with particular reference to fig1 through 6 , a multiple wave length or long wire antenna 2 is obliquely disposed in a roadway 4 having a surface 5 . the antenna 2 has a feed line 10 coupled to a transmission line 14 by coupling means 12 . long wire antenna designs are well know to those skilled in the antenna arts . typically a description of the detailed design in contained in the &# 34 ; radio communication handbook &# 34 ; published by the radio society of great britain ( 1986 ) at pp 12 . 59 thru 12 . 61 . the transmission line 14 typically will be driven by an interrogator or reader having functional elements shown in fig2 . other means of exciting road antennae of the invention disclosed herein , will be well known to those skilled in the art , or as shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 870 , 419 hereby incorporated by reference . at its terminal end , the antenna 2 incorporates a terminal impedance 6 . as mounted in the roadway and shown in fig2 the antenna conductor 2 is contained in a channel 8 having a cover , both non - conductive , and surroundedsurrounded by suitable protective material 9 and an optional non conductive outer shell 7 . although shown in a single lane unidirectional road segment 4 , a more typical application is shown in fig4 wherein two elements of antenna 2 are shown arranged in a two lane bi - directional configuration wherein major antenna radiation patterns 18 , assist in establishing transponder capture zones are shown . fig5 & amp ; 6 are further depictions of the above the road radiation patterns 18 generated by the antenna when suitably coupled to a source of interrogator radio frequency through coupling means 13 and suitable feed lines 10 . those skilled in the antenna arts will readily understand that although the major radiation lobes of the antenna 2 are shown other minor and insignificant modes such as indicated by 19 may be present . referring now to 7 - 10 , there is shown an alternate embodiment of the invention of this application wherein traveling wave long wire antennas 22 are arranged in a v shaped array or configuration and mounted on a single lane unidirectional roadway 24 . each antenna 2 is terminated in a characteristic impedance 26 and is fed by a suitable feed line 28 and coupling means 30 . in fig8 , 10 , the radiation patterns of the antenna of fig7 are shown . in fig8 the major horizontal radiation lobe contributing to a transponder capture zone is shown as 23 . similarly , in fig9 the above the road dimension of the radiation lobe of antennas 22 is depicted in a plane along the line of 9 -- 9 of fig8 . in fig1 the major radiation lobe 23 of antenna 22 is shown in a transverse plane along the lines 10 -- 10 of fig8 . as a further embodiment of the invention disclosed herein , in fig1 through 15 , there is shown a &# 34 ; meandering &# 34 ; form of microstrip antenna having its longitudinal axis perpendicularly disposed to the direction of traffic along a single lane roadway . as shown the &# 34 ; meandering &# 34 ; antenna 30 is embedded by radio frequency transparent means in the pavement of roadway 34 and fed via suitable lead 36 coupled to an external radio frequency via a coupler 38 . design of including operation and adjustment of the meandering type of stripline antenna is well known to those skilled in the art , and is described in at pages 116 - 139 in microstrip antenna theory and design , by j . r . james , p . s . hall , & amp ; c . wood , published by peter perigrinus ltd , great britain , 1981 . in fig1 the disposition of the antenna 30 and its housing 32 is shown in relationship to the roadway 34 . in fig1 the meandering antenna 30 is shown typically as installed in a two lane bi - directional roadway 35 . also shown is a depiction of the radiation pattern 31 of the meandering antenna 30 in the horizontal plane of a single lane installation . antennas 30 are fed by suitable antenna leads 36 via a coupler 38 . fig1 and 15 are a depiction of the radiation patterns of the bidirectional application of the meandering antenna 30 . in particular fig1 shows a depiction of the transverse radiation pattern of antenna 30 in a plane parallel to the direction to the traffic flow along the lines 14 -- 14 of fig1 . an additional alternate embodiment of the invention disclosed herein , is shown in fig1 through 20 . with particular reference to fig1 and 17 , there is shown a dipole array 40 having a multiplicity of dipole elements 39 electrically connected via a multiplicity of interelement phasing stubs 42 . construction of the array can utilize free standing elements as shown , or in the alternative , utilize microstrip construction , ( not shown ) as referenced earlier . the array 40 is contained in a housing 44 embedded in a roadway 41 . the array 40 is supported internal of the housing 44 through use of suitable mechanical supports or a suitable filler or potting material 45 . any support material used should provide a means of positioning the array within its housing and should be essentially transparent to the electromagnetic radiation as is the cover of 43 . the array 40 is electrically fed by a transmission line 46 and driven by source of radio frequency via couple 48 . design of multiple element phased arrays of this type are well know to those skilled in that art , and typically shown in transmission lines , antennas and wave guides , by king , mimno , & amp ; wing , published by mcgraw hill ( chapter ii , section 41 ). turning now