. From there, concrete solutions to identified problems arise.
Then, programs are formulated to improve the traffic lights depending on the time of day and the vehicular flow. Even coordination strategies can be generated to improve mobility in an entire area.
One of the software solutions developed by the collective allows Waze’s information to be combined with the data produced by drone measurements or manual counts.
The novelty of Moycot’s software, Jairo said, is to have access to specific information without having to use so many sensors. Cyclists and pedestrians also have a place in the measurement and analysis systems of the project.
The multimodal nature of the software registry makes it possible to identify problems that fall on these road actors and propose solutions.
The need to build a pedestrian bridge, to optimize trips on bike paths or the relevance of a traffic light for pedestrians, are some of the conclusions that the analysis can throw.
The advances of the Moycot project already had an application scenario in the city. In the area between Calle 33 and San Juan, and between Carrera 65 and 80, measurement exercises have been carried out, not yet intervention.
How far are we from seeing drones monitoring traffic from more areas in the city?
