Mystery Box on lamppost

[Buzby]

I’ve been seeing these things appear beside the road. I initially thought these were some sort of mesh network to assist with traffic light sequence modifications but rather than appearing mounted on signal posts, they appear on many unconnected posts - street signage, lampposts (as in this case) and there appears to be no wired connection - the one in the picture only appears to arrest it from being dropped.

I recall in London they had something similar to track/read transponders on the near side of buses, but that was a long while back and before adoption of GPS in vehicles. Anyone know?

 

[Snow1964]

There appears to be a plate above it on other side of lamppost, does it say anything ?

My guess is some sort of long term emissions collector, to gather particulates over a few months

 

[Buzby]

R102 - it is the lamppost reference number - they increment to identify the pos.

 

[zwk500]

My guess is some sort of long term emissions collector, to gather particulates over a few months

I would agree with this - some sort of air quality monitoring most likely (but a complete guess).

 

[Buzby]

I discounted this due to there being no visible openings - also the mounting appears directional. The air quality corridor units are invariably ground mounted and require power, I’ll try and get a picture of the local one.

 

[RailAleFan]

I've seen similar go up around here in the last couple of years and then removed a few weeks later.

I'm wondering if it is for vehicle counting (radar?) - a modern day equivalent of those rubber tubes stuck to the road to do traffic surveys...?

 

[Buzby]

Not only do I remember tubes for counting traffic, but also the approach lanes at traffic lights! I used to jump on them to make the lights change! If it’s radar, dunno how it’s powered? This particular unit only sees departing traffic - other units in different location point across the road or down to the kerb!

 

[RailAleFan]

A box that size could be mostly batteries, the actual electronics involved are probably tiny and very low power consumption possibly even reporting over the air periodically if not storing the data for later physical collection. Period of capture could be time based so no need to run overnight for example.

 

[Buzby]

In the absence of a definitive answer, I’ll ask the council (as it’s on their lamppost!)

 

[Meerkat]

Can't find a photo of one the same as that but it looks like traffic survey radars that come up on google
The flat front and aimable mounting seem to fit that.

 

[Buzby]

unless it has changed recently, Google use mobile (phone) transit data as provided by the UK networks which supply the speed averages on sections of main transit routes the benefit being there’s no need for individual detectors. As this Road would need them strung along many miles….

 

[tomuk]

It is a wireless radar vehicle detector to feed into the SCOOT / MOVA traffic light control system

 

[Trackman]

I would agree with this - some sort of air quality monitoring most likely (but a complete guess).

I think so too, they come in all shapes and sizes and take the samples from below.

 

[Meerkat]

unless it has changed recently, Google use mobile (phone) transit data as provided by the UK networks which supply the speed averages on sections of main transit routes the benefit being there’s no need for individual detectors. As this Road would need them strung along many miles….

You misunderstand me - I meant that it looks rather like the traffic survey radars that google search kicks out.

I think so too, they come in all shapes and sizes and take the samples from below.

If it was air sampling it could be just strapped to the lamppost - it is clearly on a mount so that the flat panel can be adjusted to face something, probably the traffic.