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1. TDC Ultra User Manual How to do a Stop Sign Delay Study When you are ready to begin a Stop Sign Delay study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select SD You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page 2 3 for information on selecting a site code Start Study After you have selected a Site Stop Sign Delay Code you are ready to start Count 001 the study The display shows the count number and type of 10 56 13 study It also shows the current time so that you can start the study at a specific time The TDC Ultra is now waiting for you to press one of the Stop keys 1S or 25 to start the count Ideally you should wait until there are no vehicles in the queue in either of the lanes of interest If that Stop Sign Delay isn t possible then you can Lane 1 Queue 001 start with any vehicle Once a Lane 2 Queue 000 Stop key is pressed the screen 10 57 01 shown here is displayed Each time you press one of the Stop keys 1S or 2S the display for that lane will increment by one You want to press the Stop keys quickly to get the display to show the number of vehicles that are actually in the queue at the start of the study If there are no vehicles in a lane when you start then you don t have to add any As each vehicle pulls up to the back of a queue and stops press the corresponding key 1S or 2S on the TDC Ultra You need to determine when a car h
2. Vol 1 0 May 2009 1 TDC Ultra User Manual LIMITED WARRANTY JAMAR Technologies Inc warrants the TDC Ultra against defects in material and workmanship for a period of one 1 year limited warranty on parts and one 1 year limited warranty on labor from the date of purchase For information on extended warranty call 1 800 776 0940 JAMAR Technologies Inc warrants each new instrument manufactured by the company to be free from defective material and workmanship and agrees to remedy any such defect At its option it may furnish a new part in exchange for any part of any instrument of its manufacture which under normal use and service discloses such defect The instrument must be returned to the JAMAR factory or authorized service agent intact for examination with all transportation charges prepaid This warranty does not extend to any products which have been subject to misuse neglect accident or vandalism This warranty does not extend to products which have been repaired or altered outside the JAMAR factory or authorized service agent In no event shall JAMAR Technologies Inc be liable for any damages arising from the use of this product including damages arising from the loss of information This warranty is in lieu of all other warranties expressed or implied and no representative or person is authorized to assume for JAMAR Technologies Inc any other liability in connection with the sale or use of JAMAR products JAMAR Te
3. type of study and the current 000 time so that you can start the 16 24 15 study at a specific time The TDC Ultra is now waiting for you to press the green A key to start the study Wait until a vehicle crosses the start line then press the A key When the vehicle crosses the end line in front of you press the key 1 13 that corresponds to the vehicle classification based on the clas sification scheme you are using The TDC Ultra calculates the speed and displays it on the screen Wait for the next vehicle to cross the start line and press the green A key Wait for this vehicle to cross the end line and press the classification key The display shows the number Spot Speed of cars that you have measured Speed Class the speed of the last vehicle 009 45 02 you measured and the class of 16 24 15 that vehicle Continue measuring the speed of the vehicles until you are ready to quit You can collect data for a fixed period of time during the peak hour for example or until you have enough data points for your requirements In general you want to measure at least 100 vehicles to guarantee a good statistical sample Ending the Study When you are done collecting data turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 10 5 TDC Ultra User Manual 10 6 Chapter 11 Roundabout Movement Studies Chapter 11 Roundabout Movement Studies TDC Ultra User Manual R
4. Count MET yoaten it aia delie 2 4 NE Winds ea dai i 2 4 Site Code iui ari MS ri 2 5 CONNUE it TATTO an E 2 7 StAtUs TIE A E S A AE E ATA 2 8 Clearing the Memory ara 2 9 Utilities Men use sense riada 2 10 TESTS O antenata aniNala 2 10 Time Date ria naci nica tadas 2 13 LA NON 2 14 Standard Turning Movement Studies cccscccsssssssssssssssssccsssseees 3 1 Enhanced Turning Movement Studies cssccsssccsssssssssssssscsssceees 4 1 Classification Studies oooooooorosconsornonoconncconncoo naco rece senarene rina nice nono ronoconos 5 1 Signalized Intersection Delay Studies ccscccsscssssssssssssssccssscsees 6 1 Multi direction Gap Studies 0000000000020002e00000000n00000n00nnennnnensnnenee 7 1 Saturation Flow Rate Studies csscccsssscssscssscssesscescessssesssseoese 8 1 Table of Contents Stop Sign Delay Studies 0000s000sse00nssesnnsensnnennnnennnsnnsnssssnnnensnnenen 9 1 Spot Speed Studies ssscsssscssnsessnnnssessssnssenennssndnnssnnsssnsnssnnssssnnensssckenneen 10 1 Roundabout Movement Studi eS oomommmmsssssssmssss 11 1 Time Stamped Studies ooooomsomssss 12 1 Retrieving Data From the TDC Ultra comoocsomoscos 13 1 Downloading to the Computer 13 2 Retrieving Data Using the Review Menu i 13 5 Battery Care scssscccssccscesscssecessesecsossssocacesodestenesunssenscesssesdcencassesosssedsensess 14 1 Inst
5. makes a right movement from an approach you simply push the button that shows a right movement from that direction The TDC Ultra keeps track of everything else for you The TDC Ultra can also double or triple the number of movements counted from 16 to 32 or 48 by using the unit s two BANK keys in conjunction with the regular movement keys If a movement key is pressed the count is reg istered in the primary movements 1 16 If the BANK1 key is held down while a movement key is pressed the count is registered in the secondary movements 17 32 If the BANK2 key is held down while a movement key is pressed the count is registered in the tertiary movements 33 48 Normally the turning movements of less common events are counted with the secondary and tertiary BANKI and BANK keys The secondary and tertiary keys are often assigned to truck movements For example if a car makes a right movement from the north approach then you press button 2 If a light truck makes the same movement you press and hold down the BANK 1 key while pressing button 2 which is counted in the secondary movements If a heavy truck makes the same movement you press and hold down the BANK 2 key while pressing button 2 which is counted in the tertiary movements Since it takes a little more work to press the BANK 1 and BANK 2 keys the less common truck volumes are assigned to the secondary movements When this data is processed using the PET
6. 13 Bin 1 is Key 1 Scheme F 2 Direction 26 Bin 2 is Key 2 etc User Defined of Classes Gap 1 Direction 16 Bin 1 is Direction 1 Counted 2 Direction 32 Bin 2 is Direction 1 2 3 sec etc 2 Direction w Combined 48 Bin 17 is Direction 2 Counted Bin 18 is Direction 2 2 3 sec etc Bin 34 is Combined Gap 2 3 sec etc Signalized Intersection Delay Bin 1 is Number Stopped Bin 2 is Approach Stopped Bin 3 is Approach Through 13 6 Chapter 14 Battery Care Chapter 14 Battery Care TDC Ultra User Manual Installing Batteries The TDC Ultra is powered by four AA cell batteries Use of low power electronics in the TDC Ultra makes it possible for the batteries to last for several months depending on use Eventually however the batteries will need to be replaced The back of the TDC Ultra contains the battery compartment The batteries can easily be popped out and replaced You should use high quality alkaline batteries which you can get at any convenience store sete IMPORTA N Tite Be very careful to observe the proper polarity when installing new bat teries Leaving incorrectly installed batteries in the Ultra can cause the batteries to burst and leak damaging the unit Do not mix old batteries with new batteries or mix brands of batteries when replacing the batteries This can cause batteries to burst and leak damaging the unit You should be able to replace the batteries without disturbing the data
7. 2 5 for information on selecting a site code Choose Classification Scheme Once you have entered your site code you will be prompted to select the classification scheme to use with your study ESB USER DEF EXIT Scheme F Federal Standard 13 keys 5 4 Chapter 5 Classification Studies There are two choices e Scheme F Thirteen class federal standard e User Def User Defined classification of up to 16 classes If you choose Scheme F you are taken directly to the screen for selecting the number of directions to record This screen is described in the Select Number of Directions section on the next page If you choose User Def then Press highest key you will see the screen shown here value to be used You are prompted to enter the highest key that you will use during the study This is the number of different classes that you have defined for the study without regard to the number of directions you are counting You can have up to 48 different classes Press the highest key you would use using the BANK keys as necessary For example if your class scheme uses only 5 classes of vehicles press the number 5 If however you want to do a detailed class study of a parking lot with 40 different classes of vehicles press BANK2 amp 8 This tells the TDC Ultra to use the 16 primary keys the 16 secondary keys BANK1 and the first 8 tertiary keys BANK2 16 16 8 40 If you select to use more than 16 class
8. Count key or a Gap key and the TDC Ultra will begin recording data When you push the first button to start the study the display Gap say Int 001 changes to show the amount of Dir 1 N 002 Gap 00 time left in the present interval Dir 2 N 004 Gap 00 In this case it starts at 15 00 08 01 23 Rem 13 37 minutes and counts down to zero At the end of each interval the TDC Ultra beeps three times Normally you are not watching the display you are watching the traffic The beeps remind you that the interval is over This is only important 1f this is the last interval and you are ready to quit otherwise just ignore the beeps and keep counting vehicles There is no data stored in the counter until after the first interval If after starting a study you realize that you set one of the parameters wrong you can turn off the TDC Ultra and restart the study correctly However once an interval has finished the study is stored in memory So if you realize after the first interval that you have made a mistake you need to either make a note to the person downloading the data to ignore that study or clear the TDC Ultra s memory as described on page 2 9 The second and third lines of the display also change They show each direction with the current count values N and the times in seconds of the current gap being measured Gap Collecting the gap data is very easy Imagine a line across the road or lane that you want to measure Pre
9. The secondary and tertiary keys are often assigned to truck movements For example if a car makes a right turn from the north approach then you press button 2 If a light truck makes the same movement you press and hold down the BANK 1 key while pressing button 2 which is counted in the secondary movements If a heavy truck makes the same movement you press and hold down the BANK 2 key while pressing button 2 which is counted in the tertiary movements Since it takes a little more work to press the BANK 1 and BANK 2 keys the less common truck volumes are assigned to the secondary movements When this data is processed using the PETRAPro software you can get percentage breakdowns of the data based on the different groups This is just one example of how the Bank keys can be used They can also be used for counting additional approaches if you have more than the standard four at an intersection Preparing to do a Turning Movement Study Before you start a standard turning movement study you must ask yourself the following questions e What are the user defined buttons 1 5 9 13 going to be used for If at all e Are the Bank 1 and Bank 2 keys going to be used e Can one person do the study or will it require two or more using separate TDC Ultras e How is the TDC Ultra going to be oriented The answer to these questions depends on the experience of the people doing the studies there are no simple rules of thumb we can give yo
10. certainly easier to use but then you have to have some sort of system to link the site code entered into the TDC Ultra with the names of the streets 2 6 Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra The way to do this is simple Have the people who do the counts fill out a simple worksheet that has the location date time and type of count along with any other information you think is important a sketch of the location is usually a good idea This worksheet is brought back to the of fice and used as a reference when the data is transferred to the computer The site code that was entered into the TDC Ultra in the field is shown on the computer screen with the data The computer operator compares the site code on the screen to the site codes on the worksheets to find the appropriate location information It is a simple system that has worked well for many different agencies It avoids the occasional problem of trying to remember exactly where a particular count was done especially if the person who did the count is not available for one reason or another Once you have entered the site code you will be taken to a new screen that will vary depending on the type of study you are do ing Refer to chapters 3 through 12 for more information on your specific study Continue It is often necessary to do a study at the same location at different times of the same day For example you might do a study in the morning and then return late
11. drive Once you are ready to pro Rama ceed click Next The Wiz Please wait while the wizard searches ard will then start searching for the best available drivers and you ll see a screen like RT the one shown to the right A 3 TDC Ultra User Manual Once the wizard is finished searching 1t will begin to load the driver it has found and you ll see a screen like the one shown to the right Note that if the Wizard finds more than one driver like if you are using Win dows Update and also have a PETRAPro CD in you drive the Wizard will list all the available drivers proceed When the driver is finished installing you ll see a screen like the one shown to the right Click Finish and you ll complete installing this driver but there s still one more to go Once you click Finish the Windows Found New Hardware message will pop up again referencing a USB Serial Port and the Found New Hardware Wizard will reappear Don t be alarmed this is what s supposed to happen There 1s a second driver that needs to be installed to create a virtual comm port Found New Hardware Wizard Please wait while the wizard installs the software amp VNETA As Slave dunk ini To CAWINDOWS system32 ALLE LEE EEE ELLE LL Bae Hoxt Cancel You can then select the one you d like and then Found New Hardware Wizard Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard The wizard has finished installing the softw
12. enter the street names one letter at a time using the Change keys 14 amp 15 to scroll through the alphabet until the display shows the letter you want You then press the TAB key to select that letter and advance to the next let ter The display now shows a blank character which is the default character to start with each time You can use the up arrow key to move to the letter A or you can use the down arrow key to go to the number 9 In this way you can quickly select each letter you need You have 20 characters for each street name and you can use any letter from A Z and any number from 0 9 You can also use spaces You continue in this manner until the entire street name is visible on the display If you make a mistake press BANK1 TAB to can cel the operation When the display is correct press the DO key The display then shows a similar screen for the East West street Repeat the procedure explained above When you are done with the second street name press DO and the TDC Ultra goes on to the interval menu The titles say North South Street and East West Street but that isn t necessarily what you have to enter You have two lines of characters you can use any way you want Which of the two types of site codes you use is a matter of preference The ALPHA input is more precise with the actual names of the streets entered with the data but some people don t like to enter the names one letter at a time The 8 Digit site code is
