Research on the highway: Live pictures from the A1 on the mobile phone

Köln / Siegen, 15/11/2010 – Live images on the mobile phone mean priority on the motorway: This is now available for the rescue teams to the A1 in Remscheid. From now on, this is before arriving or while driving on the traffic on the A1 and the A3 itself and decide which is the most favourable route to navigate. This possibility of anonymous traffic monitoring is a byproduct of the research project of the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BAST), the Fraunhofer Institute, Straßen.NRW, and avinotec GmbH from Siegen. The traffic with all its particular features are included and can be found among others on mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs, but also on the PC by authorized persons.

Up to 29 ultra-modern cameras simultaneously observe the entire traffic and transmit it through novel mechanisms streaming on the internet and thus on web-enabled mobile phones as well. The cameras were set up along the A1 motorway, between the interchange Wermelskirchen and Wuppertal-Langerfeld and are completely independent of the electricity grid by using photovoltaic and fuel cells. The wireless transmission of video data makes the video stations also completely independent of cable connections. To monitor traffic conditions live and to analyse for scientific purposes the users do not need more than a mobile phone.

The motorway network of the Federal Republic of Germany is about 12.044 km long with approximately 2.200 km relating to North Rhine-Westphalia. Straßen.NRW takes responsibility for most of North Rhine-Westphalias’ motorway network.

The avinotec GmbH acts as a technical service and full service supplier to Germany and internationally with turnkey and comprehensive solutions. The topics of multimedia, telecommunications and operating systems employ the team of Siegen for more than a decade. In 2003, the company has turned to the mobile telecommunication networks. Their motivation was to provide the ability to watch videos on your mobile phone. Namely live and in such a small format that GSM networks (2G) are sufficient in order enable an attractive display of the results.