to fig1 , 19 and 20 , wherein principal radiation fields or lobes 49 for the array 40 embedded and perpendicularly disposed to traffic flow in a bidirectional two lane roadway 47 is shown . as in the above described single lane application , bidirectional antennas 40 are fed by suitable antenna transmission lines 48 and matched to an interrogator , or external source of radio frequency via a coupler 46 . fig1 depicts the radiation pattern of the array 40 contributing to a vehicular transponder capture zone in a plane parallel to the flow of traffic in each lane of the bidirectional roadway 47 along the line 19 -- 19 prime of fig1 . fig2 is a further depiction of the radiation lobes of the array 40 in a plane perpendicular to the direction of traffic along a bidirectional two lane road along the lines 20 -- 20 of fig1 . fig2 through 24 show a further embodiment of the invention disclosed herein , use of a &# 34 ; slot &# 34 ; antenna array 50 embedded in the surface of a roadway 58 . the array 50 comprises an essentially flat conductive surface 51 defining a multiplicity of slots 54 , each slot having a length 56 ( typically one half wavelength at the operating frequency , a width 59 , and a slot material thickness 62 . the determination of these antenna constants will be found in a variety of design texts . included in this group are the antenna handbook by y . t . lo & amp ; s . w . lee , published by van nostrand , reinholdt , new york , n . y . 1988 , and the antenna engineering handbook by henry jasik ( editor ) published by mcgraw - hill new york , n . y . 1961 in particular , sections 8 . 2 through 8 . 11 . similar antenna design and application is also provided in the reference data for radio engineers published by howard w . sams & amp ; co . new york , n . y . 1981 particularly at pages 27 - 14 & amp ; 27 - 15 . a typical but not exclusive method of feeding of the slot elements of the slot array 50 is via matching stub network 53 and transmission line 55 . although the matching array 53 and transmission line 55 is depicted for a representative number of slots , those skilled in the antenna arts will readily realize that similar exitation will be required for each slot . the array 50 is shown mounted on a box - like support 60 embedded in the road 58 . other methods of mounting the array can be used , as may be required for specific applications . in fig2 , there is shown a depiction of the radiation pattern of the slot array contributing to a transponder capture zone 52 in a plane parallel to the surface of the road 58 . fig2 shows a depiction of the radiation field pattern 52 in plane perpendicular to travel along roadway 58 along the line 23 -- 23 of fig2 . an optional non - conductive cover 64 is shown over the surface 51 . fig2 is a depiction of the field strength or radiation lobes 52 of the antenna array 50 in a plane parallel to the direction of traffic along the road 58 and along the lines 24 -- 24 of fig2 . with reference to fig2 and 27 , the further and alternate embodiment of the invention disclosed is shown . in particular , fig2 is a perspective semipictorial representation of a bi - directional toll booth 80 equipped for electronic identification of vehicles passing through bi - directional lanes 82 and 84 . lanes 82 and 84 are separated by an appropriate divider 85 . in keeping with the invention disclosed herein , uni - directional lanes 82 and 84 are equipped with overhead antenna assemblies 86 having a radiation pattern 97 incorporating a radiation beam angle 96 sufficient to intercept approaching typically shown in fig2 . the overhead antenna assembly 86 utilizes a radiating assembly 92 positioned internal of a mechanical and electrical shield or reflector 90 , and is attached to the booth canopy 81 via a mounting bracket 88 . a detailed description of the antenna assembly 86 is shown on fig2 . the radiating portion of the overhead antenna array 92 is disclosed in this embodiment as the well known collinear array . although other radiating arrays can also be used such as slotted or leaky coax , ( ref . fig3 ) of the type disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 691 , 488 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . antennas of the collinear array are described in great detail in many standard antenna text such as transmission lines , wave guides and antennas by authors king , mimno and wing published by mcgraw hill book company . in particular the antenna of this embodiment is described in pages 133 - 145 and 151 - 156 of the aforementioned reference . although the collinear array is disclosed in this embodiment , those skilled in the art will readily be able to adapt other antenna configurations such as coaxial dipoles , folded dipoles , or any one of the arrays disclosed in this application for overhead road mounting . if other arrays are utilized , simple variations of the assembly 86 and housing 92 would be suitably designed to contain each individual array . turning to fig2 , the collinear array 92 comprises an outer case 98 , and end supports 99 for suitable attachment to the antenna housing 90 . internal of the outer case 98 is a collinear antenna assembly assisting of a longitudinal array 104 of radiating elements 101 having a electrical half wave length made up of proper lengths cf coaxial cable , typically rg8 . as shown each radiating element 101 consists of an outer insulating sheath 107 , an outer shield 109 and inner conductor 111 . as shown , in