For several years, reports have been published about fluctuations in measured radioactive decay time-series and in some instances linked to astrophysical as well as classical environmental influences. Anomalous behaviors of radioactive decay measurement and measurement of capacitance inside and outside a modified Faraday cage were documented by our group in previous work. In the present report, we present an in-depth analysis of our measurement with regard to possible correlations with space weather, i.e. the geomagnetic activity (GMA) and cosmic-ray activity (CRA). Our analysis revealed that the decay and capacitance time-series are statistically significantly correlated with GMA and CRA when specific conditions are met. The conditions are explained in detail and an outlook is given on how to further investigate this important finding. Our discovery is relevant for all researchers investigating radioactive decay measurements since they point out that the space weather condition during the measurement is relevant for partially explaining the observed variability.

In this paper, a detailed study about the value, in any point of space P(x, y, z), of the magnetic field generated by a rectangular loop that carries a current I has been made. The analysis focuses on the study of rectangular magnetic loops that are used as sensors in traffic control systems. The inductance of magnetic loops is calculated numerically in three different ways, and the optimal way of performing the numerical summation is derived, which takes into account the magnetic field singularity on the conductor itself. The calculations also take into account the distance between the different turns in the loop. Later, the results are compared with the most commonly used empirical methods for inductance calculation. This paper shows the great similarity between empirical and numerically calculated results and concludes with the experimental verification and validation of the obtained theoretical results. Thus, both the system to evaluate the results and the proposed numerical methods for inductance calculation can be used in other loops geometries. This methodology can also be used for the mutual inductance calculation that appears between a buried loop and any kind of vehicle geometry, whose oscillation frequency variation determines the magnetic signature. The mutual inductance calculation can be used to determine the signal level that can be exchanged between the loops on the pavement and those on the vehicle, which in turn can be used as a short-range communication system between vehicles and infrastructures, with applications such as vehicles classification, speed measurements, or communication between vehicles.

A new value is reaching new heights in the information Society, Road Safety. In this situation, strategic traffic management is a key factor in intelligent transport systems applications (ITS), even though it also involves different sectors such as economic (oil dependency), environmental (pollution, noise...), safety (both drivers and pedestrians) and health (breath problems, circulation...). In urban areas, the traffic control centre (TCC) gathers parameters and information about real time traffic which are used to implement traffic policies and legislation. This paper presents an intelligent system able to provide information in real-time about: detection (presence), flow rate, counting and vehicle classification. The classification has been made in five groups (5+1): powered two-wheeler, passenger car, van, truck and bus. The detection system used is a laser scanner sensor.