Luna Innovations Incorporated announced its continued successful application of fiber optic sensing-based traffic monitoring with a recent deployment for the state of Utah Department of Transportation (DOT). The Luna traffic monitoring solution provides accurate and timely information across both urban and rural roadways. The unique and cost-effective system is capable of determining average traffic speed, detecting slow or stopped traffic, and estimating journey times between set locations.

Along with its partner Dura-Line, a leading conduit manufacturer, Luna commissioned its traffic monitoring and incident detection solution on pre-existing fiber laid along Utah?s Big and Small Cottonwood canyons. Roads through these canyons link Salt Lake City with key tourist destinations for the State, such as popular ski resorts Alta and Park City. The routes pass through areas of steep elevation where avalanches are a common occurrence in winter.

Early warning of these events reaching the canyon roads are an extremely valuable tool for the Utah DOT avalanche control team. The advanced detection helps the team coordinate its response with travelers and resort stakeholders. The Luna monitoring solution uses common telecommunications fiber as a series of distributed ?microphones?

that can detect acoustic noise and seismic events along the fiber. The system then provides incident alerts to the response team. The system also can detect other incidents, such as rock fall or earthquakes, which can impact roadways.

The Luna solution was deployed in 2022, and, by early 2023, was providing traffic monitoring updates in Utah DOT?s existing road monitoring dashboard in its operations center. The 2023 winter season was one of the most active in Utah DOT?s known history in terms of avalanches in these canyons. The Luna system provided early warning of these events and alerted Utah DOT at its operations center to incidents and traffic build-up, which is critical information for road safety and emergency response.

The success Utah DOT has realized with the Luna traffic monitoring solution builds upon the success of similar deployments in Georgia, Florida, Nevada, and North Dakota. The solution maps well into various federal funding sources available for state DOTs across the nation, such as the SMART program, designed to improve their infrastructure, introduce innovative technology, improve safety and environmental performance, and reduce congestion.