Using cell phone signals to determine traffic congestion

IntelliOne, a US based company, is using cell phone signals find traffic jams. Now you can check your cell phone to detour around traffic congestion. Here is the USA Today report:

...Herman, 45, an engineer, computer scientist and self-proclaimed "traffic geek," is here to demonstrate how his IntelliOne system can use cellular phone data to give motorists real-time notifications of tie-ups and slowdowns in traffic on any road within range of a cellular relay tower, from the largest interstate to the smallest dirt lane.

The concept is simple:

Every cellphone is tuned into multiple relay towers. The towers determine the phone's position twice a second when someone is talking and once every 30 seconds if the phone is idle.

The towers send phone position information to the carrier's local computers where, for the most part, Herman says, "it falls on the floor and nobody pays any attention to it."

Atlanta-based IntelliOne probes that data stream and converts it into real-time traffic congestion reports. The reports detail the exact locations and extent of the congestion, and the average speed of traffic.

"If there are 50 or 100 phones out on I-275 moving at 10 miles an hour in a 65 mph zone, there's a problem," Herman said.

There are no privacy issues. The IntelliOne probe taps a data stream, not the voice stream, so it can't listen in on calls. There also is an anonymity filter, so the system doesn't know whose phone it is tracking...

Read the rest of the story here.