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Our VISATRAM uses a PC-486 based machine and a simple frame grabber to collect important traffic data such as 3D sizes and speeds of vehicles in a multi-lane highway traffic in real time. As an important application of our spatio-temporal panoramic modeling approach, we used TV camera mounted above the highway to monitor the traffic through two slice windows, and a panoramic view image and an epipolar plane image are formed for each lane.  VISATRAM has a potential impact on intelligent transportation system (ITS) in many aspects such as traffic statistics, traffic control and automatic tolling system, with very economic and easy installation. This work has been presented at various conferences and published in a number of journals.  The paper at the IEEE International Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision 1996 received a high rating from the Program Committee, and thus a revised paper was submitted by invitation to a special issue of Journal of Image Vision and Computing (JIVC). A prototype system has been tested with real road images under various light conditions, including shadows in daytime and lights at night, in collaboration with  the Chinas Public Transportation Corporation for highway traffic monitoring and management around 1996.

An example of real-time operation

Zhigang Zhu, Guangyou Xu, Bo Yang, Dingji Shi, Xueyin Lin, "VISATRAM: A real-time vision system for automatic traffic monitoring," Image and Vision Computing, vol. 18, no. 10, July 2000, Elsevier Science B.V., pp. 781-794.

Zhigang Zhu, Bo Yang, Guangyou Xu, "A visual system for automatic traffic monitoring based on 2D spatio-temporal images," Proc. IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision, Sarasota, FL, Dec. 2-4, 1996, pp. 162-167.

Zhigang Zhu, Guangyou Xu, Bo Yang, "Automatic traffic monitoring system using 2D spatio-temporal images," Journal of Image and Graphics, vol 1, no 2, pp. 107-113, June 1996(in Chinese).

Zhigang Zhu, Bo Yang, Guangyou Xu, "Estimation of speeds and 3D sizes of vehicles for automatic traffic monitoring," Proc 8th National Image and Graphics Symposium, Wuhan, China, April 1996 (in Chinese)

Bo Yang, Zhigang Zhu, Guangyou Xu, "Image processing problems in an automatic traffic monitoring system," Proc 8th National Image and Graphics Symposium, Wuhan, China, April 1996 (in Chinese)

Zhigang Zhu, Guangyou Xu, Bo Yang, et al, "VISATRAM: a visual system for automatic traffic monitoring," Proc 8th National Image and Graphics Symposium, Wuhan, China, April 1996 (in Chinese)

Zhigang Zhu, Guangyou Xu, Bo Yang , "Automatic traffic monitoring system using 2D spatio-temporal images," Proc 2nd International Conference on Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice , Hong Kong, 12-14th, Sept. 1995.

Guangyou Xu, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing
Xueyin Lin, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing
Dingji Shi, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing

Bo Yang, Ph.D. student,  Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing

China National Advanced Research Program, Image Mosaic-based Visual Scene Modeling and Target Recognition, 1/1996-12/2000, Co-PI (Xu, Zhu)

China Public Transportation Engineering Corporation, Real-Time Vision System for Traffic Monitoring, 1995-1996, PI (Zhu)

China National Science Foundation, Motion Estimation Using Gradients of Image Intensity, 1/1994-12/1996, Co-PI (Zhu)

China National Advanced Research Program, Comprehensive Understanding of Multiple Sensing Systems, 1/1991-12/1995, Co-PIs (Xu, Zhu)