Advantages offered by the double magnetic loops versus the conventional single ones.

Abstract

Due to their simplicity and operating mode, magnetic loops are one of the most used traffic sensors in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). However, at this moment, their potential is not being fully exploited, as neither the speed nor the length of the vehicles can be surely ascertained with the use of a single magnetic loop. In this way, nowadays the vast majority of them are only being used to measure traffic flow and count vehicles on urban and interurban roads. This is the reason why we presented in a previous paper the double magnetic loop, capable of improving the features and functionalities of the conventional single loop without increasing the cost or introducing additional complexity. In that paper, it was introduced their design and peculiarities, how to calculate their magnetic field and three different methods to calculate their inductance. Therefore, with the purpose of improving the existing infrastructure and providing it with greater potential and reliability, this paper will focus on justifying and demonstrating the advantages offered by these double loops versus the conventional ones. This will involve analyzing the magnetic profiles generated by the passage of vehicles over double loops and comparing them with those already known. Moreover, it will be shown how the vehicle speed, the traffic direction and many other data can be obtained more easily and with less margin of error by using these new inductance signatures.