13. highlight from Count to Int to Bins to Exit and back with the TAB key just like with the other menus 13 5 TDC Ultra User Manual The procedure to examine data for a count is very simple Move the highlight to Count Press Change 14 or 15 until the desired count number is displayed The date time and count type can be used to find a particular count if you are not sure of its count number If you want to look at all of the data then move the highlight to Bins and press Change repeatedly while reading the data displayed next to TOT The Bins number increments each time you press Change After the last data point in the interval is displayed the Int number increments by one and the Bins number automatically goes back to 001 You can go through all of the data by continuously pressing Change If you want to look at a specific interval of data then move the highlight to INT and press CHANGE until the required interval is displayed Then follow the procedure outlined above to display the data The number of bins displayed is a function of the type of count and the number of keys used in the count The table below shows the relationships between the type of count and the number of bins used to store data and therefore the number of bins necessary to display the data of Bins Turning Movement amp Roundabout Primary keys 16 Bin 1 is Key 1 If Bank keys used 32 Bin 2 is Key 2 etc If Bank2 keys used 48 Classification Scheme F
14. is stored in memory can be manually viewed and transcribed using the Review Menu If you always use the analysis software to download and analyze the data and we certainly hope you do then you probably will never need to use the Review option However this options is useful if you do not have software to download the data or if you are having trouble getting data to download You can review the data for Standard Turning Movement Classification Gap Roundabout and Signalized Intersection Delay studies You cannot review the data for Saturation Flow Rate Stop Sign Delay Spot Speed Time Stamped or Enhanced Turning Movement studies The data for these studies is in a very compressed complicated format that makes it unreason able to try to review it in the TDC Ultra The format for the display is the same for the different types of studies you can review The screen as shown below has several parts COUNT 001 02 13 09 INT 001 07 00 BINS 01 04 EXIT TOT 001 008 040 010 e COUNT lists the number of the count being displayed e INT lists the number of the interval being displayed BIN lists the number of the bin or key being displayed e TOT lists the total of the data for the bin interval and count displayed The DATE and TIME for the count and interval being displayed When the highlight is on Count Int or Bins you can go to the next or previ ous value by pressing the Change 14 amp 15 keys You can move the
15. keys you used to classify the vehicles The number of class used can be anywhere from 1 to 13 How to do a Spot Speed Study The first task to perform is to choose the start and end lines These usu ally are cracks or marks in the road that are clearly visible and roughly perpendicular to the road Objects on the side of the road can be used for the end line but should not be used for the start line If necessary you can use a piece of chalk to define the lines The lines can be anywhere from 100 to 250 feet apart Measure the distance as accurately as possible then position yourself on the side of the road exactly even with the end line as shown in the diagram below A Course Length B MM Stand Here When you are in a good position select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select SS You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page 2 5 for information on selecting a site code Enter Distance Once you have entered the site code you will be prompted to enter the distance between the BANK1 TAB cancel start and end lines You must DO Done enter a distance less than 256 feet or you will get an error message Use the 10 key for zero as in other screens in the TDC Ultra 10 4 Enter Distance Use keys 1 10 Chapter 10 Spot Speed Studies Start Study Once you have entered the Spot Speed distance the display shows the Speed Class
16. new to the TDC Ultra or are planning to collect data that you have not in the past This will help you become comfortable with the operation of the equipment and how the data is collected which should make things easier when you have to do a real study Once you are familiar with the data you will be collecting you are ready to begin However before going to the site you should prepare a checklist like the one below to prevent potential problems 1 6 1 Is the equipment in good working condition Can it collect store and download data properly 2 Have all decisions been made regarding how the data is to be collected 3 Are the people doing the study familiar with how to collect the data 4 Are the people doing the study familiar with the equip ment they will be using 5 Are the people doing the study equipped with all need ed accessories spare batteries watches pens amp paper etc Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No During the data collection itself the first priority of those doing the study should be safety Data collection personnel should stay a safe distance from the traffic and distract drivers as little as possible Whenever possible data collection personnel should work in pairs to minimize the threat of crime stray dogs etc An excellent source for more detailed information on collecting traffic data is the Manual of Transportation Engineering Studies published by
17. protection checks tomake sure you pressed the correct CLEAR EXIT key in the Main Menu Assuming you did move the highlight to Clear memory of all CLEAR and press the DO key count data The second and final level of protection asks you to confirm CONFIRM EXIT that you really want to clear the memory Again assuming you do Yes really want to clear move the highlight to Confirm and memory press the DO key If after all this you clear the memory by accident don t blame us The memory is cleared and the Memory Cleared screen shown here is displayed Press DO and you will then be Press DO to return returned to the Main Menu to Main Menu Note When you first receive your TDC Ultra we recommend clearing the memory before doing your first data collection to be sure you are starting fresh TDC Ultra User Manual Utilities Menu COUNT REVIEW DUMP The Utilities Menu contains an CLEAR UTILITIES assortment of operations that are Tests time date necessary and or helpful to the get options bat OK operation of the TDC Ultra When you select Utilities from the main menu the following screen is displayed TESTS TIME DATE BEEPER EXIT Test memory keys display You have three sub menus from which to choose Tests Time Date and Beeper Tests The TDC Ultra is designed to be a very reliable instrument It is manu factured with high quality components and is designed to withstand r
18. selecting a site code Start Study After you have selected a Site Code you are ready to start the Sat Flow Study study The display shows the Count 001 current count number and the Any Key to Start current time 08 45 06 When you are ready to start wait until the light turns green then press the GREEN key 12 The study starts and the screen Sat Flow Study shown here appears Cycle 001 Phase Green The display shows the current 08 45 06 time along with the current Cycle Number and the cur rent Phase of the light The Cycle Number is used to help you decide when you have collected enough data It also is useful if you need to record any notes about the study The Phase is shown to help you stay synchronized during the study You should check the Phase display occasionally to make sure you haven t accidentally got lost It is very easy to do The phase shown on the display should match the phase of the light on the street As soon as you press the GREEN key to start to study you have to be ready to press the 1C 4C keys Asa vehicle in each lane you are recording crosses the stop bar you can either use the front of the car or the end of the car you just have to 8 7 TDC Ultra User Manual be consistent press the corresponding 1C 4C key on the TDC Ultra Keep pressing the keys as each car crosses the stop bar Watch the light and be ready for a light change When the light turns yellow press the YELL
19. site code Alpha site code 20 characters start time start date data 10 per line checksum Saturation Flow Rate Stop Sign Delay Time Stamp varies 001 001 nnnnnnnn AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hhmm mmddyy ss tttt leader characters 20 count number interval number always 001 8 digit site code Alpha site code 20 characters start time start date data 2 per line ss switch number 01 16 but not all switches are used ttt of timer ticks since last time marker 0001 2048 1 tick 15 6 msec or ss 00 for time marker 1 every 30 seconds tttt checksum for all data since last time marker The twenty leader characters vary depending on the study a a a HH HH HH H H SS RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR A 10 Saturation Flow Stop Sign Delay Time Stamp or or Enhanced Turning Movement AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 001 001 nnnnnnnn AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hhmm mmddyy ss cc or ss ttt ss switch number 01 16 cc class number 01 14 or leader characters 20 count number interval number always 001 8 digit site code Alpha site code 20 characters start time start date data 2 per line ss 00 for time marker 1 every 60 seconds ttt checksum for all data since last time marker Spot Speed LIRERERELBIERITERITI 001 001 01 nnnnnnnn AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hhmm mmddyy SSS CC CCC ss sp
20. software prints the volume data next to the gap data in the reports Information about the volumes at a certain location helps put the gap data into a proper perspective Imagine that at two different locations there were 100 gaps measured and the average gap was 10 seconds Now imagine that at the first location there were 125 cars counted and at the second location there were 2000 counted Aha Location one is a quiet little street with fairly steady traffic Location two is much heavier with platoons of cars Knowing the volumes helps a lot The volume count is optional If you don t need the data or if you are doing a two direction study and don t have the time to keep track of the gaps and count at the same time then don t worry about it 7 3 TDC Ultra User Manual How to do a Gap Study When you are ready to begin a Gap study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select GAP You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page 2 5 for information on selecting a site code Interval Once you have selected the site code you ll be prompted to select an interval length 15 15 30 60 EXIT Select interval duration minutes Press DO to accept You are given the choice of 1 5 15 30 or 60 minute intervals An In terval is the amount of time the TDC Ultra collects data before it stores the accumulated totals in memory You are barely aware of intervals chang
21. status screen shows the current time and the amount of time left in the interval among other things Normally you do not look at the screen while you are doing a study you are busy looking at the traffic All you really need to know is the time so that you know when the study is over However some people like to be able to see the data accumulate in memory especially if they have done studies for years with mechanical counters that show the totals change as the buttons are pushed Some people just don t believe the data is registered if they can t see any evidence for themselves If you press the TAB key while counting the display changes to show the totals for each of the primary movements buttons 1 16 Each row shows one approach Note that totals are only shown for the number of classes in the scheme you are using In the example below only 13 totals are shown since the FHWA s Scheme F was selected for the study 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 e If you press the TAB key a second time the display changes to show the totals for each of the secondary movements BANK1 1 16 This is designated by the number before the direction changing to a 2 If you press the TAB key a third time the display changes to show the totals for each of the tertiary movements BANK2 1 16 with the number before the direction changing to a 3 5 8 Chapter 5 Classification Studies Press the TAB key a fourth time and
22. there is enough power for the download Either plug in the external power supply or try a new set of batteries Refer to Chapter 13 Retrieving Data From the TDC Ultra for other items to check Data is not being recorded properly on Bank 1 or Bank 2 When recording a count on one of the bank keys you must hold down the Bank key while pressing one of the 1 through 16 keys The TDC Ultra beeps or does not beep every time I press a key Can this be changed Yes The beeper can be turned on or off by using the Utilities menu Refer to chapter 2 for more detailed information 15 2 Chapter 15 Troubleshooting A Real Time Clock error appears when I turn the TDC Ultra on There are several possible causes for this The unit may have been affected by static electric discharge the internal lithium battery my be failing or some other internal component may have been damaged If you encounter this error perform the following 1 Clear the memory 2 Reset the Date and Time 3 Perform a short test count by programming the unit to start counting and letting 1t sit for 1 hour 4 Turn the unit off then back on to see if the error occurs again If the error occurs again contact us using the information in the front of this manual Additional troubleshooting information can be found on our web site at www jamartech com If you are unable to find a solution to your problem or question con tact us using the information located on th
23. this class The only time you would need to press one of the class keys is if a vehicle is not part of the default class When you select the DEF option you will see the screen shown here Enter the class number you want Deft CLS Code 02 For SIMUL mode only Press CLS key to sel to use as the default using Press DO to enter the 14 yellow classification keys then press the DO key to return to the Options menu 4 3 TDC Ultra User Manual FP1 8 FP2 Foot Pedal 1 amp 2 The Foot Pedal 1 and 2 options allow you to assign a default class for any Foot Pedal switches you are using for the study These de vices plug into the Bank 1 and 2 slots on the top of the TDC Ultra next to the Comm Port and allow you to use your foot to record a class rather than pressing the key with your hand When you select either FP1 or FP2 you will see Foot Pedal 1 code 03 a screen similar to the one shown here Enter the class Press CLS key to sel number you want to use as Press DO to enter the default for the foot pedal using the 14 yellow classification keys then press the DO key to return to the Options menu Once you have set the options the way you like press the DO key while STRT is flashing and you will be prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to chapter 2 for information on selecting a site code Start Study After you have selected a Site Code you are ready to start the study Turn by
24. to install the drivers for it Refer to the Appendix for information on how to do this before proceeding The USB drivers create a virtual comm port that you will select in the PETRAPro software 13 2 Chapter 13 Retrieving Data from the TDC Ultra Run the PETRAPro analysis software on your computer and prepare it for download by selecting Read from the interface screen On the Main CONTINUE BAUD Menu of the Ultra use the TAB EXIT key to highlight DUMP then press Begin local transfer DO The screen shown here is then at 57 6k baud displayed Note that the baud rate that the TDC Ultra is currently set for is shown on the bottom line The baud rate is the speed at which the data will be sent from the Ultra to the computer The baud rate set in the Ultra must match the baud rate that has been selected in the software You normally only have to set the Baud Rate once to match the setting in the software To set the Baud Rate use the following steps Press TAB until Baud is flashing 1200 4800 9600 then press DO The screen shown 19 2K 38 4K 57 6K here is then displayed Select Baud rate then press DO Use the TAB key to move the highlight to the baud rate you want Most computers will allow transfer at the fastest baud rate of 57 600 Once you have set the baud press DO As mentioned once the baud rate has been set it will be used every time for the download unless you change it Press TAB to highlight Conti
25. APro makes this easier to do by only listing the comm ports that are available in the download screen However if you want to check to see what port number the virtual comm port has been assigned you can do so through the computer s Device Manager list A 5 TDC Ultra User Manual To access this information right click on the My Computer icon then select Properties In the System Properties window click on the Hardware Tab then click the Device Manager button Click the plus sign next to Ports and you should see a list similar to the one shown below showing the port number that your computer has assigned Be ain Yow e BES 2 3 M8 I gt Hopoy dek controllere e del Infrared devices Sy Pests COMA LPT Communications Port COM1 of ECP Printer Port LETI Processors 9 Sound video and gare controllers op System devices C trivrsai Sera Ds corte Specifications Size 8 5 x 6 x 1 5 Weight approximately 1 5 lbs Memory 128K Flash memory Power 4 AA alkaline batteries or 6 18 volts DC 200 ma through ex ternal jack Interface USB B Port Display wide temperature 20 character LCD display Output ASCII format capable of being read by JAMAR software or other communications program Data Collection Standard Turning Movements Classification Enhanced Turning Movement Signalized Intersection Delay Gap Saturation Flow Stop Sign Delay Spot Speed Roun
