5.9ghz

Support seems to be growing within the toll industry for 5.9GHz OmniAir as the next new technology for toll collection. The Federal Highways summary of responses to their notice of proposed rulemaking on toll technology (Federal Register 74/194 Oct 8 2009 p51764) is notable for the number of views that 5.9GHz is the next big thing.

Georgia toll authority's I-85 HOT lanes procurement saw three companies bidding sticker tag transponders at $1.59 (TransCore), $1.79 (Neology) and $3.05 (Sirit). These are far and away the lowest prices ever bid for toll transponders in the US. The prices are for ISO 18000 6C (EPC GEN2) standard tags (6C), never to our knowledge specified before in any US toll procurement and never before offered by vendors.

Georgia State Road and Toll Authority (Georgia Toll) have begun procurement of new toll systems to be initially deployed on I-85 toll express lanes northeast of Atlanta but intended to replace those currently used on GA400, and to be a standard for tolling elsewhere in the state.

The American offices of Kapsch are reporting "extraordinary success" in a performance evaluation of their 5.9GHz electronic toll system in trials on E470 in Colorado recently. In a press statement they say a nationally known, independent R&D laboratory evaluated the system and determined that it collected "100%" of more than 10,500 DSRC sample passes.

Soon after their official announcement of a dual mode reader named Janus (5.9GHz and 915MHz) Mark IV are saying they've developed a dual mode antenna combining bidirectional 5.9GHz signaling and a GPS signal receiver.

Mark IV Industries, dominant in North America with their 915MHz E-ZPass toll systems, are announcing a dual-mode reader and claiming success in extensive on-road tests of 5.9GHz equipment. These have been conducted on highways set up with roadside equipment in the western suburbs of Detroit. The tests were part of the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) program, a joint effort of many leading companies and government entities that has been going on for about five years.