Traffic Monitoring

What is traffic monitoring?

Traffic monitoring is a key requirement when managing a road related situation or looking for ways to improve current systems in place. Drones are often used in traffic monitoring to manage situations such as accidents and monitor the flow of vehicles for research purposes.

How does traffic monitoring work?

1. Depending on if the drone needs to be stationary or not, a tethered or battery powered drone will be sent up in an area of interest.
2. The pilot will fly the drone over the area, looking at the live feed from the camera to understand what is happening. The camera will also be recording data for use later. The live feed can also be used with AI to detect types of vehicles and the lanes for real-time tracking.
3. Once the drone is down, the data will be looked over and conversations are started on what to do next.

Benefits of using drones

• Drones can be quickly deployed to get situational awareness over a situation within a few minutes.
• Monitoring the traffic from above is much better than from the ground as more can be seen and a drone can be flown kilometres away.
• Compared to a manned aircraft, drones are much cheaper to run and multiple can be in the air for less than the cost of a single helicopter or aeroplane.
• When used with a tether, drones can be in the air and monitoring the traffic for up to 24 hours at a time. Outlasting any other methods.

Tethered drones for continuous monitoring

When traffic needs to be watched for hours rather than minutes, tethered drones are the better tool. The tether provides continuous power and a secure, physical data link, so the drone can stay overhead for entire operations.

• Quick deployment – Tethered drones can be deployed in minutes, often without the same operating requirements as free-flying drones.
• 24/7 data – With power and data delivered over the tether, a single system can capture continuously, around the clock.
• Increased security – Data travels over a physical connection rather than a radio link, so it cannot be intercepted over the air.