Queens Award for Idris Technology
21 April 2008
Diamond Consulting Services (DCS), owners and developers of the Idris vehicle detection and classification technology have been presented with one of the UK's most prestigious awards.
To win a Queen's Award for Enterprise is a significant, prestigious endorsement of business achievement. The awards are given solely on merit and the competition is fierce. DCS can be justifiably proud of their research & development success in the field of vehicle detection and classification for this is the second Queen's Award they have won in three years. DCS have proved once again they are industry leaders with their continued innovation and development of Idris.
"Winning the Queen's Award," said Bob Lees, who along with his bother Andy, a fellow systems engineer, invented the Idris software, acknowledges "the development and use of advanced British technology in vehicle detection and classification across the world".
The Idris Technology - automatic vehicle detection and classification software - is used worldwide in applications such as incident detection (which is currently being trialled in the UK) through to multi-lane Open Road Tolling schemes. From a basic in-ground loop detection system, a powerful axle recognition and classification technology has been developed which produces class accuracy levels greater than 99.5%, beating all other single sensor product accuracies in today's market.
DCS has a track record of making the impossible possible, through innovative development of loop technology enabling Idris to meet a wide range of traffic management challenges. The Queen's Award, with worldwide acclaim, recognises this accomplishment and DCS's continued innovation and outstanding contribution to the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industry.
As a research and development company, DCS needed to evolve Idris into a product range which offered road operators functionality, accuracy and flexibility for the improvement of todays transportation corridors. The teams dedication to evolving the technology to help improve our roads through safer incident and vehicle detection applications demonstrates why they so richly deserve the Queen's Award. As a symbol of success and good business practice DCS have been awarded the right to use the coveted 'Queen's Award' emblem for the next five years.
This is not the first time that DCS has been recognised for its business development skills. In 2006 they won the Queen's Award for Enterprise – International Trade. Prior to this, in 1998, DCS was awarded a UK Government Smart Award to develop the vehicle axle recognition capability of the Idris Technology. This is now fully implemented worldwide enabling systems to record exactly how many axles a vehicle has, even if, as is often the case with large trucks, they are not all in contact with the road surface. In 2003, the transition from Research and Development project to a fully commercialised range of products and applications was recognised with a Smart Achievement Award.
Established in 1991, DCS is a small family owned business based near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. The company is managed by the Lees family with the help of a small dedicated team based throughout the world. DCS specialises in research, development and consultancy for the road traffic industry. Over the last 17 years, DCS has proved to be the leader in the field of vehicle detection and classification. On this reputation it has built a significant business with its Idris Technology.
