A Summary of On-Road Emission Data Collected from five Highway Locations in the City of Houston

INTRODUCTION In order to accomplish the objectives established in the Research Project 0-1485, Collection and Evaluation of Modal TraiEc Data for Determination of Vehicle Emission Rates Under Certain Driving Conditions, the emission data were collected fiom five highway locations in the city of Houston. The remote vehicle emission sensing equipment is used as a tool in the data collection. The author suggests readers to refer Report 1485-1 for the background information of this research. Data Collection Equipment: Remote Emission Sensor The RES that is used in the vehicle emission data collection is called SMOG DOG (SBRC, 1995 and Jack et al, 1995), which was developed by the Santa Barbara Research Center (SBRC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft Company. It is an application of advanced technology developed for environmental monitoring from space to accurate measurement of automotive emissions on earth. It was initially developed for providing a cost-effective tool for screening for high emitter vehicles and has experienced many successful applications in Arizona, California, North Carolina, Alaska, Georgia, and New Mexico. Some other states are also starting to use RES to reduce automobile pollution. The SMOG DIG, which consists of a sensor head, source, video camera, and state-of-the-art electronics for capture, display, and storage of both image data (automobile license plates) and vehicle emission data, uses a remote sensing technique that has been used for many years for satellite monitoring of ecological and environmental points of interest like earth's atmosphere and forest. In its vehicle emission sensing, infrared "light" is passed through a vehicle's exhaust plume and is absorbed by the different gases in the plume. The sensor determines changes in the selective absorption of infrared radiation by molecular vibrational modes at wavelengths specific to the pollutant; i.e., HC, CO, NOx, and CO,. changes are measured using chemically specific detectors which sense radiation only at these wavelengths. The motion of a vehicle through the beam triggers the simultaneous measurement of CO, HC, NOx, and CO, in the dispersing exhaust cloud for a user-selectable period (typically one second). The data fiom all four pollutants are analyzed in a real time and the results, expressed as a percentage of the exhaust, are stored on computer disk. The image data is stored on a VCR tape, which can be read by an operator and the license plate information is entered into the same file as the emission data. The SMOG DOG can identify the high-emitting vehicles, and owners of these cars can then be notified that their cars are polluting and are encouraged to repair the cars. Because the SMOG DOG continuously samples the emission from vehicles on the road, a high-emitting vehicle will likely be identified and repaired. In this way, a dirty vehicle will have less of a chance of being driven and polluting the air. The SMOG DOG is nonobtrusive to drivers. The test is performed unknown to the driver in a fiaction of a second as the vehicle passes by the sensor without having to slow down and increase traffic.

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