Information on Loughborough

Award for John Tyer

Posted on 28/11/07
P. Klein

congestion camera

A new infrared imaging system developed by scientists at Loughborough University has won an award for innovation. The state of the art system automatically counts the number of people in moving road vehicles has won a prestigious innovation award from The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), one of the worlds leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community.

The vehicle monitoring system, dtect is designed to be used in all weathers, day or night. It is a laser based system that directly detects human skin behind all types of automotive glass and can do this at a range of 10-100 metres. Its creator Dr John Tyrer, who is an optical engineer at Loughboroughs University, originally designed it as a way of enforcing car sharing priority lanes to relieve traffic congestion. However it has also found an application in road tolling and to monitor vehicles entering high security areas.

Since its successful trial on some of the UKs major trunk roads and traffic black spots, dtect has received considerable investment by Avingtrans Plc, an AIM listed company specialising in the medical, scientific and engineering markets with a turnover of 40M per year. dtect is part of a portfolio of innovations in non-contact testing developed by John Tyrer who created his first spin out company Laser Optical Engineering in 1997. Seven years later in August 2004, he formed his second, Vehicle Occupancy Ltd, specifically to boost dtects commercial prospects. The recent alliance with Avingtrans has proved a astute move as one of its subsidiary companies, Crown UK, is the leading UK supplier of roadside camera housings.

Ken Baker OBE, Chairman of Avingtrans plc and newly appointed chairman of VOL said

"The use of vehicle occupancy detection systems has been widely acknowledged as a major instrument in the future of worldwide traffic management. VOL is at the forefront of this technology and we are delighted to have acquired a 7% interest and a long term exclusive supply agreement at this stage of its development.

Loughboroughs John Tyrer was presented with the award at the IETs annual Innovation in Engineering Awards ceremony at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London, to celebrate excellence in engineering innovation across a range of industry sectors and engineering disciplines. Winners for the awards were selected from hundreds of entries from around the world by an eminent panel of judges.

Presenting the awards, television personality Johnny Ball said: "Innovation is at the heart of business and wealth creation. It is right that we acknowledge those who push the boundaries of science, engineering and technology and it will be exciting to see how the innovations awarded this year will make their mark in the future.