A digital mileage calculating program for electronic toll collection by using vehicle positioning system

Abstract

One of the fairest mechanisms of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) would be distance-based charging, where vehicles would pay fees at a pre-specified rate per kilometer throughout the trip. The vehicle positioning system (VPS) based on GPS (Global Positioning System) has become the main ETC technology worldwide recently. One of the key algorithms for VPS is how to provide accurate distance calculation data. Therefore, a digital mileage calculating program utilizing the position information from a commercial GPS receiver to filter out noises should be developed to accumulate the total distance of a voyage incrementally. Due to environmental climates and built-up in a metropolitan area such as high buildings, bridges, radio stations, tunnels and traffic subways, signals of GPS satellites are easily susceptible to noises or even totally blocked. In such cases, the GPS position information loses fidelity. This paper presents a procedural program, incorporating an algorithmic software filter adaptive to different situations, is an answer to the above problems and is capable of providing the mileage of a voyage in real-time base with high accuracy compared to a mechanic mileage meter.