ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

ABSTRACT

This paper describes about one of the promising technologies of future

called RFID and then about one of its predominant application, “Automatic toll

collection for vehicles using RFID”. At first let us see the introduction about

RFID, followed by description of existing automatic toll collection method using

RFID and finally we propose an advanced model which integrates Automatic toll

collection system with Weigh in Motion technology ,Infra red curtain technology

and radar detection technology that provides many advantages over conventional

Automatic toll collection model.

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INTRODUCTION

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. RFID has been billed as
“The Next Big Thing” after IC chips. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is
one of the most rapidly growing segments of today’s automatic Identification data
collection (AIDC) industry. Applications that make use of RFID’s features and
capabilities are demonstrating significant process improvements through
implementing this technology.

RFID is one of the two major automatic Identification technologies. Bar

Code is the another one. RFID in concept is a lot like a bar code. Bar codes are
optically scanned with a laser and barcodes contain an alphanumeric string to
identify a product. RFID tags are similar in that they can contain product or
equipment information but are read via radiofrequency (RF) .The important thing
here is that you don’t need to get line of site access to read the RFID tag unlike
barcodes (in which we had to show optical scanner directly on barcodes). But
RFID scanning can be done in a proximity of 30 feet. In addition, RFID can
contain a lot more information than the typical bar code ranging from a mere 96
bits to over a megabit or 125Kbytes. But the typical barcode contains between 12
and 30 alpha-numeric characters or about 30 bytes max. For all these reasons
RFID can provide a lot more functionality than bar codes. There are several kinds
of RFID products; simple systems use maybe 12 bytes of product information,
some allow read/write access to the RFID tag and much larger amounts of data.

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THE RFID SYSTEM

The RFID system consist of two important components (as shown in figure
) namely Tag and the Reader .The tag is affixed to the item being tracked and
the reader is the device that reads tag

For operation, a reader with an antenna will emit a command signal to the
tag and wait for a response. The command signal can be in an addressed or non-
addressed mode. In other words, in addressed mode the command signal from the
reader contain certain address. Only those tags with that address can respond to
that signal. In non addressed mode, any tag in the vicinity of the reader will detect
the signal and use the energy from it to wake up and supply operating power to the
internal circuits. The tag decodes the signal, ensures that the command signal is
valid and replies to the reader. It indicates it’s presence by changing or modulating
the reflected reader field. The main idea is that the reader starts the
communication and the tag replies. If there are a lot of tags in the reader field, the
reader can get several responses and process them at the same time (another
advantage of RFID over barcodes). The number of tags that can be identified in a
batch depends on the frequency band used. Typical numbers are 50 for HF and up
to 200 for UHF.

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Communication can be done using one of several techniques such as ASK etc.
These techniques are used to encode the digital data of the reader and tag onto the
carrier frequency of the system. Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift
Keying (FSK), or Phase Shift Keying (PSK) are the most common techniques.
ASK encodes ones and zeros by modulating the amplitude of the carrier
frequency. FSK encodes the bit stream by switching frequencies, using one
frequency for a zero and another for a one. PSK simply changes the phase of the
carrier frequency. In this case, a zero phase shift presents a digital zero and a
180º phase shift is a one.

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TOLL COLLECTION
Normally after construction of any new roads or bridges, the Government
will charge money from every vehicle whenever they enter that road or bridge.
This is called Toll.Normally in practice, the Government will set up manual toll
booth on the entrance of that road in which vehicle has to stop and pay. This leads
to long waiting queues, traffic jams and occasional accidents. In order to avoid
these problems, automatic toll collection using RFID has been evolved. In this
method, vehicle owner has to buy a prepaid card (RFID tag) which has certain
money value (say Rs 500) and fix it to his car.

At automatic toll collection centre, the RFID reader will floods interrogation
signal. Whenever a vehicle fit with RFID tag crosses automatic toll collection
centre, the tag get energized due to interrogation signal and transmits a unique
code corresponding to that vehicle. The RFID reader reads it and transmit it to
computer. Which will check user database to find vehicle owner’s account and
deduct toll charge (say Rs 5) from user account.

OUR PROPOSED MODEL FOR TOLL COLLECTION

By integrating some other technologies with RFID, we can introduce a more
advanced toll collection method. Let us discuss technologies that are needed in
addition to RFID for implementing the advanced model.

