Inspired by the photo radar experiments conducted across the country and worried about the consequences of speeding in less urban settings, the Canadian Minister of Transport has announced the launch of a pilot project, this time targeting drivers in remote areas.
Prepared in collaboration with the American government, the project is seemingly straight from an episode of Star Wars, using geostationary satellites to monitor the North American continent and detect offences.
"We know that the new technologies, particularly ultra-high-definition cameras mounted on satellites, are so precise they can detect a penny dropped on the ground. Observing a car and recording its licence plate is now quite simple," explains the Transport Canada representative.
In point of fact, the system determines a vehicle's speed by a simple triangulation operation. Since the satellites are geostationary, i.e., they constantly sweep the same surface of the continent, they can repeatedly photograph large sections around every four seconds.
Using these pictures, the program sweeps the image and detects movement. By taking into account the length of the distance travelled, it is easy to calculate speed and apply the rules of the road if need be.
"Of course, we still need to explore new avenues, but the advantage of such a system is that it allows us to monitor not only urban areas but less populated ones as well, where conditions are often conducive to fatal speeding accidents. What's more, sharing the revenues generated by the fines between the provinces and Transport Canada would allow us to cover the costs of using and maintaining satellites that are already in place but expensive to maintain," concluded the representative.
Negotiations are already underway for the use of the American technology, and the pilot project should kick off on July 1, 2009. Complete deployment of the project across the country should be completed by April 1, 2010.
APRIL FOOL!
photo:Jupiter images
Prepared in collaboration with the American government, the project is seemingly straight from an episode of Star Wars, using geostationary satellites to monitor the North American continent and detect offences.
"We know that the new technologies, particularly ultra-high-definition cameras mounted on satellites, are so precise they can detect a penny dropped on the ground. Observing a car and recording its licence plate is now quite simple," explains the Transport Canada representative.
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In point of fact, the system determines a vehicle's speed by a simple triangulation operation. Since the satellites are geostationary, i.e., they constantly sweep the same surface of the continent, they can repeatedly photograph large sections around every four seconds.
Using these pictures, the program sweeps the image and detects movement. By taking into account the length of the distance travelled, it is easy to calculate speed and apply the rules of the road if need be.
"Of course, we still need to explore new avenues, but the advantage of such a system is that it allows us to monitor not only urban areas but less populated ones as well, where conditions are often conducive to fatal speeding accidents. What's more, sharing the revenues generated by the fines between the provinces and Transport Canada would allow us to cover the costs of using and maintaining satellites that are already in place but expensive to maintain," concluded the representative.
Negotiations are already underway for the use of the American technology, and the pilot project should kick off on July 1, 2009. Complete deployment of the project across the country should be completed by April 1, 2010.
APRIL FOOL!
photo:Jupiter images