Real-time traffic information collection

A traffic data collection method comprising:

• collecting traffic data related to movements of vehicles on a section of the road using at least one sensor installed on the section of a road,
• wherein said collecting the traffic data includes sampling the traffic data at a certain interval long enough to substantially reduce the amount of the collected traffic data using the at least one sensor by:
• (a) radiating RF electromagnetic waves directed at the section of the road;
• (b) sensing signals reflected by the vehicles on the section of the road;
• and (c) determining and collecting the traffic data including distance, speed, and angle of the vehicles on the section of the road,
• wherein said collecting also includes processing the traffic data over time to include only essential data including an arithmetic mean of speed of the vehicles, maximum speed, sizes of the vehicles on the section of the road;
• relaying the collected traffic data received at the at least one sensor using a plurality of traffic data relay devices,
• wherein the plurality of traffic data relay devices comprises low-power network devices to enable the at least one sensor to (1) operate in a power saving mode powered by a stand-alone power source and (2) transmit the substantially reduced amount of the collected traffic data.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program to collect traffic information, the computer program comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to:

• collect traffic data related to movements of vehicles on a section of the road at a certain interval long enough to substantially reduce the amount of the collected traffic data using at least one sensor installed on the section of a road,
• wherein the executable instructions that cause the computer to collect the traffic data includes executable instructions that cause the computer to sample the traffic data using the at least one sensor by:
• (a) radiating RF electromagnetic waves directed at the section of the road;
• (b) sensing signals reflected by the vehicles on the section of the road;
• and (c) determining and collecting the traffic data including distance, speed, and angle of the vehicles on the section of the road,
• wherein the executable instructions that cause the computer to collect the traffic data also includes executable instructions that cause the computer to process the traffic data over time to include only essential data including an arithmetic mean of speed of the vehicles, maximum speed, sizes of the vehicles on the section of the road;
• relay the collected traffic data received at the at least one sensor using a plurality of traffic data relay devices,
• wherein the plurality of traffic data relay devices comprises low-power network devices to enable the at least one sensor to (1) operate in a power saving mode powered by a stand-alone power source and (2) transmit the substantially reduced amount of the collected traffic data.