26. ASSED is displayed as shown below MEMORY TEST PASSED Press DO to return to TESTS Menu If the test is not successful an error message is printed There is not much you can do except check the main batteries to see ifthey are low It is possible but very unlikely that if the batteries are low the microprocessor is not executing the test properly If the memory test fails contact us using the information in the front of this manual to arrange to ship the TDC Ultra back for repair Display Test The liquid crystal display used in the TDC Ultra displays four lines of 20 characters Each character is made up of 35 dots in a 5 x 7 matrix That s a lot of dots The display test lets you check the display to make sure it is showing what it should be showing 2 11 TDC Ultra User Manual To test the display select DISPLAY TEST Display from the Tests menu and the screen shown here is displayed Press DO to start the test Press DO after each test screen The display should look like the screen shown here Each character should be an asterisk and there should not be any other dots displayed Lad Rad kate Ral Sad Eat otek Rad eka Rad Sad kal tad RARA IRRE Lad Rad Eat ale Sad Cate Lad Sad ead Rake Rad Cate RE RARA Rad Cae Lad Lad Bad Ear Rad Sad Eat a Sad kat otad Sat kare tad IKK Lad Bad Eat Rade Gad Cate Lad Rad Ear Rade Rad Cae Rad Rad Eat Rare gad Cae Rad Press DO t
27. Cls SIMUL Active CLS 02 CLS Key 02 07 01 15 26 44 Count 03 The top line of the display shows the type of study and the mode being used The second line shows the currently active class The third line shows the data as you record it while the fourth line shows the current count number and the current time so that you can start the study at a specific time To record your data take note of the Active Class For any vehicles that you record in this class you only need record the turning movement by pressing one of the 16 gray movement keys The TDC Ultra automati cally assigns the active class to the movement 4 4 Chapter 4 Enhanced Turning Movement Studies For any vehicle not in the active class you must also press one of the class keys In Simultaneous mode you hold down one of the 14 class keys while you record the movement When you release the class key the active class automatically reverts back to the default setting In Latched mode you press the class key but do not have to hold it down while pressing the turning movement key Pressing the class key automatically changes the Active Class However the active class does not revert back to a preset default so you must press the class key each time a different class makes a movement While you are recording your data the last key combination you pressed is shown on the third line The class is shown first followed by the move ment number The number in pa
28. DC Ultra has two different types of site codes that you can use to identify your counts The first is simply an 8 digit number that you assign to a particular count so that you can uniquely identify the location of the count when you download the data from the TDC Ultra to your computer The second allows you to enter two lines of twenty alpha numeric characters typically used to show the North South street name and the East West street name at the intersection where the count is done EXI ALPHA EXIT Select 8 digit site code mode Select 8 DIGIT to use a simple 8 digit site number to identify the location of the count or select ALPHA and enter the actual names of the streets where the count is being done If you select 8 DIGIT the display changes to Site code Enter up to 8 digits Press DO to accept BANK1 TAB to cancel It is simple to enter the Site Code Use the keys 1 10 like a keyboard 10 0 Enter the number you want The display shows the numbers as you type them in If you make a mistake press BANK1 TAB and start over When the number on the display is correct press DO and you will go to the interval menu 2 5 TDC Ultra User Manual If you select ALPHA from the Site Code Type Select Menu the display shows the screen below North South Street A use 1 4 TAB advance ATAB cancel DO done The top line of the display shows the title North South Street with the cursor flashing on the letter A You
29. OW key Keep pressing the 1C 4C keys if any vehicles cross the stop bar after the yellow Press the RED key when the light turns red Again press the 1C 4C keys if any vehicles run the red light Now shift mental gears and wait for cars to come to the first full stop in each of the lanes you are monitoring Press the 15 48 as each vehicle arrives at the end of the queue and stops If it is a very busy intersection then the queue could build up for a considerable distance Cars often creep up to the end of the queue and may not actually stop You have to use your own judgement to decide when a vehicle has ef fectively stopped Just try to be consistent Now comes the tough part While you are watching the end of the queues and pressing the 1S 4S keys as each car stops you have to also watch the light so that you are ready when it turns green Press the GREEN key when the light changes This is the end of one complete cycle of data collection and the start of the next If there is a large queue build up at the signal it is very difficult for one person to accurately catch the start of each green phase yet this is the critical point in each cycle We suggest you have two people doing the study One handles the TDC Ultra and monitors the signal phases and 1C 4C keys the other monitors the vehicles stopping during the red phase and calls out the lane number as each vehicle stops Ending the Study Continue to collect data until you have al
30. RAPro software you can get percentage breakdowns of the data based on the different groups This is just one example of how the Bank keys can be used They can also be used for counting additional approaches if you have more than the standard four at an intersection 11 3 TDC Ultra User Manual Preparing to do a Roundabout Movement Study Before you start a standard turning movement study you must ask yourself the following questions e Are the Bank 1 and Bank 2 keys going to be used e Can one person do the study or will it require two or more using separate TDC Ultras e How is the TDC Ultra going to be oriented The answer to these questions depends on the experience of the people doing the studies there are no simple rules of thumb we can give you to help you decide The important thing is to use your knowledge of the people doing the data collection along with your experience with the traffic they are likely to see in the field to decide in advance what the best strategy would be Deciding on how the TDC Ultra will be oriented during the study depends on where you will actually be located while doing the count When the data from the unit is downloaded to our software the program assumes that the 1 through 4 keys were for the from north southbound approach and the rest of the keys are assigned accordingly The TDC Ultra s Roundabout overlay has a North Arrow which suggests that you align the counter so that buttons 1
31. alize after the first interval that you have made a mistake you need to either make a note to the person downloading the data to ignore that study or clear the TDC Ultra s memory as described in chapter 2 IMPORTANT Once you start the study the only way to quit it is to turn the TDC Ultra off Always wait for the end of interval beeps before turning the unit off Viewing Data While Recording You have two display options while you are doing the study The status screen shows the current time and the amount of time left in the interval among other things Normally you do not look at the screen while you are doing a study you are busy looking at the traffic All you really need to know is the time so that you know when the study is over However some people like to be able to see the data accumulate in memory especially if they have done studies for years with mechanical counters that show the totals change as the buttons are pushed Some people just don t believe the data is registered if they can t see any evidence for themselves 11 7 TDC Ultra User Manual If you press the TAB key while counting the display changes to show the totals for each of the primary movements buttons 1 16 Each row shows one approach Note that this display assumes buttons 1 4 are the North direction 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 If you press the TAB key a second time the display changes to show the totals for each of the secondary mov
32. alling Batteries cocinando deditos iii 14 2 NA nern neerernes sense 15 1 VV O LELLA LD 03sec sdshccsooavessecs sandsdencsesnssenedevsacesventieesosnacesenasesesessesescdesesecss A 1 Installing USB Drivers corn ncnn nen A 2 Specifications ici ara ia A 6 Memory Usage in the TDC Ultra ii A 7 Data Output Format iii A 8 Menu Lee lait A 12 TDC Ultra User Manual Quick Start Guide for the TDC Ultra 1 Turn the TDC Ultra ON EM REVIEW DUMP Once the start up process is CLEAR UTILITIES Do Turning Movement count bat 6 2 complete the main menu will be displayed Press DO while Count is flashing 2 On the next screen to start Na STATUS EXIT a new count press TAB until New is flashing then press the Start a new count DO key 3 You are then given the option EX CL DL GAP SF SD of selecting the type of study SS RA TS TC EXIT you want to do The following Intersection Turning abbreviations are used movement count TM Standard Turning Movement CL Classification DL Signalized Intersection Delay GAP Multi direction Gap SF Saturation Flow Rate SD Stop Sign Delay SS Spot Speed RA Roundabout TS Time Stamped TC Enhanced Turning Movement Press the TAB key until the study you want is highlighted then press the DO key 4 Each of the studies that can be done with the TDC Ultra has its own specific routine for setting it up and collecting the data Refer to C
33. anging when you do a study with the TDC Ultra 1t beeps at the end of each interval to let you know 1t may be time to go home The TDC Ultra automatically keeps track of the time and stores the data at the end of the interval You only have to concentrate on collecting the data This is one of the major features of the TDC Ultra The default value is 15 minutes as this is the most common interval length used for Roundabout Movement studies We recommend that you use 15 minutes unless you have special requirements Press DO once you have selected the interval length you wish to use Start Study After you have selected an Roundabout interval to use you are ready Count 001 Int 001 to start the study The display Any Key to Start shows the current count num 07 59 37 ber and the interval number In the example shown this is the first count done and it is at the first interval 11 5 TDC Ultra User s Manual The TDC Ultra is waiting for you to push any movement button which starts the study The display in the lower left corner shows the current time so it is easy to synchronize the start of the count to the beginning of the desired interval You do not have to push the first button exactly when the seconds roll over to zero The analysis software rounds the start of the study to the nearest minute automatically However when starting a new study always try to begin as close to an interval bound ary as possible such a
34. are lor e USB Serial Converter Found New Hardware Wizard Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard This wizard helps you instal soltmare for USS Serial Port If your hardware came with an installation CD gt or floppy disk insert it now What do you want the wizard to do fia the sclimare atomica Recoarmended intal from a Sst 01 specific location Advanced A 4 To install this second driver follow the same steps as the first Please wait while Ge mita d searches Gi gt USO Se al Poe S Please wait mie the mizand instala the software 3 USB Senden Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard The mund hes firnatnd inteling the sole lan 3 USB Setai Poni 9 Maga TOCADO aura eo Once the second driver is installed you may see a message like the one below prompting you to restart your computer System Settings Change xj 9 Windows has finished installing new devices The software that supports your device requires that you restart your N computer You must restart your computer before the new settings wil take effect Do you want to restart your computer now Ce Restart your computer to complete the process of installing the drivers The process of installing the USB drivers has created a virtual comm port on your computer and assigned this port a number from 1 to 16 You will need to select this comm port number in PETRAPro when you go to download your Ultra PETR
35. as effectively stopped Many cars like to creep up on a stop sign You have to use your judgement in cases like these As long as you are consistent the analysis results will be correct As any vehicle in a lane crosses the stop bar press the corresponding lane Go key 1G or 2G The display on the TDC Ultra for that lane will decrease by one to show that the queue has decreased 9 4 Chapter 9 Stop Sign Delay Studies getestet IMPORTANT coso sienes The Lane Queues shown on the TDC Ultra should always match the actual queue lengths on the street Ifthey do not a mistake has been made and there may be problems with the data analysis Use the OOPS key if you hit the wrong key by mistake Do not try to fix the data by pressing the Stop 1S or 2S or Go 1G or 2G to make the queue lengths on the display match the actual field conditions This procedure would add or subtract vehicles from the data and distort the analysis results Always fix bad entries with the OOPS key This is a fairly simple study to do There is one way however the data can be distorted If a car changes lanes after you have marked it as stopped which doesn t happen very often then you must be careful to pretend that the car is still in the original lane and press the original lane key when the car finally enters the intersection The lane queue values on the display will be off until this rogue car clears the intersection but this can t be helpe
36. ass and an observer can distinguish one class from another then you can do a manual study with the TDC Ultra Applications are limited only by the imagination One of the templates that is included with the TDC Ultra is designed for Classification counts One side has the FHWA Scheme F pre assigned to buttons one through thirteen as shown on page 4 2 The other side has a special frosted surface to allow you to write your own scheme using a pencil or water based marking pen There is a rectangle next to each button so you can write some sort of easily recognized symbol or code designation that you develop The center section allows you to write more complete descriptions of the classes The first step to do a classification study is to decide if you are going to use the FHWA Scheme F or one of your own For your own scheme you need to carefully design the classes and assign a key to each class Try to group the classes logically with related classes next to one another if possible Next design the template symbols and descriptions and write them on Template 1B A pencil or a water based marking pen work well Once this is done you are ready to bring the TDC Ultra out to the site and do the study How to do a Classification Study When you are ready to begin a Classification study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select CL You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page
37. been tested Press BANKI DO to return to the TESTS menu If any of the switches won tregister on the display contact us using the information in the front of this manual to arrange to ship the TDC Ultra back for repair Note that the 14 yellow classification keys at the bottom of the board are included as part of the key test These keys can be tested separately using the Enhanced Turning Movement study as de scribed in chapter 4 Time Date The TDC Ultra has a built in real time clock that is powered by the same lithium battery that is used to store the count data in the solid state memory The clock normally keeps excellent time but occasionally needs to have the date or time corrected To change the date or time HR MIN MON DAY YR select TIME DATE from the 12 25 02 13 09 UTILITIES menu The screen shown here is then displayed Changet y to modify DO to set time date The display shows the current hours minutes month day and year Use the TAB key to move the highlight to the parameter that you need to adjust Then Use the Change 15 key to add one to the current value or Use the Change 14 to subtract one from the current value Continue using the Tab and Change keys until all of the parameters are correct then press DO to set the new date and time Note The time is not set until you press the DO key To synchronize the time to the second set the time one minute ahead then wait until your watch show
38. begin counting and the TDC Ultra will start recording data When you push the first button to start the study the display changes to show the amount of time left in the present interval In this case it starts at 15 00 08 01 23 Rem 13 37 minutes and counts down to zero At the end of each interval the TDC Ultra beeps three times Normally you are not watching the display you are watching the traffic The beeps remind you that the interval is over This is only important 1f this is the last interval and you are ready to quit otherwise just ignore the beeps and keep counting vehicles Classification Count Count 001 Int 001 getestet IMPORTANT cool Once you start the study the only way to quit it is to turn the TDC Ultra off Always wait for the end of interval beeps before turning the unit off 5 7 TDC Ultra User Manual There is no data stored in the counter until after the first interval If after starting a study you realize that you set one of the parameters wrong you can turn off the TDC Ultra and restart the study correctly However once an interval has finished the study is stored in memory So if you realize after the first interval that you have made a mistake you need to either make a note to the person downloading the data to ignore that study or clear the TDC Ultra s memory as described on page 2 9 Viewing Data While Recording You have two display options while you are doing the study The
39. cations for a formal speed survey at a later date The procedure implemented in the TDC Ultra is based on accurately measuring the time it takes a vehicle to travel over a known distance The observer presses one button when the vehicle passes over one point called the start line and then presses another button when the same vehicle passes over another point the end line which is usually 100 200 feet away The start and end lines may be cracks in the road or markers on the side of the road The TDC Ultra accurately measures the time between button presses and calculates the speed 10 2 Chapter 10 Spot Speed Studies The accuracy of this method depends upon several factors The speed of the vehicle is assumed to be constant while driving from the start line to the end line If the vehicle accelerates or decelerates while in the speed course then the accuracy will be reduced You want to pick an area where the vehicles are likely to maintain their speed if possible e The observer must press the buttons as accurately as possible There is always some error due to poor reaction times Some observers are simply better than others e The main source of error is caused by the difficulty in determining ex actly when the vehicle passed over the start line assuming the observer is standing even with the end line A slightly elevated view usually enhances the ability of the observer to see the start line Other factors such as th
40. chnologies Inc reserves the right to make improvements on the product and or specifications at any time without notice Questions concerning this warranty or any JAMAR Technologies Inc product should be directed by e mail mail or telephone to JAMAR Technologies Inc 1500 Industry Road Suite C Hatfield PA 19440 215 361 2244 sales jamartech com Copyright 2009 by JAMAR Technologies Inc 11 Technical Support If you have any questions about the TDC Ultra that you cannot find answers for in this manual there are several ways to get additional information On the Hardware Support section of our web site at www jamartech com Contact us by e mail at salesO jamartech com Contact us by phone at 215 361 2244 Monday Friday 8 00 AM to 5 00 PM Eastern time 111 TDC Ultra User Manual Table of Contents AAA A ses ehnse essen iii Quick Setup Guide for the TDC Ultra eesesssesssessccesocesocesocsooscoossoseese vi Introduction to the TDC Ultra se ssesossoesossessossosecsoossessossossessossesesso 1 1 What is the TDC Ultra ercsi i 1 2 Maintaining Your TDC Ultra ie 1 3 How is the TDC Ultra Powered i 1 3 Programming the TDC Ultra ie 1 4 Collecting Data af dnelalble ln Li ue eli 1 4 Before You Do a Study e 1 6 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra oooocomomsmssos 2 1 Start Up Screens anne iaia ila lalla 2 2 Mali Men at 2 Rein saison 2 3
41. d Rolling Stops Occasionally when no queue is present you may encounter a vehicle that does not completely stop at the intersection but rolls through it The method we recommend for recording these vehicles is to press the Stop key then immediately after press the Go key This will result in the vehicle being recorded with a delay of zero or one seconds which will keep your volumes accurate These vehicles can then be filtered out using the analysis software Ending the Study When you are done collecting data turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 9 5 TDC Ultra User Manual Use at Signalized Intersections This study is specifically designed for intersections controlled by stop signs but it may appear the procedure would work just as well at signalized in tersections To some extent this is true There are two limitations with this procedure at signalized intersections 1 If the queues that build up are very long it is very difficult to tell precisely when a vehicle stops or even see the vehicles at all The algo rithm used to calculate the delays breaks down quickly if the operator misses a few vehicles 2 It is not obvious what to do with vehicles that don t experience any delay at all i e they arrive at the intersection during the green phase All cars stop to some degree at Stop Signs You can ignore them completely but then your total approach volume wh
42. d keep counting vehicles getestet IMPORTANT 00 FE Once you start the study the only way to quit it is to turn the TDC Ultra off Always wait for the end of interval beeps before turning the unit off There is no data stored in the counter until after the first interval If after starting a study you realize that you set one of the parameters wrong you can turn off the TDC Ultra and restart the study correctly However once an interval has finished the study is stored in memory So if you realize after the first interval that you have made a mistake you need to either make a note to the person downloading the data to ignore that study or clear the TDC Ultra s memory as described in chapter 2 Viewing Data While Recording You have two display options while you are doing the study The status screen shows the current time and the amount of time left in the interval among other things Normally you do not look at the screen while you are doing a study you are busy looking at the traffic All you really need to know is the time so that you know when the study is over However some people like to be able to see the data accumulate in memory especially if they have done studies for years with mechanical counters that show the totals change as the buttons are pushed Some people just don t believe the data is registered if they can t see any evidence for themselves If you press the TAB key while counting the display changes to
43. dabout Time Stamped Clock always active real time clock Memory Usage in the TDC Ultra The TDC Ultra has a large amount of memory to store the data from your studies the standard counter comes with 128K of flash memory This memory can hold many different studies and it is unlikely that you will fill the memory before you download the data to your computer There are 10 different studies in the TDC Ultra and each uses a different internal format to store the data The following guidelines are provided to give an idea of how much memory is used by each study type Five of the studies Standard Turning Movement Classification Gap In tersection Delay and Roundabout store a fixed number of bytes at regular time intervals although the number of bytes stored each interval and the intervals themselves vary considerably The memory usage in these studies is fairly easy to calculate since it is totally a function of the length of time you do the study If you know how long you plan to collect data then you can calculate how much memory it will take The remaining studies Saturation Flow Rate Stop Sign Delay Spot Speed Enhanced Turning Movement and Time Stamp store data roughly speak ing on a per vehicle basis The memory used depends on the volume of vehicles rather than the length of time The table below is a guide to help you determine if you have enough mem ory in the TDC Ultra to do the study you want Only use the chart t
44. dies is as follows Standard Turning Movements Roundabout varies leader characters 20 001 count number 001 interval number 01 interval length min nnnnnnnn 8 digit site code or AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Alpha site code AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 20 characters hhmm start time mmddyy start date nnnn nnnn nnnn data 10 per line ccc checksum The twenty leader characters vary depending on the study US IA Standard Turning Movements CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Roundabout or or Classification HH 001 001 01 nnnnnnnn AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA s kk hhmm mmddyy nnnn nnnn nnnn ccc Multi direction Gap 001 001 01 nnnnnnnn AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hhmm mmddyy nnnn nnnn nnnn ccc leader characters 20 count number interval number interval length min 8 digit site code Alpha site code 20 characters scheme code number of classes start time start date data 10 per line checksum leader characters 20 count number interval number interval length 8 digit site code Alpha site code 20 characters start time start date data 10 per line checksum TDC Ultra User Manual or or Intersection Stop Delay NAAA 001 001 01 nnnnnnnn AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hhmm mmddyy nnnn nnnn nnnn CCC Appendix leader characters 20 count number interval number interval length 8 digit
45. e first page of this manual 15 3 TDC Ultra User Manual 15 4 Appendix Appendix A 1 TDC Ultra User s Manual Installing USB Drivers The first time you are downloading the TDC Ultra to a computer using the USB port you will need to install the drivers for it There are two drivers that will be installed one right after the other These drivers are available on the Downloads section of the JAMAR web site www jamartech com on the installation CD for the PETRAPro software and as part of the Windows Update feature available from Microsoft using an Internet connection To install the drivers first turn the Ultra on then connect a USB cable to your computer and then to the USB port of the Ultra The Windows Found New Hardware message will pop up referencing USB Serial Converter then the Found New Hardware Wizard will appear One of the features of Windows XP and Vista is to use your Internet con nection to search the Windows Update web site for any available drivers for USB devices you connect to your computer like the TDC Ultra If you have not used this feature before you ll first see a screen like the one shown to the right when you first connect the Ultra Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard Windows wil search for curent end updated sofware by looking on your computer on the hardware instalation CD or on the Windows Update Web ate fwith your permission Bead ou pivacy policy Can Windows c
46. e length of distance between the start and end lines the timing accuracy of the TDC Ultra electronics and bias caused by the drivers detecting something going on and slowing down all contribute errors to the results but these errors are small compared to the ones mentioned above and generally can be ignored Since the sources of error can vary greatly it is difficult to say what ac curacy you should expect However our test indicate that an error of about 2 3 MPH is typical at a site with good visibility and steady traffic driving at a constant speed What Data Do You Need to Collect Spot Speed studies can be done in one of two ways with vehicle clas sification or without vehicle classification The green key marked A onthetemplate is pressed when a vehicle passes over the start line If you are not concerned with distinguishing between types of vehicles when recording speeds you can press the number 8 key shown next to the B on the template when the vehicle passes the end line When the data is processed you will see one column of all the vehicle speeds from the first to the last 10 3 TDC Ultra User Manual If you do want to classify vehicles while recording the speeds rather than just pressing the number 8 key when the vehicle crosses the end line you can press any of the 1 through 13 keys to classify it When the data is pro cessed you will see several columns of speed data each corresponding to one of the
47. ed vehicle crosses the stop bar press keys 1C 4C that corresponds to the lane that the vehicle is in 5 Continue pressing keys 1C 4C until the last queued vehicle crosses the stop bar 6 If you have enough samples turn the TDC Ultra or go back to step 2 to record more data Type 2 Saturation Flow with Signal Timing This study is very similar to the Saturation Flow Only study The dif ference here is that you will also record signal timing The data col lection is a little more difficult because you have to carefully watch for the signal to change 1 Wait for the signal controlling the approach you are studying to turn red 2 Watch the queue begin building as well as the opposing signal for the cycle change 3 When the signal turns green press the GREEN Key 4 As each queued vehicle crosses the stop bar press keys 1C 4C that corresponds to the lane that the vehicle is in You must also keep a close eye on the signal to determine the next phase change 8 5 TDC Ultra User Manual 5 Continue pressing buttons 1C 4C until the last queued vehicle crosses the stop bar 6 When the signal turns yellow press the YELLOW key 7 When the signal turns red press the RED key 8 When you have recorded enough signal changes turn off the TDC Ultra or go back to step 2 to record more data Type 3 Saturation Flow with Signal Timings and Arrival Types This study 1s the most difficult to perform but yields the greatest am
48. eed in mph cc class number Notes leader characters 20 count number interval number interval length min 8 digit site code Alpha site code 20 characters start time start date data 2 per line checksum e Checksum is mod 256 of all characters in interval e All lines are followed by CR LF characters e Last line of data followed by 20 colons A 11 66 99 end of data character TDC Ultra User Manual Status Count TM CL DL GAP SF RA SD SS TS Status Continue Clear Confirm Utilities Tests Memory Display Keys Time Date Site Code Interval Appendix Menu Tree A 13 TDC Ultra User Manual We are pleased that you have chosen the TDC Ultra for your traffic data collection needs We have strived to develop a unit that is easy to use and has the options that our customers require The TDC Ultra has undergone extensive testing to verify the accuracy of its operations and each unit is extensively tested before it leaves our facility Should you detect any prob lems with this unit or any of our products please notify us immediately and discontinue use of the unit until we have verified its operation A 14
49. ements BANK1 1 16 This is designated by the number before the direction changing to a 2 If you press the TAB key a third time the display changes to show the totals for each of the tertiary movements BANK2 1 16 with the number before the direction changing to a 3 Press the TAB key a fourth time and the display changes back to the default status screen showing the time You can continually press the TAB key to cycle through the four screens time primary keys sec ondary keys tertiary keys At the end of each interval the display automatically changes back to the default screen so you can check to see if 1t is time to end the study As soon as you press one of the movement keys the display goes back to the screen you were using when the interval ended If you know that you are not near the end of the study yet you don t have to look at the display just keep counting Ending the Study When you get to the last interval keep counting until the interval ends signaled by the triple beep Once you hear this turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off Chapter 12 Time Stamped Studies Chapter 12 Time Stamped Studies TDC Ultra User Manual The Time Stamp study in the TDC Ultra is designed to allow you to collect data in a raw unaltered format Every key press is recorded along with a time stamp Once this data has been downloaded it can be used for any purpose you see
50. en sorted into one of 15 dif ferent bins from 2 seconds up to 30 seconds in two second increments The total in that bin is then increased by one After each interval period usually 5 or 15 minutes the totals in all of the bins are stored in memory and then reset to zero Data is then collected for another interval 7 2 Chapter 7 Multi direction Gap Studies You can do either a one direction or two direction GAP study with the TDC Ultra It takes practice to do a two direction gap study especially if the two approaches are at right angles to one another but it can be done Like many other things practice makes perfect The TDC Ultra actually keeps track of three different gaps even though you only measure two One for each of the GAP buttons that you press while doing the study and one that is a combination gap that is only valid when both GAP buttons are simultaneously pressed The combination gap lets you measure the gaps in the N S direction with one key the S N direction with the other key and still determine the distri bution of gaps across both lanes Typically this is used at an unsignalized intersection or a driveway access to determine the ease of making right and left turns You also have the option of doing a volume count while you are doing the gap study A separate key the COUNT key is pressed for each vehicle The total number of vehicles is stored with the gap data at the end of each interval The analysis
51. eriod the TDC Ultra beeps The display changes to the following Intersection Delay Count 001 Int 002 of stopped cars 13 54 24 Rem 00 14 You are prompted to enter the number of vehicles that are stopped at the approach if there are any Use keys 1 10 10 0 as a keypad to enter the number When you press either the Stopped key or the Through key to count the next vehicle the number you typed is accepted and stored in the memory The Stopped and Through key acts like an Enter key on a computer For example if there are 17 vehicles stopped then press the 1 key then the 7 key and then wait for the next car and press either the Stopped or Through key whichever is appropriate If there are no vehicles stopped you can press either O key 10 as explained above or just continue counting with the Stopped or Through key The default value is zero since that is the most common number you enter When the light is green and all of the vehicles are moving there are zero vehicles stopped If you make a mistake while entering the number just retype the num ber until the number shown on the display is correct Then continue as usual Keep counting the cars with the two keys and entering the number of stopped cars every interval until you have collected data for the amount of time you decided was necessary 6 5 TDC Ultra User Manual Ending the Study When you get to the last interval you want to record keep counting u
52. es and therefore pressed one of the Bank keys you can only do one direction of data collection at a time As a result you ll be taken directly to the Interval Length selection screen described later If however your class scheme has less than 16 classes and therefore you didn t press one of the Bank keys you can choose to collected more than one direction of data at one time The procedure for doing this is described in the next section 5 5 TDC Ultra User Manual Select Number of Directions If you have chosen to use the FHWA s Scheme F or selected a User Defined scheme with 16 or less classes you will see the screen shown here Number of directions El 2 3 EXIT Single direction no BANK keys active This screen allows you to decide how many directions of data to col lected If you select 2 or 3 while doing the study you use the BANK keys in conjunction with the primary 16 keys to record data for a second or third direction Interval Once you have selected the number of directions to record you ll be prompted to select an interval length 15 15 30 60 EXIT Select interval duration minutes Press DO to accept You are given the choice of 1 5 15 30 or 60 minute intervals An In terval is the amount of time the TDC Ultra collects data before it stores the accumulated totals in memory You are barely aware of intervals changing when you do a study with the TDC Ultra 1t beeps at the end of each i
53. evious study the Status menu can be used to determine whether or not there is enough memory in the TDC Ultra to conduct the next study Counts stored 002 Memory used 002 Memory left 098 Press DO to return The status screen shown above shows you information about the memory in the counter The most important number is on the third line the percentage of memory left You want to make sure you have enough memory to do your study before you bring the TDC Ultra out to the field The Appendix contains a chart which details how much memory each study uses If you are not sure you have enough room you should download the data in the TDC Ultra to your computer for processing and then clear the memory to free up space The status information is always shown when you turn on the TDC Ultra counter but you can also re display it from the Count menu if you didn t notice it the first time 2 8 Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra Clearing the Memory The TDC Ultra storesits datain flash memory and retains the data even if COUNT REVIEW DUMP the counter is turned off However ICLEAR UTILITIES once the data has been successfully Clear memory of all transferred to the computer there is count data bat 6 2 no need to keep itin the TDC Ultra The only way to clear the data and make room for new studies is to use the Clear option To start this process select Clear from the Main Menu The first level of
54. f TDC stoppen rouan Signalized Intersection Delay studies are one of two types of delay studies done with the TDC Ultra Since both are commonly called stop delay studies we have adapted a naming convention to distinguish between the two types Signalized Intersection Delay Studies are used at signalized intersections and use a statistical method to measure delay Stop Sign Delay studies are done at stop sign controlled intersections and measure the delay of each vehicle directly This chapter deals with Intersection Delay Studies Chapter 8 explains Stop Sign Delay studies The method used by the TDC Ultra for this study follows the standard method used by traffic engineers for years to do Intersection Delay Studies This manual assumes that you understand at least generally how a delay study is performed If you don t then you should refer to a text book on Traffic Engineering A good source is the Manual for Traffic Engineering Studies published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers 6 2 Chapter 6 Signalized Intersection Delay Studies Note that the data collection for this study is for one approach only Also note that the data collection requires you to record the number of vehicles in the queue for an approach If your traffic volumes are so high that you cannot count the vehicles in the queue or see the end of the queue this stud y should not be used Doing a Signalzied Intersection Delay study is actua
55. fit In most cases the data will be exported to an external program for additional analysis How to do a Time Stamp Study When you are ready to begin a Time Stamp study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select TS You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page 2 5 for information on selecting a site code Start Study After you have selected a Site Code you are ready to start the study The display shows the count number type of study and the current time so that you can start the study at a specific time Time Stamp Study 14 02 58 04 key 1 14 03 02 06 key 14 03 10 Count 002 The middle two lines of the display are used to show the keys as you record them The key line shows the most recently pressed key along with its time stamp while the key 1 line shows the previously pressed key along with its time stamp getestet IMPORTANT 00 FF Only the gray 1 through 16 keys can be used with the Time Stamp study The other keys on the TDC Ultra are disabled when in this study mode To record your data all you need to do is press a key to represent a specific event The key you pressed is stored in memory along with its time Ending the Study When you are done collecting data turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 12 2 Chapter 13 Retrieving Data from the TDC Ultra Chapter 13 Retrievin
56. g Data from the TDC Ultra TDC Ultra User s Manual There are two ways in which to retrieve data from the TDC Ultra by down loading it to a computer or by manually retrieving it using the Review menu Downloading the data is the easier and much more commonly used of the two options Downloading to the computer The TDC Ultra is specifically designed to allow the data to be transferred to a computer for analysis Although it is possible to use the Review op tion to read and remove some of the data by hand it is not really practical if you do a study of any significant length A much better method is to do the studies you need to do and then transfer all of the data to a computer at one time for further analysis Note Use the optional external power supply during n the download process whenever possible The download process draws a significant amount of power so use of the external power supply will prolong the life of your AA batteries Our PETRAPro software is the program most commonly used for download and analysis This software will download and process all of the data from the TDC Ultra The TDC Ultra has a built in USB port that is used to transfer the data to any computer with a USB port To download your data first turn on the TDC Ultra and plug a USB cable into it Then plug the other end into your computer Note that the first time you are connecting the Ultra to a computer using the USB port you will need
57. h vehicles can be classified by up to fourteen different groups using the 14 yellow keys located near the bottom of TDC Ultra refer to chapter 4 The TDC Ultra is designed to make turning movement data collection simple and accurate The buttons are arranged to simulate a standard intersection which makes collecting the data intuitive There are 16 buttons with 12 normally used for the left through and right movements from each of the four approach directions The additional four buttons are user defined they can be used for buses trucks bicycles pedestrians or whatever you want If a car makes a left turn from an approach you simply push the button that shows a left turn from that direction The TDC Ultra keeps track of everything else for you The TDC Ultra can also double or triple the number of movements counted from 16 to 32 or 48 by using the unit s two BANK keys in conjunction with 3 2 Chapter 3 Standard Turning Movement Studies the regular movement keys If a movement key is pressed the count is reg istered in the primary movements 1 16 If the BANK1 key is held down while a movement key is pressed the count is registered in the secondary movements 17 32 If the BANK2 key is held down while a movement key is pressed the count is registered in the tertiary movements 33 48 Normally the turning movements of less common events are counted with the secondary and tertiary BANK1 and BANK keys
58. hapters 3 through 12 for more information on how to perform each study 5 Once you have finished your count turn the TDC Ultra off and the data will be stored internally vi Chapter 1 Introduction to the TDC Ultra Chapter 1 Introduction to the TDC Ultra TDC Ultra User s Manual What is the TDC Ultra EEES The TDC Ultra is an electronic hand held device WE that enables you to do some of the most common manual traffic data collection You can collect e Standard Turning Movement Studies Collect turning movement data while classify ing up to 3 groups of vehicles e Enhanced Turning Movement Studies Collect Turning Movement data while clas sifying up to 14 groups of vehicles e Manual Classification Studies Collect class data based on the Federal Highway Administration s clas sification scheme Scheme F or using your own customized schemes e Multi direction Gap Studies Collect gap and count data in one direction or two directions with com bined gap Stop Sign Delay Studies Measure delay and queues at stop sign controlled intersections Signalized Intersection Delay Studies Measure several vehicle delay parameters at an approach to a signalized intersection Spot Speed Studies Do speed studies to find running speeds on approaches e Saturation Flow Rate Studies Collect Saturation Flow data at signalized intersections e Roundabout Movement Studies Collect movement data at roundabouts w
59. he other studies in the TDC Ultra which are based on counting the number of events that happen in a relatively long time period The events are timed to a res olution of 15 6 milliseconds To perform this study correctly you have to press the proper keys at exactly the right times 9 2 Chapter 9 Stop Sign Delay Studies This is a simple study to understand You press one key when a vehicle stops at the end of the queue and you press another key when a vehicle not necessarily the same one crosses the stop bar The TDC Ultra accurately measures the times when you press each key The analysis software then can calculate how long it takes each vehicle to progress through the queue and enter the intersection The software also calculates the number of cars in the queue at all times Stop Sign Delay studies are normally done at one approach to an intersection Typically you would study the approach with the highest volume since that approach would likely have the longest delays You can measure one or two lanes at once You want to position yourself so that you can see vehicles as they stop at the back of the queue and also as they enter the intersection The diagram below shows the position we recommend for doing the data collection although you can position yourself anywhere you feel we let you easily observe the vehicles you are recording Stand Here E When you are in a good position you are ready to start the study 9 3
60. hile classifying up to 3 groups of vehicles Time Stamped Studies Collect raw data with a time stamp of every key pressed 1 2 Chapter 1 Introduction to the TDC Ultra Multiple studies can be stored in the TDC Ultra which has 128KB of avail able memory For each study the unit stores the type of study the date and time a site code and the data While much of the data that has been collected with the TDC Ultra can be manually extracted from its display the device is designed to be down loaded to a computer At any convenient time you can transfer the data to your computer through the USB port The PETRAPro software allows you to easily read edit and store most of the data as well as print a variety of reports and graphs Maintaining Your TDC Ultra The TDC Ultra is a complex electronic device Like other electronic devices computers digital cameras etc a certain amount of care should be taken to ensure it has a long productive life While the TDC Ultra is a very rugged and durable instrument some precautions should be taken Like other electronic devices the TDC Ultra can be affected by static electric discharge Be careful to properly ground or discharge yourself especially in cold weather when static electric build up is more prevalent The TDC Ultra is not waterproof Like other electronic devices the TDC Ultra can be damaged or otherwise adversely affected by getting wet Be sure to protect the unit proper
61. hree times You should see a full screen of 8 then full screen of and finally a full screen of If any of the screens do not display correctly then something is wrong with the display of the TDC Ultra Contact us using the information in the front of this manual to arrange to ship the TDC Ultra back for repair Keys Test There are a number of push button keys or switches on the front panel of the TDC Ultra each of which performs a vital function It is very important that the keys work reliably The keys are the only components in the TDC Ultra that are susceptible to wear and tear While they should have a long life each key is rated to 1 million pushes there is always the chance that a key will go bad and stop working correctly Our experience suggests that some customers think that the harder they push the keys the more important the TDC Ultra will consider the count This is not true Actually the TDC Ultra prefers gentle pressing of the keys Please keep it in mind To test the switches select SWITCH TEST KEYS from the TESTS Press any one key menu The screen shown You pressed 1 here is then displayed Bank1 DO to exit Each time you press a key the TDC Ultra displays the number of the key on the display The BANK1 BANK2 TAB amp DO keys are 2 12 Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra spelled out Press each of the keys until the all of the switches have
62. ich may or not be important is wrong or you can press the Stop and Go keys in sequence very quickly and say that each of the vehicles experienced a minimum amount of delay This tends to distort the average delay per vehicle calculation in the analysis If these limitations do not affect your study or if the other Delay study in the TDC Ultra which works best on large busy signalized intersections isn t appropriate for some reason then go for it 9 6 Chapter 10 Spot Speed Studies Chapter 10 Spot Speed Studies TDC Ultra User s Manual Spot Speed Studies JAMAR Technologies Inc Spot Speed Assign vehicle classes to keys to be used Pick or set two markers A 4 B in road 100 300 feet apart Measure distance from A to B input into TDC Press Key A when a vehicle crosses marker A Classify vehicle and select appropriate class key Press selected Key when same vehicle crosses marker B Press OOPS to delete last key pressed The Spot Speed study in the TDC Ultra is designed to allow you to measure the speed characteristics at a specified location typically an approach to an intersection This study is not meant to replace a formal speed study using an automatic traffic recorder like those of the JAMAR TRAX series Rather it is meant to be used when the approach speed of traffic is required as part of a capacity analysis at an intersection or possibly as a preliminary study to find appropriate lo
63. in the TDC Ultra The memory of the unit is backed by an internal lithium battery and is retained even when the AA batteries are removed Just to be safe however we suggest that you download the data to your computer before you replace the batteries Then Clear the counter after the new batteries are installed to reset everything properly We recommend that you keep track of when you have changed the batter ies in the TDC Ultra and establish a regular routine for changing them This should help to avoid having to change the batteries in the middle of a count 14 2 Chapter 15 Troubleshooting Chapter 15 Troubleshooting 15 1 TDC Ultra User Manual TROUBLESHOOTING The following are some common questions problems that can be encoun tered when using the TDC Ultra The possible answers that are stated with them are not necessarily the only answer but should be checked first before contacting us If you cannot find the answer to your problem question do not hesitate to contact us Contact information is listed on the first page of this manual The TDC Ultra will not turn on Check that the unit has enough power to operate Replace the AA batteries with fresh ones or plug in the external power supply The TDC Ultra will not download Perform the following checks e Check your cable connection between the unit and the computer e Check that the baud rate selected in the unit matches that in the soft ware e Make sure
64. ing when you do a study with the TDC Ultra it beeps at the end of each interval to let you know it may be time to go home The TDC Ultra automatically keeps track of the time and stores the data at the end of the interval You only have to concentrate on collecting the data This is one of the major features of the TDC Ultra The most common intervals for Gap studies are 5 and 15 We rec ommend that you use these unless you have special requirements Press DO once you have selected the interval length you wish to use Start Study After you have selected an Gap Study interval to use you are ready Count 001 Int 001 to start the study The display Any Key to Start shows the current count num 14 43 45 ber and the interval number In the example shown this is the first count done and it is at the first interval 7 4 Chapter 7 Multi direction Gap Studies The TDC Ultra is waiting for you to push a Count or Gap button which starts the study The display in the lower left corner shows the current time so it is easy to synchronize the start of the study to the beginning of the desired interval You do not have to push the first button exactly when the seconds roll over to zero The analysis software rounds the start of the count to the nearest minute automatically However when starting a new study always try to begin as close to an interval bound ary as possible such as xx 00 xx 15 xx 30 or xx 45 Press either a
65. is contrasts with most of the other studies in the TDC Ultra which are based on counting the number of events that happen in a relatively long time period The events are timed to a res olution of 15 6 milliseconds To perform this study correctly you have to press the proper keys at exactly the right times Saturation Flow Rate studies are done at one approach to a signalized in tersection You normally are interested in the critical lane or lanes which usually are the through movement s You can also measure Sat Flows for a left turn lane as a separate study Your position at the intersection is very important as you need to be able to easily see three events 1 Phase changes on the signal 2 Cars entering the intersection You press keys when vehicles pass over the stop bar as they enter the intersection 3 Cars stopping during the red phase of the light The diagram below shows the position we recommend for doing the data collection although you can position yourself anywhere you feel we let you easily observe the three events described above Stand Here E When you are in a good position you are ready to start the study 8 3 TDC Ultra User Manual Saturation Flow Rate Template Page 7 2 shows the template that is used for Saturation Flow Rate studies It 1s color coded to make the study easier to perform The Signal Phase keys at the bottom of the template show the proper colors The keys labeled 1C 4C are pri
66. is to turn the power off 3 7 TDC Ultra User Manual 3 8 Chapter 4 Enhanced Turning Movement Studies Chapter 4 Enhanced Turning Movement Studies TDC Ultra User Manual The Enhanced Turning Movement study in the TDC Ultra is designed to allow you to collect turning movement data while classifying vehicles in up to 14 groups The data collection is very similar to the Standard Turning Movement study described in chapter 3 If you are new to Turning Movement studies re view chapter 3 before proceeding However instead of using the Bank1 and Bank 2 keys at the top of the board to classify up to three groups with the Enhanced Turning Movement study you use the 14 keys at the bottom of the board to classify up to 14 groups How to do an Enhanced Turning Movement Study When you are ready to begin an Enhanced Turning Movement study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select TC Study Options Once you select TC the Study Options screen appears STRT MOD DEF FP1 FP2 Mode SIMUL FP1 01 DEFT CLS 02 FP2 03 The middle two lines of this screen show the options that are currently set for the study To use these options press DO while STRT is flashing on the top line Any of the options can be changed by using the other four selections on the top line MOD DEF FP1 or FP2 MOD Mode The Mode study option allows you to choose between two different formats for collecting data The optio
67. l of the data you need Wait till the start of a new cycle after you press GREEN then turn off the TDC Ultra Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 8 8 Chapter 9 Stop Sign Delay Studies Chapter 9 Stop Sign Delay Studies TDC Ultra User s Manual Stop Sign Delay Studies JAMAR Technologies Inc Stop Sign Delay Select SD from Main Menu Press buttons 1S or 2S as vehicles stop at end of queue Press buttons 1G or 2G as any vehicles release from queue and enter the intersection 4 When done turn off TDC Press OOPS to delete last key pressed The Stop Sign Delay study in the TDC Ultra is designed to allow you to measure the traffic characteristics at an intersection controlled by a stop sign Although it primarily measures delay it also provides information about the queue length and traffic volumes at an approach This study should not be confused with the Signalized Intersection Delay study in the TDC Ultra Chapter 5 which is primarily used at high volume signalized intersections That study uses a statistical average to calculate delay This study measures the actual delay of each vehicle as it progresses through a stop controlled intersection Note that this study can also be used for signalized intersections that have low volumes The procedure implemented in the TDC Ultra is based on accurately mea suring the time that events happen This contrasts with most of t
68. lly like doing two studies at once First you are recording every vehicle that comes to the intersection from a specific approach as either having Stopped the light is red or the light is green but a queue exists or gone Through the light is green and no queue exists You only record a vehicle once it is either Stopped or Through Second while you are recording the approach vehicles the TDC Ultra will beep at a designated interval you have selected between 10 and 16 seconds When the beep occurs you enter the number of vehicles in the queue at that exact moment These two procedures taken together provide enough information to give measurements of the delay at that approach Signalized Intersection Delay Studies are not as intuitively obvious as most of the other studies performed with the TDC Ultra It may seem at first glance that there isn t enough information to generate any realistic data Rest assured however This procedure is well known in Traffic Engineering circles and has been verified many times by researchers in the field 6 3 TDC Ultra User Manual How to do a Signalized Intersection Delay Study When you are ready to begin a Signalized Intersection Delay study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select DL You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page 2 5 for information on selecting a site code Interval Once you have selected the site c
69. ly during inclement weather Be careful not to spill any liquids into the unit How is the TDC Ultra powered The TDC Ultra is powered by four AA batteries The electronics of the unit are designed to draw as little power as necessary so depending on use a fresh set of batteries may last several months before they need to be replaced The Main Menu shows the current battery voltage Fresh batteries should read around 6 4 volts Batteries should be replaced when this voltage falls around 5 5 An external power supply can also be used with the unit to further extend the life of the batteries The power supply which plugs into a wall socket is 1 3 TDC Ultra User Manual recommend for use when downloading the TDC Ultra to a computer When in the field an optional cigarette lighter adapter can be used with the unit This item draws power from the vehicle s battery and is required for TDC Ultras equipped with backlit displays Note When using either the cigarette lighter adapter or external power supply the On Off switch of the TDC Ultra does not need to be turned on We recommend that the switch be left in the OFF position as this will prevent the TDC Ultra from drawing power from the internal AA batteries and extend their life Programming the TDC Ultra The TDC Ultra is simple to use An OFF ON switch on top of the unit panel is used to turn the unit on and off A 4 line by 20 character display helps you select the proper ent
70. marily used during the green phase of the signal therefore they are surrounded by a green border The keys labeled 15 45 are used only during the red phase so they are surrounded by a red border The keys labeled 1C 4C represent individual lanes on the approach to the intersection under investigation In theory you can monitor up to four lanes at once In practice it is rarely necessary to do more than two lanes You are primarily interested in the worst case situation and that is usually limited to one or two lanes You need to assign a given key to a given lane You can use any of the four keys for any of the lanes however it is easier to remember which key corresponds to which lane if you choose keys that match the lane configuration on the street If you are measuring the two through lanes then use 2C and 3C If you are measuring the left turn lane then use 1C Select keys that match the geometry Each of the keys 1C 4C has a corresponding key labeled 15 45 They have the same color and arrangement It is important that you use the proper pair of keys while you do the study if you use 2C then you must also use 2S At the top of the template is a very important key the OOPS key This key deletes the last keys that were pressed If you hit the wrong key especially one of the phase keys then you can quickly press the OOPS key and then the correct key If you hit several wrong keys in a row then you can repeatedly press the OOPS key
71. n Turning Movement with the TDC Ultra Overlay 1 is used for Classification stud ies One side shows the FHWA Scheme F classes and the other side is designed to allow you to define your own classification scheme The overlay material allows you to write on it with a pencil or water based marking pen Overlay 3 is used for Saturation Flow Rate studies or Stop Sign Delay studies 1 5 TDC Ultra User Manual Overlay 4 is used for Spot Speed and Roundabout studies These overlays also show simple instructions on how to perform the dif ferent types of studies The overlays have four holes with serrated edges that easily snap onto the mounting studs on the TDC Ultra It is a simple matter to pop an overlay on or off when doing a study We suggest you keep the overlays in the carrying case when they are not being used Replacement overlays are available if you lose one Before You Do a Study When you first receive your TDC Ultra we recommend clearing the memory before doing your first data collection to be sure you are starting fresh Before you attempt to collect important data with the TDC Ultra we strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with both the operation of the TDC Ultra and how the data you want is collected Few things are more frustrating than trying to resolve problems when working on a tight deadline or with critical data Whenever possible we recommend that you perform a test study 1f you are
72. nd the amount of memory used and left for new studies Make a note of the amount of memory left If you are not sure if it is enough for the study you want to do then you should download the data to your computer and then clear the memory in the TDC Ultra before proceeding After a few seconds the status screen clears and the Main Menu is dis played Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra Main Menu SIT REVIEW DUMP CLEAR UTILITIES Start or continue a count bat 6 2 The Main Menu screen is the starting point for all of the options in the TDC Ultra The options on this screen are COUNT Start a New count or Continue the previous count in mem ory You can also check the amount of memory left for new counts REVIEW Display on the screen the data in memory for any of the counts This process is described in chapter 13 DUMP Download all of the data in the TDC Ultra to a computer through the USB port This process is described in chapter 13 CLEAR Clear the memory of all count data UTILITIES Perform miscellaneous operations that include a variety of hardware tests set the time and date and beeper control Battery Status The Main Menu also displays the battery voltage of the AA batteries used in the unit Fresh batteries should read around 6 4 volts You should begin planning to replace the batteries once they fall to 5 5 volts The unit will shut down once the voltage falls to approximately 4 5 volts Fo
73. ned How to do a Turning Movement Study When you are ready to begin a Standard Turning Movement study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select TM You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to chapter 2 for information on selecting a site code Interval Once you have programmed a site code for the study you are prompted to choose the interval length that will be used 15 KB 30 60 EXIT Select interval duration minutes Press DO to accept You are given the choice of 1 5 15 30 or 60 minute intervals An In terval is the amount of time the TDC Ultra collects data before it stores the accumulated totals in memory You are barely aware of intervals 3 4 Chapter 3 Standard Turning Movement Studies changing when you do a study with the TDC Ultra 1t beeps at the end of each interval to let you know 1t may be time to go home The TDC Ultra automatically keeps track of the time and stores the data at the end of the interval You only have to concentrate on collecting the data This is one of the major features of the TDC Ultra The default value is 15 minutes as this is the most common interval length used for Turning Movement studies We recommend that you use 15 minutes unless you have special requirements Press DO once you have selected the interval length you wish to use Start Study After you have selected an interval to use you are ready Turn Cou
74. ns you have are Simultaneous or Latched When collecting data in Simultaneous mode you must hold down the yellow class key each time you press one of the gray turning movement keys When collecting data in Latched mode the TDC Ultra retains the last class key you pressed in memory so you only need to press one of the gray turning movement keys for any additional vehicles of that same class 42 Chapter 4 Enhanced Turning Movement Studies When you select the MOD option the first screen you will see is an informational one to let you know that you can change modes while in the middle of a study by simply pressing the TAB key TAB key will toggle MODE during a count Press DO to change starting MODE Press the DO key to continue and you will see the Mode selection screen SIMUL LATCHED EXIT In SIMUL mode hold down CLS key and depress movement key Select SIMUL if you want to use Simultaneous mode or select Latched if you want to use Latched mode DEF Default Class The Default Class study option only applies to studies being done in Simultaneous mode It allows you to assign one vehicle class as the default for the study In most classification schemes there is one class that contains the majority of vehicles in the study This is typically the class for pas senger cars but can vary By using the Default Class option you can press just the turning movement key without holding the class key for vehicles of
75. nt to start the study The display Count 001 Int 001 shows the current count num Any Key to Start ber and the interval number In 07 59 37 the example shown this is the first count done and it is at the first interval The TDC Ultra is waiting for you to push any movement button which starts the study The display in the lower left corner shows the current time so it is easy to synchronize the start of the count to the beginning of the desired interval You do not have to push the first button exactly when the seconds roll over to zero The analysis software rounds the start of the study to the nearest minute automatically However when starting a new study always try to begin as close to an interval bound ary as possible such as xx 00 xx 15 xx 30 or xx 45 Press any of the gray keys to begin counting and the TDC Ultra will start recording data When you push the first button to start the study the display changes to show the amount of time left in the present interval In this case it starts at 15 00 08 01 23 Rem 13 37 minutes and counts down to zero At the end of each interval the TDC Ultra beeps three times 3 5 Turn Count Count 001 Int 001 TDC Ultra User Manual Normally you are not watching the display you are watching the traffic The beeps remind you that the interval is over This is only important if this is the last interval and you are ready to quit otherwise just ignore the beeps an
