Chicago kicks off the Array of Things project

The first data-collecting sensors as part of a delayed but major roads project have been stationed atop traffic light poles in Chicago. The US city installed two nodes containing computers and sensors including low-resolution cameras as well as air quality sensors, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
September 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

The first data-collecting sensors as part of a delayed but major roads project have been stationed atop traffic light poles in Chicago.

The US city installed two nodes containing computers and sensors including low-resolution cameras as well as air quality sensors, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

It is part of the Array of Things project that was supposed to start in 2014. Array is a collaboration between the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. AT&T is the internet provider. The project is backed by $3.1 million from the National Science Foundation.

System software will analyse images to count pedestrians and vehicles and release the data for free on the city of Chicago's Data Portal and the Plenar.io portal. But the portals are still undergoing development, according to the article. The initial objects are to establish traffic and pedestrian patterns, detect flooding during adverse weather and analyse air quality.

However, there could be up to 80 nodes positioned around the city by the end of the year, according to comments by Charlie Catlett, director of the Urban Center and Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne and a leader of the project. Upwards of 500 could be collecting data by the end of 2018.

Rights groups have expressed concern over ‘big brother is watching you’ issues and the city recently finalised a privacy policy covering some details of how data will be used. The Tribune article noted that there remains issues over what access law enforcement organisations would have to the data.

Highway & Network Management

Related Content

  • Key transport award
    February 29, 2012
    A key research award is attracting a high-profile list of prospective candidates.
    Read More
  • Laser sensors offer range of duties
    October 17, 2012
    Sick UK says its new LMS500 family of laser sensors achieves new levels of high-speed and consistent performance in adverse highway conditions. “The incontrovertible rule in laser measurement used to be – if you can’t see it, the laser can’t see it, but with the LMS500 this is no longer true,” said Tim Stokes, SICK UK laser sensor specialist. “These hard-working sensors ignore spray, smoke and dust and cope with rain, snow, ice and fog. They will operate reliably for applications such as vehicle spacing, sp
    Read More
  • Responsive roadsign developed by student
    August 22, 2013
    A UK student hopes his new lenticular road signs which ‘pulse’ at drivers will lead to a revolution in the way motorists are given information on the roads. Meanwhile, a leading road marking firm is helping keep tourists safe in a spiritually significant town in Umbria, Italy. Guy Woodford reports You may think Charles Gale’s vision of creating the first ‘pulsing’ lenticular road sign was the result of months, even years, spent studying traffic and driver behaviour on the roads of his adopted student c
    Read More
  • Work zone safety with SRL's REMOS
    August 11, 2025
    REMOS allows one person off-site to manage several sites simultaneously, efficiently making interventions to prevent and eliminate bottlenecks.
    Read More

Highlighted Content