Anonymous Wireless Address Matching

In 2010, Houston TranStar pioneered the use of traffic monitoring using Anonymous Wireless Address Matching (AWAM). AWAM currently uses anonymous addresses from Bluetooth network devices to identify probes and calculate travel times and speeds on instrumented roadway segments. This innovation allows Houston TranStar to provide travel updates to drivers during daily commutes as well as in emergency evacuation situations. While the system does grab the MAC address from your Bluetooth-enabled devices such as a cell phone or GPS, it doesn't grab any personal information so you don't have to worry about anyone finding out that listening to M.C. Hammer is your guilty pleasure.

Traffic data collected from roadside sensors provides real-time and historical information for traffic management, traveler information, and planning systems. Currently, traffic data collected using vehicle probes is accomplished using toll tags, GPS, license plate recognition, and cellular phone networks. These systems can be expensive, difficult to install and maintain and provide a limited amount of data for the roadway network depending on the type of system being used.

The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is currently researching and developing an innovative, cost-effective approach for collecting and processing traffic data using anonymous wireless network addresses as probes. The system currently uses anonymous addresses from Bluetooth network devices to identify probes and calculate travel times and speeds on instrumented roadway segments.

The benefits of the Anonymous Wireless Address Matching:

• Low cost, standards-based, non-proprietary equipment and/or protocols.
• Easy, non-intrusive field installation and maintenance.
• Large penetration of probe devices