76. nterval to let you know 1t may be time to go home The TDC Ultra automatically keeps track of the time and stores the data at the end of the interval You only have to concentrate on collecting the data This is one of the major features of the TDC Ultra The default value is 15 minutes as this is the most common interval length used for classification studies We recommend that you use 15 minutes unless you have special requirements Press DO once you have selected the interval length you wish to use 5 6 Chapter 5 Classification Studies Start Study After you have selected an Classification Count interval to use you are ready Count 001 Int 001 to start the study The display Any Key to Start shows the current count num 07 59 37 ber and the interval number In the example shown this is the first count done and it is at the first interval The TDC Ultra is waiting for you to push any class button which starts the study The display in the lower left corner shows the current time so it is easy to synchronize the start of the study to the beginning of the desired interval You do not have to push the first button exactly when the seconds roll over to zero The analysis software rounds the start of the count to the nearest minute automatically However when starting a new study always try to begin as close to an interval boundary as possible such as xx 00 xx 15 xx 30 or xx 45 Press any of the gray keys to
77. ntil the interval ends signaled by the triple beep Once you hear this turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 6 6 Chapter 7 Multi direction Gap Studies Chapter 7 Multi direction Gap Studies TDC Ultra User s Manual Gap Studies JAMAR Technologies Inc Manual Gap Study Choose GAP from Study Menu Select Interval Press DO key to start Count all vehicles once Press COUNT for each vehicle Track GAPS in traffic Imagine line across road Hold GAP key down when gap starts Release GAP key when vehicle crosses line Continue counting vehicles while tracking gaps When done turn off TOC DIRECTION 1 DIRECTION 2 gt 53 Salele The TDC Ultra makes it very simple to do manual gap studies Most of traffic engineering is involved one way or another with managing gaps in traffic After all the primary purpose of a signal at an intersection is to artificially create gaps so that traffic can smoothly flow through an intersection A gap is normally defined as the amount of time in seconds between the end of one vehicle and the beginning of the next You can measure gaps on an entire road with several lanes of traffic going in different directions or you can measure gaps on individual lanes It depends upon the data that is required The TDC Ultra measures gaps by counting the time that a key the GAP key is pressed and held down This time is th
78. nue BEGIN EXIT then press DO The screen shown Press DO to start here is then displayed dump Baud Rate 57 6k At this point the TDC Ultra is ready to download Make sure your software is properly set up refer to the software manual if you have any questions on this then press the DO key The screen shown here count 001 will then be displayed interval 001 TRANSFER IN PROGRESS 13 3 TDC Ultra User Manual The TDC Ultra starts sending the data to the computer beginning with the first interval of the first count The screen shows the count number and interval number that is being transferred When all of the data has been transferred the screen returns to the Dump Assuming the transfer is suc cessful you can then select EXIT to return to the Main Menu Note The TDC Ultra has no way of knowing if the transfer is successful for technical types there is no handshaking The data is sent out and hopefully something is there to catch it If the data has been successfully sent to the computer you should see a window for each file appear in the software Check the data in the software to make sure the download has been successful If everything looks okay you may clear the memory of the unit using the process described on page 2 9 13 4 Chapter 13 Retrieving Data from the TDC Ultra Retrieving Data Using the Review Menu Although the TDC Ultra is designed to be downloaded to a computer some of the data that
79. o get a rough estimate If it seems close then you should arrange to download the TDC Ultra before doing the study If you run out of memory during a study nothing serious happens The TDC Ultra simply displays a message saying that the memory is full No data from previous studies are ever lost Standard Turning Movement Roundabout Movement Classification amp Gap 75 intervals for every 1 of memory Intersection Delay 300 intervals for every 1 of memory Enhanced Turning Movement Sat Flow Stop Sign Delay Time Stamped 400 cars for every 1 of memory Spot Speed 800 cars for every 1 of memory TDC Ultra User s Manual Appendix Data Output Format The following information is not normally needed to use the TDC Ultra It is provided for those who are interested in some of the technical aspects of the TDC Ultra It is also provided for those customers who do not plan to use the analysis software or who are interested in interfacing the TDC Ultra to their own computer hardware and or software systems The data that is sent out of the TDC Ultra is in standard ASCII text format Any communications program such as Windows Hyperterminal can be used to capture the data It is also easy to write software that can read the raw data if you are familiar with a programming language Doing something with the data is another matter Each interval of data is sent separately The format of the data for each of the TDC Ultra s stu
80. o make them simpler to do but they still are essentially classification studies The normal use of the term Classification Study involves a manual survey of the types of vehicles Each class is a particular type of vehicle either a passenger car a bus a type of truck etc The study typically called a Manual Classification Study involves counting the number of vehicles of each class for a given amount of time 5 2 Chapter 5 Classification Studies The TDC Ultra uses the term Classification primarily for vehicle classi fication studies but not exclusively With the TDC Ultra you can do three types of classification studies 1 Vehicle Classification using the Federal Highway Administration s vehicle classification system scheme F 2 Vehicle Classification using your own scheme 3 Any type of classification study you invent The first two are very similar They both involve assigning a vehicle type to each button The FHWA scheme F uses 13 different classes of vehicles based on the number of axles and the spacing of axles It is designed to be compatible with automatic traffic counting equipment using road tube sensors such as the JAMAR TRAX series Road tubes can only measure the presence of an axle so the automatic counters can only count axles and measure the spacing between axles The FHWA Scheme F does a good job of discriminating most types of vehicles but because it is designed for automatic data collection equi
81. ode you ll be prompted to select an interval time length to use for the study You are given the choice of 10 11 12 13 14 15 or 16 seconds 10 11 12 13 14 15 16secs EXIT Select interval time length to be used In general you want to use an interval that is not a sub multiple of the signal s cycle length so that you will always be sampling during different parts of the signal cycle If you don t know the cycle length or don t believe it matters there is some argument about it in the lit erature then choose 15 seconds if for no other reason than it makes the printouts look neater Once you have selected the interval you are ready to begin the actual study Start Study As with all of the studies done with the TDC Ultra the count does not start until you press the first data key The screen shown below is displayed after you select the interval The display shows the current time so that you can start the count at the proper time Intersection Delay Count 001 Int 001 Press any key 13 53 24 64 Chapter 6 Signalized Intersection Delay Studies The template for the study shown on page 5 2 shows that keys 11 and 12 are used to count the approach vehicles The study is started when you press one of these keys Each vehicle is counted as described before as either stopping or stopped press STOPPED or not stopping press THROUGH Remember count each vehicle only once At the end of each interval p
82. onnect lo Windows Update to search hor soltwere The drivers for the Ultra are available through this amas OM ne feature so if you d like to Rica geo allow the wizard to connect Click Nest to continue to the Internet select one for the first two options and po now me click Next After you click Next or HAT 1f you have previously instructed Windows to al This wizard helps you install soltware lor VINCI AAs Slave ways check the Windows Update web site for driv ers you ll see the screen O ypas hardware came wth an installation CD shown to the right What do you want the wizard to do x y rata the solbmess suiomabcally Recommended This screen is used to tell Install nem lat or spect location Advanced Windows where to look ea for the drivers it needs We recommend using the che ie first selection Install the Software Automatically Note that whenever possible we recommend you use the drivers available through the Windows Update web site as this is the easiest method for load ing the drivers However if you are not able to use the Windows Update web site the drivers are also available on the Downloads section of the JAMAR web site and PETRAPro installation CDs for versions later than 1 5 0 If you are downloading the drivers from the JAMAR web site be sure to follow the directions listed there If you would like to use the drivers on the PETRAPro CD insert the CD into your
83. oundabout Movement Studies JAMAR Technologies Inc Roundabout Study 1 Select RA from Main Menu 2 Press movement keys that corre spond to movement of vehicles 3 If vehicle does more than one loop count as U Turn then as movement 4 When done turn off counter 9 9 0 0 09 Modern Roundabouts are one of the more popular new developments in traffic engineering and are being installed at an ever increasing number of locations However while the physical design of a modern roundabout is different from that of a standard intersection the resulting vehicle move ments are very similar in most cases either straight left or right As such the data collection for a Roundabout Movement study is very similar to a Standard Turning Movement Study Note To properly record roundabout movements with a TDC Ultra you must be able to see not only which approach the vehicle enters from but also track which approach it exits to At busy intersections more than one person may be needed for the data collection The TDC Ultra is designed to make roundabout movement data collection simple and accurate The buttons are arranged to simulate the standard approaches to an intersection which makes collecting the data intuitive There are 16 buttons which are normally used for the left through right 11 2 Chapter 11 Roundabout Movement Studies and u turn movements from each of the four approach directions If a car
84. ount of data You can get saturation flow rates signal timings approach vol umes and arrival types Because of the complexity of the data collection you may want to consider using two people to gather the data 1 Wait for the signal to turn red and watch for vehicles to come to a full stop in the queue 2 As they do press the 1S 4S keys for the lanes you are re cording 3 When the signal turns green press the GREEN key 4 As each vehicle crosses the stop bar press the 1C 4C keys for the lanes you are recording 5 When the signal turns yellow press the YELLOW key 6 When the signal turns red press the RED key 7 If you have enough data turn the TDC Ultra off or go to step 1 sete IMPORTANT FF The difficulty of the data collection increases as you go from Type 1 to Type 2 to Type 3 If you only need to record the saturation flow rate we recommend you collect data using Type 1 8 6 Chapter 8 Saturation Flow Rate Studies How to do a Saturation Flow Rate Study Note This section describes doing Type 3 data collection which may provide more data than you need for your particular study Refer to the What Data Do You Need to Collect section on page 7 5 for more information When you are ready to begin a Saturation Flow study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select SF You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to page 2 5 for information on
85. pment it suffers from some limitations when applied to manual counts For example it often is difficult to tell at a glance whether a truck has 5 or 6 axles while it is easy to see the differ ence between two small cars following one another closely and a four axle truck a situation which often confuses automatic classifiers Manual classification schemes can use criteria other than axle number and spacing With the TDC Ultra you can design your own scheme using up to 48 different types of vehicles You can also define schemes in 2 or 3 direc tions with up to 16 classes per direction In these cases each key on the TDC Ultra can be a different class and multiple directions are classified by using the BANK keys For example Key 9 might be a city bus Ifthe bus is going north you just press Key 9 if a bus is going south you press BANK1 and Key 9 In this way you can do a bi directional study A common User Defined scheme is to have 4 vehicle types defined bikes amp motorcycles cars trucks amp buses Four approaches to an intersection can be counted with one counter without using the BANK switches The third type of classification study supported by the TDC Ultra is a User Defined study that can have any kind of classification criteria and count 5 3 TDC Ultra User Manual any type of event It doesn t have to be vehicles or even traffic related for that matter As long as you can define a unique button to a particular cl
86. r best results always replace all batteries when changing the batteries Do not mix and match new and old batteries TDC Ultra User Manual Count Menu uan STATUS CONTINUE EXIT Start a new Turning movement count When you select Count from the Main Menu the screen shown above is displayed There are several options that may be available on this menu New Select New from the Count menu whenever you want to start a new count You are then prompted to select the type of study you want to do EII JCL DL GAP SF SD SS RA TS TC EXIT Intersection Turning movement count The option available are TM Standard Turning Movement Study CL Vehicle Classification Study DL Signalized Intersection Delay Study GAP Multi direction Gap Study SF Saturation Flow Rate Study SD Stop Sign Delay Study SS Spot Speed Study RA Roundabout Study TS Time Stamped Study TC Enhanced Turning Movement Study When you choose any of the studies the TDC Ultra will step you through a series of menus to further define the parameters of the count starting with the Site Code Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra Site Code The data in the TDC Ultra includes the date and time that the count was done but no direct information on where the count was done Correct use of the Site Code is a way for you to guarantee that the data you think was collected at a particular site was indeed col lected there The T
87. r in the day to collect additional data You can choose NEW and just do two separate counts and treat them separately or ifit is an available option you can choose to CONTINUE the first study The Continue option is not always available as an option and as a result 1s not always shown on the display The TDC Ultra checks the study in memory to determine if it is one that you can continue The rules for being able to continue a study are as follows 1 You can only continue a Standard Turning Movement Roundabout or Classification study The other studies require uninterrupted data collection 2 You cannot Continue a study unless it is on the same day as the previous study All studies with the TDC Ultra are confined to a single day 2 7 TDC Ultra User Manual 3 You can only Continue the last stud y performed Previous studies cannot be continued 4 You can Continue a study any number of times as long as the first three rules apply When selectingthe Continue option the TDC Ultra automatically selects the same counting interval and site code you used for the previous count When the information is downloaded the analysis software combines the data from the two sessions into one count and puts zeros in all of the data points between the two counts An option in the software lets you print just the collected data so that all of the zeros are not printed on the report Status Before starting a New study or Continuing a pr
88. rentheses keeps track of the number of times you pressed the same combination in a row Ending the Study The Enhanced Turning Movement study data is stored on a vehicle by vehicle basis divided into one minute intervals Once you have collected enough data turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off TDC Ultra User Manual 46 Chapter 5 Classification Studies Chapter 5 Classification Studies TDC Ultra User s Manual Classification Studies USE BANK 1 oo oo o 5 O MISA ee FOR DIR 2 CYCLES CARS TRL 2A LONG BUSES FOR DIR 3 1 O O 3 O O JAMAR Technologies Inc FHWA Scheme F Classification Study Motorcyles Cars trailers Pickups vans motor homes Buses 2 axle 6 tire single unit 3 axle single unit 4 axle single unit 4 or less axle double 1 unit is truck 5 axle double 1 unit is truck 6 or more axle double 1 is truck 5 or less axle multi unit 6 axle multi unit 7 or more axle multi unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 OOOO0 00 O gt 6A MULTI 13 The TDC Ultra allows you to do many different types of classification stud ies Technically both the Turning Movement studies and the Gap studies are classification studies In one the classes are the number of vehicles making specific movements and in the other the classes are time intervals between vehicles In the TDC Ultra these studies are given special treatment t
