As traffic-control and toll-collection methods become more sophisticated and diverse, agencies are leveraging RFID systems to provide not just a vehicle’s ID number and its driver’s tolling account, but also information such as how many people are in the car and what the driver’s status is—for instance, a government or emergency vehicle operator. Within this new environment, Star Systems International (SSI) has released a set of new products, including a windshield and headlight transponder that lets drivers self-declare their high-occupancy tolling (HOT) or express-lane occupancy mode.
To better meet the needs for automatic vehicle identification (AVI), the company’s Genesis multimode 6C transponder is designed with greater read sensitivity and a larger user memory than its predecessors, the company reports, as well as self-error detection to protect against memory or data corruption. It comes with a spring-loaded switching mechanism so users can switch the occupancy mode to indicate the number of passengers onboard.
SSI’s Genesis transponder has received OmniAir Consortium certification.
This dial mode is enabled by sending one of multiple transmission status modes available within the 6C Toll Operators Committee (TOC) standard (see Efforts to Aid Adoption of ISO 18000-6C RFID for Toll Collection Move Forward). Thus, drivers can self-declare the number of occupants in HOT, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) and express-lane applications, and to be charged (or not), according to those numbers.
Founded in 2013, SSI provides vehicle-identification technologies that include transponders, readers and consulting services for tolling, vehicle registration, fleet management, parking and secure access control, according to Robert Karr, the company’s CEO. The state of toll collection and traffic control has been changing since the firm launched, he says. Therefore, SSI has released several products to address that change in addition to the Genesis transponder, all of which have received certification from the OmniAir Consortium.
The consortium provides certification for tolling technologies, with the goal of allowing connected vehicles to accelerate commercial interoperability across the United States. The new SSI products are the Tarvos UHF RFID multi-protocol integrated reader, the Agena-LP vehicle license plate transponder, the Agena headlamp sticker transponder, the Zenith windshield and headlamp sticker transponder, the Astro windshield or headlamp sticker transponder, and the Atlantis windshield and headlamp sticker transponder.
Robert Karr
Increasingly, Karr says, urban areas are expanding beyond HOV lanes to manage traffic and collect tolls, with a strategy of proactively responding to changing roadway conditions. That means pricing and access to managed lanes can vary depending on traffic, he says, as well as the day and time. Express lanes are replacing HOV lanes in the United States, he notes, as well as in South America, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and other parts of Asia, all of which are in various stages of adopting automatic tolling technologies.
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CODOT), for instance, has adopted a system by which users can purchase a switchable HOV transponder. When a car contains two or more occupants, the users can slide the transponder switch to the red HOV mode, enabling them to use express lanes for free. If drivers have fewer than three people onboard, they can switch the transponder to the green toll mode, then pay tolls automatically without having to stop. Since deploying the managed-lanes system, CODOT reports that the express lanes have been providing more consistent speeds, while peak travel times have been shorter.
According to the agency, traffic flow is now approximately 10 miles per hour faster during rush hour than it was before the system was implemented, while holiday travel times have been reduced by up to 52 percent. SSI’s switchable RFID system for tolling can transmit data via up to three different modes—a technique that the company has patented. “Our challenge is to isolate different modes of transmission without a battery,” Karr says. “We do a very, very good job with the Genesis and its predecessor Gemini tag,” using multiple chips in the tag.
The Genesis switch comes in the form of a spring-loaded dial selector, Karr says, and the dial snaps into the next position when the mode is changed, making it easier for someone to flip from one mode to another. “We think it’s a safer way for people to do, and it’s easy,” he states. The hard-cover Genesis model is smaller than previous such transponders and provides a more sensitive read at -22.5 dBm, so that the tag ID will be captured by readers installed above or beside roadways while vehicles are moving at high speeds.
The Genesis device includes a large user memory and self-error detection, Karr reports. Error detection and correction is especially important for tolling and AVI applications, he says. RFID transmission, in general, can be vulnerable to the occasional bit flip that corrupts data related to an RFID tag ID. Although it doesn’t happen frequently, he notes, a polling agency loses funds every time it does. “With our new chip,” Karr states, the system can either correct the error during transmission or flag it so that the system knows it has occurred. Star Systems is now selling Genesis and other products certified this year by the OmniAir Consortium.
The Tarvos reader is a multi-protocol device that can simultaneously read up to seven protocols, including 6C and the two other frequencies predominantly used in the United States: Kapsch‘s time division multiplexing (TDM) protocol for the E-ZPass system on the East Coast, and TransCore‘s SuperEgo tags used in the Midwest. Both utilize different proprietary versions of 915 MHz semi-active or passive transponders. The Tarvos comes with an antenna and a reader integrated into a single device, along with an external port for additional antennas.
SSI’s Zenith transponder, meanwhile, is a 6C sticker tag for windshield and headlamps that provides sensitive reads and error correction. It comes with a permanently locked and 96-bit TID and password-protected user memory. The system also includes SSI’s Non-Removable, Non-Transferable (NRNT) Tamper Evident or Tamper Evident Break On Removal (BOR) features, and it can be used for tolling, vehicle ID and access control.
Going forward, Karr predicts managed lanes will continue to leverage the flexibility that RFID technology increasingly provides. “We see more and more areas using the express-lane idea,” he states. Traffic management is increasingly moving away from standard HOV lanes, and drivers are instead being charged according to time and condition. “We think it’s a big thing for the future. It will improve urban traffic and major highways around it.” The transponders are being used to differentiate emergency vehicles and government officials.
SSI’s readers can interrogate tags from all current protocols used by different tolling authorities around the country as part of interoperability legislation known as Map 21, which is intended to make roads safer. That legislation, led by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, includes efforts to make toll-collection systems universal throughout the United States so that cross-country drivers do not require different technologies and accounts for tolling agencies in different geographic areas. Ultimately, Karr says, traffic authorities are “really trying to make the roads work better, to improve traffic and reduce traffic jams.”