A Study on Distance Measurement Module for Driving Vehicle Velocity Estimation in Multi-Lanes Using Drones

A method of estimating driving vehicle information usually uses a speed gun and a fixed speed camera. Estimating vehicle information using the speed gun has a high risk of traffic accidents by the operator and the fixed speed camera is not efficient in terms of installation cost and maintenance. The existing driving vehicle information estimation method can only measure each lane’s driving vehicle information, so it is impossible to measure multi-lanes simultaneously with a single measuring device. This study develops a distance measurement module that can acquire driving vehicle information in multi-lanes simultaneously with a single system using a drone. The distance measurement module is composed of two LiDAR sensors to detect the driving vehicle in one lane. The drone is located above the edge of the road and each LiDAR sensor emits the front/rear point of the road measuring point to detect the driving vehicle. The driving vehicle velocity is estimated by detecting the driving vehicle’s detection distance and transit time through radiation, with the drone LiDAR sensor placed at two measurement points on the road. The drone LiDAR sensor radiates two measuring points on the road and estimates the velocity based on driving vehicle’s detection distance and driving time. As an experiment, the velocity accuracy of the drone driving vehicle is compared with the speed gun measurement. The vehicle velocity RMSE for the first and second lanes using drones is 0.75 km/h and 1.3 km/h, respectively. The drone and the speed gun’s average error probabilities are 1.2% and 2.05% in the first and second lanes, respectively. The developed drone is more efficient than existing driving vehicle measurement equipment because it can acquire information on the driving vehicle in a dark environment and a person’s safety.