JAPAN: E-toll trial operations

Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) trials are under way on the Odawara-Atsugi toll road, a motorway that runs from the western suburbs of Tokyo about 50km southwest to Odawara City. Some 80 vehicles are fitted with transponders which are full duplex active transceivers operating in the 5.8GHz band using slotted Aloha time division multiple access, somewhat similar to the ASTMv6 standard deployed in trucks in the US at 920MHz. Tests are being conducted to check the operations of the transponders and their readers on actual roads at full highway speeds, to determine appropriate configurations for equipment. These tests will continue about another 18 months and it is hoped to begin issuing the first toll transpodners to the public around the spring of 1999.