Barbour, William (Vanderbilt University), Bunting, Matt (Vanderbilt University), Gloudemans, Derek (Vanderbilt University), Work, Daniel (Vanderbilt University), Sprinkle, Jonathan (Vanderbilt University)

Persistent Monitoring and Analysis at a Corridor Scale with Lidar

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "S05c-Deployment, Modeling, and Optimization in Intelligent Transportation Systems" (WE-LA-T5), Wednesday, November 19, 2025, 16:20−16:40, Surfers Paradise 2

2025 IEEE 28th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), November 18-21, 2025, Gold Coast, Australia

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on October 19, 2025

Abstract

This paper describes the persistent monitoring with mounted lidar sensors of a transportation corridor over the course of 120 uninterrupted days in Nashville, TN. The goal of this monitoring is to provide opportunities to design interventions for unsafe intersections, better understand traffic dynamics, and explore the potential for closed-loop control of vehicle signals and walk signs. Lidar units are installed with some overlapping, and some non-overlapping fields of view, offering coverage of eight locations (five intersections and three mid-block areas) across a span of two miles. Continuous object trajectories for all modes of travel are generated from edge processing of raw lidar point cloud data. Unlike camera-based sensing, lidar is natively privacy preserving. This provides an opportunity for improved reception in communities. The paper provides a full description of the corridor, the types of classifications performed by each lidar installation, and the refresh rates and data types recorded. In addition, sample analyses are given to demonstrate the richness of the data. Sample results include hot spots for near-miss events between classified objects, daily turning count statistical analysis, and out of crosswalk pedestrian activity.