Highway Overload Detection System

System Introduction

Economic growth demands an adequate transport infrastructure. Highway networks ensure healthy development of freight transport market. However, in this highly competitive and cost-conscious market, more and more owners or operators tend to overload their trucks to minimize transportation costs, posing a serious risk to the safety of drivers, passengers and other road users. Overloading is also a big headache for traffic police. Traffic police can only spot-check vehicles on the road based on their own experience, which is surely not adequate in averting overloading. As computer technology grows, a more effective and intelligent overload detection system has come into use. The system automatically calculates, prints out and saves the extra weight records, providing evidence to facilitate legal proceedings.

System Principle

An overload detection system is installed at each entrance of the highway. It uses pressure sensors and strain gauges installed on the road surface as detection points.   Signal processing devices include signal amplifier, averager, analog-digital converter and computer system that are connected in sequence. The detection points are connected to corresponding amplifiers. The signals generated from the strain gauge that receives pressure from tyres are amplified by the amplifier and then sent to the averager, which works out the weighted averages of multi-analog signals. These results are analog/digital converted and sent to the detection system computer, which compares them with the preset overload signal values covering and incorporating overload cases of diversified vehicles. If the current signal value exceeds the preset overload signal value, it will be recorded and stored by the computer, accompanied by the activation of the alarm system and video camera system, so that vehicle images and the license plate information are snatched by the computer system. Such information can also be transmitted to the traffic police command center as evidences for legal proceedings. In this system, EVOC MEC-5004 is primarily used for signal matching operation and photo snatching.

Block Diagram

The overload detection system consists of pressure sensor, video acquisition system and embedded computer system, etc.