Travel Information Data Acquisition System (TRIDAQS) Reference Manual

Blumentritt, Charles W. · 1983 · ROSA P / Texas Transportation Institute. Texas A&M University

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Summary

This document serves as the reference manual for the B-2 Travel Information Data Acquisition System (TRIDAQS), a portable microcomputer system developed by the Texas Transportation Institute for the Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation. The system was designed to address the need for low-cost, highly portable equipment capable of recording floating vehicle travel time studies on freeways. The primary motivation was to monitor traffic flow quality on specific roadway segments in Houston, Texas, by providing a device that could be easily transferred between vehicles and operated by drivers with minimal interaction. The TRIDAQS unit is housed in an aluminum suitcase and utilizes an SD Sales Z80 Starter Kit microprocessor. It interfaces with a MassTech speed sensor installed in the vehicle’s speedometer drive line to record speed pulses, which are buffered and recorded onto cassette tape. A key development finding was that the initial low-cost modified audio recorder was unreliable in field conditions; consequently, the B-2 prototype replaced it with a higher-quality Memodyne cassette recorder to ensure data integrity. The system operates in two modes: data acquisition in the vehicle, where drivers initiate and terminate studies via a single button press, and data transmission in an office setting, where an acoustic coupler transmits recorded data to a host computer via telephone. The manual details the operational procedures for initializing the computer, including entering parameters such as date, driver and vehicle identification numbers, weather and pavement conditions, and starting link numbers. It explains the calibration process required for each vehicle to ensure accurate distance calculations based on the speed sensor’s pulse rate. The document also describes the battery of data processing programs (e.g., PREPROC, PROCESS, STATPLT) used to analyze the field data on large-scale computers, generating outputs such as speed profiles and event plots. The significance of this work lies in the successful creation of a reliable, field-tested system for automated travel time data collection. By resolving the hardware reliability issues of the earlier prototype, the TRIDAQS became a functional tool for daily data acquisition. The report concludes by noting that while the system met immediate needs, the emergence of commercial laptop computers suggested that custom-built units like TRIDAQS would eventually be superseded by more versatile commercial technology.

Key finding

The TRIDAQS B-2 system utilizes a microprocessor and cassette tape to record travel time data in floating vehicles, with data transmission to a computer achieved through an acoustic coupler and telephone hookup.

Methodology

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• Methodological Resource: dataset resource