Commercial vehicles transport loads of tremendously variable size, shape, and mass. Some loads are too large to safely pass through all areas, either due to excessive height, width, or on some occasions length. Even such an apparently simple matter as whether the vehicle and its load are able to pass under a given bridge can be misjudged, or the driver may miss warning signs and fail to exit. The consequences of a bridge hit can be lethal, and are usually expensive in one way or another. Ideally, a system would be installed that could easily, reliably, and quickly check the dimensions of a vehicle passing through an area and determine whether that vehicle could pass safely through all bridges and other restricted-size areas ahead; if not, the vehicle would be warned, both through appropriate signage and – with new in-vehicle systems which are a part of the ITS Connected Vehicle initiative.

IEM’s Intelligent Dimensioning, Evaluation and Alert System (IDEAS) provides this capability with unique smart imaging and metrology capabilities developed for the U.S. Department of Transportation, NOAA, NASA, and others. IDEAS observes all oncoming vehicles and refines its measurements of each vehicle over multiple observations to arrive at a final dimension estimation accurate within an inch of height or width and only a few inches of length.