Modelling and simulation software company PTV Group is piloting its first piece of traffic detection hardware in Europe, as part of the integration with its sister company Econolite. The sensor EVO RADAR has been successfully trialled in in South Gloucestershire.
The two companies, which merged in January under the Umovity brand, are now actively harnessing the synergies of their market-leading technologies: PTV’s experience of traffic modelling and simulation together with Econolite’s intersection control and traffic detec- tion expertise.
The California-based company is one of the leading providers of traffic management solutions with extensive business across the United States and Middle East. The first product now being offered to the UK market is the EVO RADAR sensor. It provides an unprecedented extremely wide and usable field of view along with a sensing range of up to 300 metres, enabling only two sensors to fully cover all approaches at most intersections.
“This is a very exciting moment for PTV in the UK,” explained UK Managing Director Devrim Kara. “For decades we have been trusted to simulate the movement of traffic and people from a single junction to an entire city, but until now our customers have needed to source the traffic detection equipment elsewhere. Now we can provide both traffic data collection and interpretation.”
The EVO RADAR detects vehicle movements, as well as pedestrians and cyclists. The data gathered can then be ingested into PTV modelling software and analysed to simu- late any potential changes that could improve traffic flow and make things safer and eas- ier for active travel. It has been successfully trialled in South Gloucestershire where the client was impressed with the accuracy of tracking all types of highway traffic.
Gary Liddington, Senior Engineer at South Gloucestershire Council said: “It couldn’t have gone better, installation and setup was so simple and to date we have had no problems. The site is performing very well with the Evo Radar.”
“I have been extremely impressed by the quality of the radar’s performance so far,” added project partner Dan Preece, MD and engineer at Integrated Traffic Services. “Reli- able detection is paramount to a well performing network. The EVO Radar is hands down the most accurate and simple to setup above ground multi lane system I have used so far. The field of view is exceptional, it was amazing how much of the junction it could see. The fact that the installation and setup is so simple is really attractive. The quality of de- tection combined with the simplicity of setup, and the ease of maintenance means that a junction with Evo Radar will not only be optimum now but will also work well into the fu- ture. The Evo also comes with classified data collection built in; the possibilities of this ra- dar coupled with PTV’s software is very exciting.”
Combining PTV & Econolite end-to-end technology, Umovity serves as true One-Stop- Shop for smart and sustainable mobility solutions, both hardware and software. The now newly released joint Mobility Tech Suite covers everything from transportation planning and prediction to on-site traffic management.
PTV will continue to work with data gathered from any third party and Mr Kara explains that the addition of a new product to the market does not mean users of different hard- ware will get a lesser service from his team. “We’re putting the two businesses together because a combined detection, traffic management and modelling solution will inevitably lead to more efficient intersections and safer roads for everyone,” he continued. “At the moment, we don’t know where our new business will end up, and that is the most exciting aspect – the sky’s the limit.”
Umovity says it expects to offer other Econolite products into the UK market in due course as it integrates the businesses around the world.
(Picture – Umovity/PTV)
