Lawrence Klein - 21DOCS Test Site

Lawrence Klein

Lawrence A. Klein received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from New York University in 1973. He is a member of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 03-145 Panel to develop guidance for the National Traffic Sensor System Evaluation Program and the 08-157 Panel to determine Best Practices for Data Fusion of Probe and Point Detector Data. He is a past member of the Transportation Research Board’s Highway Traffic Monitoring and Freeway Operations Committees. He led ASTM’s E17 Group V-ITS in developing worldwide standards to specify, install, and evaluate traffic flow sensors. At the French Institute of Science and Technology in Transportation, Planning, and Networks (IFSTTAR) in Bron, France, Dr. Klein lectured at EPFL-LAVOC (Swiss Laboratory of Traffic Facilities at Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was also a Visiting Professor at the Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Transportation Engineering and Science, Harbin, China. At Waveband Corporation he served as Director of Advanced Technology Programs. While at Hughes Aircraft Company, he was Principal Investigator on the FHWA Detection Technology for IVHS (later ITS) Program. As Chief Scientist at Aerojet ElectroSystems (TAMS Division), he was responsible for programs that integrated active and passive millimeter-wave and infrared multispectral sensors in satellites and smart "fire-and-forget" weapons.

Public Documents 1

Roadside Sensors for Traffic Management

Lawrence Klein

May 17, 2022

Knowledge of modern traffic flow sensors is key to providing traffic managers, researchers, and students the ability to understand the operation, installation requirements, strengths, and limitations of current sensor technologies to enable an informed decision as to which is appropriate for a particular application. Accordingly, this paper describes the in-roadway and above-roadway traffic flow sensor technologies, their applications and selection criteria, typical output data, and models representative of each technology. Accounting for life-cycle costs ensures that not only direct hardware and software purchase costs be considered, but also that installation, training, maintenance, and repair are factored into the sensor selection decision. The technologies discussed are mature with respect to current traffic management applications, although some may not provide the data or the accuracy required for a specific application or may not perform as needed under the environmental conditions anticipated at the installation site. Sensors selected for a first-time application should be field tested under actual operating conditions including variations in traffic flow rates, night lighting, inclement weather, and unique road configurations that may be encountered in day-to-day operation before large-scale purchases of the device are made. As alternative traffic data and information sources become increasingly available, they are progressingly finding their way into modern traffic management systems as a complement to conventional roadside sensors.