AN AUTOMATED, HAND-HELD INDUCTIVE LOOP TESTER BASED ON DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING.

INDUCTIVE LOOPS HAVE BEEN USED IN RAODWAYS FOR VEHICLE SURVEILLANCE AND TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS SINCE THE LATE 1960'S. THESE EARLY SYSTEMS WERE PLAGUED WITH DRIFT AND ENVIRNMENTAL CHANGE PROBLEMS WHICH RESULTED IN UNRELIABLE OPERATION AND FREQUENT MAINTENANCE. MODERN LOOP SYSTEMS, AFTER TWO DECADES OF IMPROVEMENTS, HAVE BECOME HIGHLY DEPENDABLE AND REMAIN VIRTUALLY TROUBLE-FREE AFTER YEARS OF SERVICE. LOOP DIAGNOSIS AND MAINTENANCE IS STILL NECESSARY ON INITIAL INSTALLATION, AND OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, HOWEVER,DUE TO EVENTUAL LOOP BREAKAGE, SHORTS, DAMAGED INSULATION, AND WIRE DETERIORATION. TO VERIFY PROPER INSTALLATION OR S SERVICE A FAULTY LOOP, SEVERAL PIECES OF TEST EQUIPMENT ARE NOW REQUIRED. FURTHERMORE, SINCE THIS EQUIPMENT DOES NOT PROVIDE THE MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN WITH DIRECT RESULTS, MEASURING LOOP PARAMETERS CAN BE A TIME CONSUMING AND ERROR PRONE TASK. DVP, INC. PROPOSES TO DESIGN A FULLY AUTOMATED ,HAND-HELD, INDUCTIVE LOOP TESTER. BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF RECENT ADVANCES IN DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING AND VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (VLSI ICS), A SMALL, LOW-POWER INSTRUMENT CAN BE DEVELOPED. THIS INSTRUMENT WILL BE CAPABLEOF DIRECTLY MEASURING ALL PERTINENT LOOP PARAMETERS AND DISPLAYING THE RESULTS IN A STRAIGHTFORWARD MANNER. THE P PHASE I EFFORT WILL INVOLVE DESIGNING THE HARDWARE AND SOFT WARE FOR THE INSTRUMENT TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE PROPOSED PROJEC.