Traffic Monitoring

MLB has worked with a Department of Transportation research consortium led by Ohio State University to explore the applications and utility of UAVs for traffic monitoring. The MLB Bat was identified as an excellent platform for monitoring traffic for a number of reasons:

• A re-locatable and directable asset
• Full area coverage at low cost
• Up to six hours on location
• Low hourly cost
• High-resolution real-time imagery
• Operation in weather that keeps manned airplanes on the ground

In May 2003, the MLB Bat flew a series of traffic monitoring flights near and over the Ohio State University campus. Though the weather included, at times, ceilings of 500 feet, the Bat was able to autonomously gather the imagery requested by the researchers. After analyzing the data, the researchers agreed that they could readily:

• Qualify parking lot utilization
• Identify traffic flow patterns
• Traffic loop monitoring
• Assess road load

The MLB Bat can acquire day or night (visible or infrared) imagery 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by operating in teams. While a team will spend the majority of its time updating image maps of the entire city, aircraft can be retasked to focus on certain areas as situations arise. The result is a complete, low-cost aerial surveillance system for urban areas and other sensitive sites. Additionally, the Bat teams may capture some incidents as they occur, can respond to nearby non-traffic events (crime, fires, earthquakes, etc), and actively monitor other aspects of urban transportation infrastructure.