TOLL ELECTRONIC COLLECTIONS

ETCS-Electronic Tolls Collection System
CONTENTS

1. Brief description of the system
2. ETCS system architecture
3. Subsystems and functionalities
4. Technical specifications and standards
5. ETCS technical details

Electronic Tolls Collection System – ETCS

1. Brief description of the system
The Electronic Tolls Collection System (ETCS) is an integrated solution for the vehicle toll collection problem. Using the Dedicated Short Range Communication technology (DSRC), the system identifies and categorizes passing vehicles and controls their entrance and exit to and from the station lanes. Moreover, using advanced software applications it charges vehicles with the appropriate toll amount, monitors traffic of every station and handles tag issuing.

2. ETCS system architecture
ETCS functions uses the following subsystems:

Vehicle identification and categorization
Passing vehicle control
Toll station and lane administrationDevice and peripheral administration
Tag sales
Tag bills administration
Toll price administration

3. Subsystems and functionalities
Identification, categorization and control of passing vehicles
Using DSRC technology, ETCS identifies passing vehicles by processing data transmitted from the tags and then categorizes them based on user defined rules. Categorization rules are defined parametrically and with the help of the following criteria:

Uni-axial and multi-axial vehicles.
Number of vehicle axles.
Height of first axle.
Total height of vehicle.
Two (2) more custom criteria for future use.

Moreover, the system can track the vehicle direction (forward or backward) and the number of axles that were counted for each direction.
The system also identifies data from valid tags, takes knowledge of their money balance and charges vehicle passing based on the above categorization rules while there is an alternative option to use the tag bar code for the execution of the above functionalities. This way, a vehicle can use its tag in order to pass a manual station instead of an automatic one, in case of malfunction.
It is worth mentioning that the above procedure can be customized to the specific needs and peripherals of almost every toll station.

Tag identification data also contain battery status and money balance information so that replacement of the tag and driver notification can be performed respectively, in a timely fashion.

Toll station and lane administration
ETCS has the ability to centrally administer multiple toll stations and their lanes. Moreover it can administer each toll station as an entrance or exit station, in case a distance charge model has been used (payment is to be done when exiting the motorway).
Every ETCS system controller can control two (2) passing lanes.
All information stored to the system are distinguished to the level of tag, station and lane.

Device and peripheral administration
ETCS has full control of every device and peripheral used. Status information is available in real time and all of them can be administered centrally.
The system supports peripherals that activate it (i.e. exit loop) and peripherals that are activated by it (i.e. beacon).
It is possible to install different devices and peripherals at every toll station depending on the needs.

Device connectivity is defined parametrically for every toll station and is independent of the connection protocol between them and the system.

Input/Output (Ι/Ο) card administration
ETCS receives signals from the input pins of the I/O cards, it processes them and sends signals at the output pins in order to perform certain actions.
The system monitors each pin individually, thus monitoring all the status conditions of the devices that are attached to them.
There is also the option to define the system response parametrically based on the activation, deactivation or activation-deactivation of the pin.

System action administration
ETCS provides a fully graphical user interface in order to define performed actions. These actions, the order of execution and the events that trigger their execution are defined parametrically during system installation and configuration. For example, during the identification of a vehicle that carries a valid tag the following actions are to be performed:

Turn off the red light of the beacon
Turn on the green light of the beacon
Show message of successful passing
Provide access to the toll lane
Show wait message

Tag, bills and price list administration

ETCS supports multiple tag sales points where purchase and replace of tags can be made, credits can be added or removed and detailed description of the tag activity can be printed out.
Toll price list is defined parametrically and can be valid for certain time spans.

4. Technical specifications and standards

ETCS follows the international ISO 14906 standard for the implementation of the DSRC communication which assures compatibility for identification and data processing from third party tag manufactors.
Moreover, by implementing the RS232, RS422 and TCP/IP communication protocols, the system can connect to almost any device.
There is no limit to the quantity of devices and peripherals the system can handle as long as they support the RS232, RS422 or TCP/IP protocols. For devices that need an I/O card to connect, 48 operation status are supported with the ability to extend to unlimited quantity.
The number of operation status for every device is limited only by its manufactor.
The information processed by ETCS is stored centrally into a relational database. However, the system can still function even when there is no communication with the database as data is then stored locally to the lane controllers.

5. Technical details

The current version of ETCS operates using the following devices and software:

MD5850 antenna and MD5884 tag made by Q-FREE (other manufactors also supported).
Ι/Ο car made by Οpto22 (other manufactors also supported).
Access control bar of every manufactor.
Beacon of every manufactor.
Electronic curtain of every manufactor.
Electronic information signpost made by Motor Electronics (other manufactors also supported).
Usage of other devices and peripherals is also supported.
Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database (other manufactors – like Oracle – also supported).
Microsoft .ΝΕΤ Framework.