Traffic flow measurement system using image processing

In this paper, we propose a simple algorithm to calculate the numbers of the passing cars by using an image processing sensor for the digital black and white images with 256 tone level. Shadow is one of the most troublesome factor in image processing. By differencing the tone level, we cannot discriminate between the body of the car and its shadow. In our proposed algorithm, the area of the shadow is excluded by recognizing the position of each traffic lane. For real-time operation and simple calculation, two lines of the tone level are extracted and the existences of cars are recognized. In the experimental application on a high-way, the recognition rate of the real-time operation is more than 94%.