1. WEIGH IN MOTION
Weigh In Motion technology is used to measure approximate axle weights
as a vehicle moves across the sensors, and to determine the overall vehicle weight
and classification based on the axle weights and spacing. Although not as accurate
as a static scale, WIM allows the weight of a vehicle to be estimated for screening
purposes, while maintaining traffic flow. The popular Weigh in motion
technology is piezoelectric sensor.

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PIEZOELECTRIC SENSORS
The most common WIM sensor for data collection purposes is the
piezoelectric sensor. The basic construction of the typical sensor consists of a
copper strand, surrounded by a piezoelectric material, which is covered by a
copper sheath. When pressure is applied to the piezoelectric material an electrical
charge is produced. The sensor is actually embedded in the pavement and the load
is transferred through the pavement. The characteristics of the pavement will
therefore affect the output signal. By measuring and analyzing the charge
produced, the sensor can be used to measure the weight of a passing tire or axle
group. By simply connecting piezoelectric sensor’s output to USB port and using
the corresponding software, we can have instant readout of weight of the vehicle
crossing the toll station.

2. SPEED DETECTOR
The speed detector works on the basis of Doppler Effect. The detector will
transmit a microwave signal towards the vehicle. The reflected microwave signal
will be again received and frequency change of the signal will be noted. From the
frequency change, we can detect the speed of the vehicle crossing toll station.

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3. INFRA RED CURTAIN

Infra red curtain is used to classify the vehicle as small (eg. car), medium
(eg lorry) large (eg container lorry) based on length of vehicle and thereby
charging different toll for each type of vehicle. Infra red curtain consist of number
of infra red emitters along same line (at different heights) at one end of the road
emitting IR waves towards other end of the road where corresponding infra red
receiver will be placed. Whenever a vehicle crosses the IR curtain, the IR
reception will be disturbed and thus a vehicle crossing is identified. Using the
length of time for which the IR reception disturbed (t) and speed of crossing
vehicle (v) detected using speed detector (described above), we can find the length
of the vehicle (v * t) and thus determine the length of vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM

Whenever a vehicle enters the toll centre, its weight and length are calculated
using WIM and IR curtain respectively. And using RFID the vehicle owner’s
account was found. Now based on either weight or size (length) of vehicle we can
charge different toll from user’s prepaid account.

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Also incase the vehicle is found to be overweight( for example, for a

lorry(medium type vehicle), the maximum allowed weight is 10 ton) then using a
roadway signal(red light is on), we can ask the vehicle to pull in side the weigh
station that is located following the toll station for more accurate weight
checking and then take necessary actions against lorry owner.

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ADVANTAGES
The most important use of our new model is that user can use same card
for his all vehicle, i.e. a user can use single smart card for his two wheeler and also
for his car. For conventional toll collection method, the RFID tag is fixed
permanently on vehicle. But in this proposed model, RFID tag is used like smart
card. Whenever the user travel via toll booth in his vehicle with RFID card, the
toll booth system itself find the type of vehicle the user currently using and thus
charge corresponding toll from user account accordingly

The second advantage is, due to the integration of Weigh in Motion

technology, overloaded vehicle can be caught easily without stopping every
vehicle to check its weight thereby avoiding time delay for normally loaded
vehicles. Other usual advantages are avoiding long queues and traffic jams at toll
station which normally happens in ordinary toll stations.

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CONCLUSION
Automatic toll collection using RFID is still a new technology for India.
Currently, this is a costly method to implement in India. But researches are going
on to reduce the price of RFID tag and reader. During initial stages, it is suggested
to divide road into two lanes. In one lane vehicles using RFID tag will be allowed
to travel freely, whereas in other lane vehicle has to stop and pay toll manually. In
future, automatic toll collection using RFID will be a common thing for India.

References
 www.aimglobal.org
 www.wikipidea.org
 www.businessofgovernment.org
 www.transcore.org
 www.massload.com
 www.ettm.com
 P. Sorrells, Passive RFID basics, Microchip Technology
Inc., 1998.

 K. Finkenzeller, RFID Handbook, New York: John

Wiley, 2000, 2ed.

 MicroIDTM13.56 MHz RFID System Design Guide,

Microchip Technology Inc., 2001

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