The Whitaker Corporation

Donald L Halvorsen

Peter F Radice

Mitchell L Thompson

Joseph V Chatigny

A traffic sensor including piezoelectric sensors having different polarities in different lanes of the roadway so that traffic data for different lanes of a roadway may be discriminated from the polarity of the received signal(s). Preferably, the piezoelectric sensors are formed by splicing oppositely polarized piezoelectric cables or films, by changing the applied electric field during manufacture so that adjacent portions of a piezoelectric cable or film have different polarities, or by applying an electric field of a reversed polarity to respective longitudinal sections of a piezoelectric film. Traffic data from up to 8 different lanes of traffic may be discriminated using only two piezoelectric sensors in accordance with the invention by providing unique combinations of output polarities for deflections of the piezoelectric sensors in the different lanes. In order to simplify installation, such piezoelectric sensors may be disposed in parallel within the same housing or concentrically within the same cable.

Growing community of inventors

Phoenixville, PA, United States of America

Donald L Halvorsen