89. ries All options are clearly displayed with the currently selected option shown with a blinking highlight The bottom lines of the display are used to explain the option that is highlighted Two buttons are all that are used to move from menu to menu and to select from the various options shown on the display The TAB key is used to cycle through the options while the DO key is used to select an option If you move the highlight too far and over shoot the desired option just keep pressing the TAB key until it is re selected Collecting Data The TDC Ultra is designed to make data collection simple and accurate The 16 gray buttons are arranged to simulate a standard intersection which makes doing Turning Movement studies intuitive Of the 16 buttons 12 are normally used for the left through and right movements from each of the four approach directions The additional four buttons are user defined they can be used for buses trucks bicycles pedestrians or whatever you want If a car makes a left turn from an approach you simply push the button that shows a left turn from that direction The TDC Ultra keeps track of everything else for you The 14 yellow buttons at the bottom of the board are used to classify vehicles while doing an Enhanced Turning Movement study 14 Chapter 1 Introduction to the TDC Ultra Four overlays are included with the TDC Ultra These show how the keys are used when you do the various studies other tha
90. s the seconds equal zero and then press the DO key 2 13 TDC Ultra User Manual Beeper The TDC Ultra has a built in beeper that beeps when most keys are pressed Some people like the beep It is a positive indication that the key pressed was detected by the microprocessor In the field while you are busy watching the traffic the beep can be reassuring Other people don t like the beep especially in a quiet car You can easily change the cur BEEPER MODE I OFF EXIT rent mode ofthe beeper from on to off or from off to on Select Beeper from the Utilities menu The screen shown here is then Turn Beeper ON displayed Use the TAB key to move the highlight to the mode you want then press DO The new mode is installed immediately Press DO with Exit flashing to return to the Utilities menu The TDC Ultra remembers the mode you have selected even after it is turned off If you change the beeper mode to off then it will stay off unless you change the mode again 2 14 Chapter 3 Standard Turning Movement Studies Chapter 3 Standard Turning Movement Studies TDC Ultra User Manual Standard Turning Movement Studies NOTE This chapter deals with data collection for Standard Turning Move ment studies in which vehicles can be classified by up to three different groups using the Bank 1 and Bank 2 keys located near the top of the TDC Ultra For information on Enhanced Turning Movement studies in whic
91. s xx 00 xx 15 xx 30 or xx 45 Press any of the gray keys to begin counting and the TDC Ultra will start recording data When you push the first button Roundabout to start the study the display Count 001 Int 001 changes to show the amount of time left in the present interval In this case it starts at 15 00 minutes and counts down to zero At the end of each interval the TDC Ultra beeps three times Normally you are not watching the display you are watching the traffic The beeps remind you that the interval is over This is only important if this is the last interval and you are ready to quit otherwise just ignore the beeps and keep counting vehicles 08 01 23 Rem 13 37 The actual recording of the data is very simple Watch a vehicle as it approaches and track it as it moves through the roundabout If it makes a right movement press the right movement key for the approach it came from as shown below 65 016 n QA Qs 11 6 Chapter 11 Roundabout Movement Studies Similarly if a vehicle makes a through movement press the through movement key for the approach it came from as shown below 681 016 There is no data stored in the counter until after the first interval If after starting a study you realize that you set one of the parameters wrong you can turn off the TDC Ultra and restart the study correctly However once an interval has finished the study is stored in memory So if you re
92. show the totals for each of the primary movements buttons 1 16 Each row shows one approach Note that this display assumes buttons 1 4 are the North direction 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 Chapter 3 Standard Turning Movement Studies If you press the TAB key a second time the display changes to show the totals for each of the secondary movements BANK1 1 16 This is designated by the number before the direction changing to a 2 If you press the TAB key a third time the display changes to show the totals for each of the tertiary movements BANK2 1 16 with the number before the direction changing to a 3 Press the TAB key a fourth time and the display changes back to the default status screen showing the time You can continually press the TAB key to cycle through the four screens time primary keys sec ondary keys tertiary keys At the end of each interval the display automatically changes back to the default screen so you can check to see if it is time to end the study As soon as you press one of the movement keys the display goes back to the screen you were using when the interval ended If you know that you are not near the end of the study yet you don t have to look at the display just keep counting Ending the Study When you get to the last interval keep counting until the interval ends signaled by the triple beep Once you hear this turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study
93. ss the Direction 1 GAP key see template on page 6 2 when a gap starts 1 e the end of a car just passed over the line and there isn t a car immediately behind it Hold the button 7 5 TDC Ultra User Manual down until the front of the next car crosses the line The display shows the time in seconds of the current gap as it is being measured although there is not much need to watch the display while doing the study If you are also counting the cars then you need to press the COUNT button once for every vehicle that goes by The display shows the cur rent count value as well If you are doing a two direction study then you need to duplicate the above procedure for Direction 2 The TDC Ultra is also keeping track of the combination gaps when both buttons are pressed simultaneously There is no indication on the display for combination gaps but they are being recorded along with the other two gaps Ending the Study When you get to the last interval keep recording data until the interval ends signaled by the triple beep Once you hear this turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 7 6 Chapter 8 Saturation Flow Rate Studies Chapter 8 Saturation Flow Rate Studies TDC Ultra User s Manual Saturation Flow Studies JAMAR Technologies Inc Assign lanes to buttons 1C 4C Start study at beginning of Green by pressing GREEN button Press buttons 1C 4C as
94. the Institute of Transportation Engineers The following is excepted from the manual Safe efficient and effective data collection requires skill attention to detail and common sense The importance of good data can not be overstated Important conclusions are drawn from field data that form the basis for decisions that affect the expenditure of large amounts of money and can have a significant effect on the safety of the public at large Data collection demands the same level of professionalism as any other task undertaken by an engineer or engineering technician 1 7 TDC Ultra User Manual 1 8 Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra TDC Ultra User Manual This chapter deals with some of the basic features found in the TDC Ultra Chapters 3 through 12 provide more detailed information on how to do the data collection for specific types of studies Start up Screens To turn on the TDC Ultra use the power switch that is mounted on the top panel of the unit When the unit first comes on the sign on screen is shown This screen shows the current version number of the firmware in the TDC Ultra JAMAR TECHNOLOGIES TDC Ultra Version 5 4 All rights reserved After a few seconds this screen is replaced by the status screen Status Counts Stored 002 Memory Used 002 Memory Left 098 This screen shows the number of counts stored in memory a
95. the display changes back to the default status screen showing the time You can continually press the TAB key to cycle through the four screens time primary keys sec ondary keys tertiary keys At the end of each interval the display automatically changes back to the default screen so you can check to see if 1t is time to end the study As soon as you press one of the movement keys the display goes back to the screen you were using when the interval ended If you know that you are not near the end of the study yet you don t have to look at the display just keep counting Ending the Study When you get to the last interval keep counting until the interval ends signaled by the triple beep Once you hear this turn the TDC Ultra off Remember the only way to stop a study is to turn the power off 5 9 TDC Ultra User Manual 5 10 Chapter 6 Signalized Intersection Delay Studies Chapter 6 Signalized Intersection Delay Studies TDC Ultra User s Manual Signalized Intersection Delay Studies JAMAR Technologies Inc Intersection Stop Delay Study Choose sampling interval Avoid multiple of cycle length Press DO key to start Count all approach vehicles once Press STOPPED or THROUGH for each vehicle When the TDC beeps Key in number of vehicles stopped Use Keys 1 10 only For 17 press 1 and then 7 For 20 press 2 and then 10 0 Continue counting approach vehicles When done turn of
96. though 4 faces north while you are doing the count Itis not necessary to always conform to this practice Sometimes it is more convenient for you to face another direction when you do the count especially if you want to be able to read the display The analysis software allows you to select which button was facing north during the count it just defaults to button 3 We recommend that if pos sible you use the default direction since it eliminates one source of error when you do the analysis If you don t use the default direction it is im portant to note this If you keep good notes in the field you won t have any problems no matter which way the TDC Ultra is aligned 11 4 Chapter 11 Roundabout Movement Studies How to do a Roundabout Movement Study When you are ready to begin a Roundabout Movement study select Count from the Main Menu then select New and then select RA You are then prompted to select a site code type and assign a site code Refer to chapter 2 for information on selecting a site code Interval Once you have programmed a site code for the study you are prompted to choose the interval length that will be used 15 KB 30 60 EXIT Select interval duration minutes Press DO to accept You are given the choice of 1 5 15 30 or 60 minute intervals An In terval is the amount of time the TDC Ultra collects data before 1t stores the accumulated totals in memory You are barely aware of intervals ch
97. to try to get back in sync Each press of the OOPS key removes one key The OOPS key is especially valuable if you hit a phase key by mistake The analysis of the data for that cycle will be wrong if the phase timing is wrong An error in the 1C 4C or 1S 4S keys is not as damaging although errors should be corrected as quickly as possible 8 4 Chapter 8 Saturation Flow Rate Studies What Data Do You Need to Collect There are three ways of collecting data for saturation flow studies The first 1s a basic study where you assume all cars are part of the saturation flow 1 e all vehicles recorded with the 1C 4C keys were in the queue at the start of green No signal timings or arrival types can be calculated The second is similar to the first except that signal timing is recorded Finally the third study records all the data including signal timing and arrival types These different types of data collection are described below Type 1 Saturation Flow Only In the saturation flow only study you will collect just enough data to calculate saturation flow rates You will not be able to produce signal timings or arrival types but the data collected is very easy Collect the data as outlined below 1 Wait for the signal controlling the approach you are studying to turn red 2 Watch the queue begin building as well as the opposing signal for the cycle change 3 When the signal turns green press the GREEN key 4 As each queu
98. u to help you decide The important thing is to use your knowledge of the people doing the data collection along with your experience with the traffic they are likely to see in the field to decide in advance what the best strategy would be 3 3 TDC Ultra User Manual Deciding on how the TDC Ultra will be oriented during the study depends on where you will actually be located while doing the count When the data from the unit is downloaded to our software the program assumes that the 1 through 4 keys were for the from north southbound approach and the rest of the keys are assigned accordingly The TDC Ultra s front panel has a symbol with compass points showing north south east and west This symbol is included to suggest that you align the counter so that buttons 1 though 4 faces north while you are doing the count It is not necessary to always conform to this practice Sometimes it is more convenient for you to face another direction when you do the count especially if you want to be able to read the display The analysis software allows you to select which button was facing north during the count it just defaults to button 3 We recommend that if pos sible you use the default direction since it eliminates one source of error when you do the analysis If you don t use the default direction it is im portant to note this If you keep good notes in the field you won t have any problems no matter which way the TDC Ultra is alig
99. ugged use in the field It is also a very sophisticated product with a microprocessor brain One feature of this brain is that it can perform a series of diagnostic self tests to help you verify the correct operation of the TDC Ultra even in the field To perform one or more diagnostic tests select Tests from the Utilities menu The screen shown below is then displayed MEN DISPLAY KEYS EXIT Test internal data storage memory The display shows the three types of tests that can be performed which are Memory Display and Keys Use the TAB key to move the highlight to the test you want to do and then press DO 2 10 Chapter 2 Basic Operation of the TDC Ultra Memory Test The TDC Ultra contains low power solid state memory that is used to store the data from the various counts Solid state memory is extremely reliable However like any electronic element it can go bad If you suspect there may be a problem with the memory you can easily test it To test the memory select MEMORY from the TESTS menu The screen shown below is then displayed MEMORY TEST TESTING Please wait 037k bytes tested The TDC Ultra automatically starts testing the memory It takes only a few seconds to complete the test The bottom line of the display shows the progress of the test starting at 000k and ending at 132k The test does not affect any data that is stored in the TDC Ultra If the test is successful the word P
100. vehicles cross Stop Bar during any phase Press YELLOW and RED when phase changes Press buttons 1S 4S as vehicles stop at end of queue during RED phase When done turn off TDC Aeg doys S9SSOII ajo yay Press OOPS to delete last key pressed 5 S o Oo S n 3 D o 2 The Saturation Flow Rate study in the TDC Ultra is actually a way to measure several separate but related traffic parameters With one study you can measure e Vehicle headways for one to four lanes e Lost times for one to four lanes e Arrival types e Signal timing on a phase by phase basis e Approach volume counts for each signal phase e Saturation Flow Rates This study is most commonly done in conjunction with a capacity analysis or signal timing optimization of an intersection usually using computer software such as Transyt 7F PASSER or HCS The parameters this study measures are required by these software packages In the past engineers had to guess at the values now they can measure them directly 8 2 Chapter 8 Saturation Flow Rate Studies This manual does not attempt to explain what is meant by terms such as saturation flow rate or arrival type If you are not familiar with the terms then you should consult a reference such as the Highway Capacity Manual published by the Transportation Research Board The procedure implemented in the TDC Ultra is based on accurately mea suring the time that events happen Th

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