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In response to Taiichi INOUE's message on 2 Jul 1998: Feasibility study started in March 1997. Two systems are selected in September 1997 and are currently being tested. They are: Vehicle Positioning System (VPS) and Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC). The purpose of the tests is to provide the government with information required to decide whether to implement ERP in Hong Kong. It also serves to compare transponder effectiveness data from each type of system and mount. The Transport Department (TD) is keen to restrict the number of gantries used for the system due to the limited space in Hong Kong. Hence the double-gantry system currently in use in Singapore is not preferred. Under a single gantry system, it is estimated that the transfer rate of the smart card will need to be at least 120kbps. (Any advancement in this area?) TD also tries to fix the cameras on existing structure, eg underneath flyover and footbridge. Five sites are chosen for these tests. 70 test vehicles ranging from motorcycles to coaches with internal and external transponders and In-Vehicle Units (IVU) with smart card and central account capabilities are mixed into the local traffic. Off-field tests are being carried out in the old Kai Tak International Airport to serve as a benchmark to the on-field tests described above. Currently, the mandatory criteria for the system: - freq = 5.8 GHz - IVU for data provision - payment by smart card or a central account - system provides vehicle detection and classification measuring length, width and height of vehicles - system with violation enforcement system offereing licence plate images, automatic character recognition with fixed and portable installation units for VPS. No price has been fixed yet. (References: Transport Department's Homepage: http://www.info.gov.hk/td/index.htm; Clark, Julie V. "Hong Kong ERP Field Trial Tests to Start in October," Asia Engineer October 1998, Henderson & Associates, HK. pp. 7, 9. ) Happy October, Toni Zen Tel: (O) 24351666; Fax: (O) 24361271; Pager: 73280103 YMC Homepage: http://www.freeway.org.hk/hkie-ymc %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%