order to achieve the proper phase reversal as required for collinear array operation each element is connected as shown serially from inner conductor to outer shield . the end element is terminated in a noninductive resistance 113 typically , the terminating resistance for rg8u is 52 ohms . it should be noted that the choice of a collinear array provides substantial flexibility in the length of the array in that within reason , any number of elements 104 can be connected in the manner shown for traversing the roadway lane 84 ( reference fig2 and 27 ). the array 92 is driven or coupled to a source of radio frequency voltage and current , typically the roadside interrogator or the circulator 69 of fig2 through a random length feed coaxial cable 100 . in order to match the unbalanced feed line 100 to the coaxial array , a balloon consisting of a 1 / 2 wave lengths of an outer braid 105 suitably attached to an additional 1 / 2 wave section of coaxial cable 102 having its shield 109 terminated , with the external braid 105 connected to the outer shield 109 of the driver input coaxial cable 100 , all as shown in fig2 . an additional embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is a linear microstrip patch design ( ref . fig1 , 12 & amp ; 13 ). with particular reference to fig2 , 30 , 31 , there is shown an antenna array 115 comprising a multiplicity of series feed patch radiators 119 interconnected by feeders 120 and extending across the roadway 117 in a grove or slot 116 cut into the roadway . the array 115 is fed via a coaxial cable 123 at essentially its center 118 , although other feed points in similar feeder elements 120 would function as well . in particular reference to fig3 & amp ; 32 , the antenna array 115 elements 119 are mounted on a radio frequency transparent substrate 121 , with the patch and feeder elements on the upper surface of the substraight , and a conductive sheet or ground plane 122 on the opposite face of the substrate 121 . radio frequency energy or power is introduced by and feeds the antenna array as shown in fig3 via a coaxial cable 123 . the outer shield or braid of the coaxial cable 124 is connected to the lower conductive plane 122 at 126 . the inner or center conductor of the coaxial 123 is isolated from the conductive plane 122 and passes through the insulating and rf transparent substraight 121 terminating in the inter element connecting feeder 120 at 118 . the design and operation of this type antenna is related to the meandering form of microstrip antenna described above . those skilled in the arts will find details of the construction of a patch type microstrip array in the above reference associated with the microstrip meandering version . in operation , the road radiation pattern of the microstrip patch array is similar to that of the meandering version as shown in fig1 , 14 & amp ; 15 . fig3 & amp ; 33 show alternate positions of the microstip patch antenna array 115 , providing some adjustment of the above road radiation pattern with the configuration of fig3 a preferred choice . in keeping with the invention disclosed herein , fig2 shows a typical but not limiting block diagram showing the inter connection between the antennas disclosed herein and associated portions of the reader or interrogator unit . a complete description of the reader interrogator unit is contained in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 870 , 419 , ( incorporated by reference above ). with particular reference to fig2 there is shown a trigger and data generator 61 generating trigger and data pulses for transmittal by radio frequency at a predetermined frequency pulse widths , and data rates , by a transmitter 63 . the output of of the transmitter 63 is supplied to one input of a circulator 69 . the operation of the circulator will be well known to those skilled in the radio frequency arts as a device which essentially isolates the radio frequency receiver 71 from the transmitter 63 when radio frequency output from the transmitter is present . in operation , with the component connections shown in fig2 , initial trigger signals are transmitted through the circulator to any of the road antennas as described herein above and depicted in fig2 as 67 . on activation of a vehicle mounted transponder 95 ( reference fig2 ) the transponder retransmits information bearing signals to the road antenna . in the absence of the triggering pulse from the transmitter 63 , the circulator 69 allows signals from the transponder 95 appearing at the output of road antenna 67 to enter the radio frequency receiver 71 where it is decoded in the decoder / reader units 73 . as mentioned earlier a complete description of reader / transponder operation will be found in the prior incorporated by reference u . s . pat . no . 4 , 870 , 419 . thus it is apparent that the inventors by their disclosure herein have provided in accordance with there invention road antennae that fully satisfies the objects aims and advantages as set forth in the above specification . while the antennae disclosed has been described in conjunction with a series of specific embodiments thereof , it is evident that many alternatives , modifications and variations will be apparent will be apparent to those skilled in the antenna arts in light of the inventors foregoing description . accordingly , it is intended to embrace all such alternatives , modifications and variations that may fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims .