On self‐organising traffic lights technology

Self‐organising traffic lights (SOTL) are considered a promising instrument for the development of more efficient adaptive traffic control systems. In this paper, we explain why this technology should be scrutinised and carefully reviewed. Research projects based on SOTL currently under way should be reviewed too. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 328–330, 2016     

Modelling traffic flow with a time‐dependent fundamental diagram

We model traffic flow with a time‐dependent fundamental diagram. A time‐dependent fundamental diagram arises naturally from various factors such as weather conditions, traffic jam or modern traffic congestion managements, etc. The model is derived from a car‐following model which takes into account the situation changes over the time elapsed time. It is a system of non‐concave hyperbolic conservation laws with time‐dependent flux and the sources. The global existence and uniqueness of the solution to the Cauchy problem is established under the condition that the variation in time of the fundamental diagram is bounded. The zero relaxation limit of the solutions is found to be the unique entropy solution of the equilibrium equation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Instantaneous control for traffic flow

The solution methods for optimal control problems with coupled partial differential equations as constraints are computationally costly and memory intensive; in particular for problems stated on networks, this prevents the methods from being relevant. We present instantaneous control problems for the optimization of traffic flow problems on road networks. We derive the optimality conditions, investigate the relation to the full optimal control problem and prove that certain properties of the optimal control problem carry over to the instantaneous one. We propose a solution algorithm and compare quality of the computed controls and run‐times. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A dynamical systems approach based on averaging to model the macroscopic flow of freeway traffic

The flow of traffic exhibits distinct characteristics under different conditions, reflecting the congestion during peak hours and relatively free motion during off-peak hours. This requires one to use different mathematical equations to describe the diverse traffic characteristics. Thus, the flow of traffic is best described by a hybrid system, namely different governing equations for the different regimes of response, and it is such a hybrid approach that is investigated in this paper. Existing models for the flow of traffic treat traffic as a continuum or employ techniques similar to those used in the kinetic theory of gases, neither of these approaches gainfully exploit the hybrid nature of the problem. Spurious two-way propagation of disturbances that are physically unacceptable are predicted by continuum models for the flow of traffic. The number of vehicles in a typical section of the highway does not justify its being modeled as a continuum. It is also important to recognize that the basic premises of kinetic theory are not appropriate for the flow of traffic (see [S. Darbha, K.R. Rajagopal, Limit of a collection of dynamical systems: an application to modeling the flow of traffic, Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences 12 (10) (2002) 1381–1399] for a rationale for the same). A model for the flow of traffic that does not treat traffic as a continuum or use notions from kinetic theory is developed here and corroborated with real-time data collected on US 183 in Austin, Texas. Predictions based on the hybrid system model seem to agree reasonably well with the data collected on US 183.     

A new cellular automaton model for traffic flow

Establishment of effective traffic models to reveal fundamental traffic characteristics is an essential requirement in the design, planning and operation of transportation systems. In 1992 Nagel and Schreckenberg presented a cellular automaton model describing traffic flow of N cars on a single lane and applied it in the famous project TRANSIMS on transportation simulation. In this paper, the author proposes a new model for the same problem and gives a comparison of simulation results with the former ones. The comparison shows that the new model works better under the condition of high traffic density.     

Reconstructing freeway travel times with a simplified network flow model alternating the adopted fundamental diagram

The present study summarises the travel time reconstruction performance of a network flow model by explicitly analysing the adopted fundamental diagram relation under congested and un-congested traffic patterns. The incorporated network flow model uses a discrete meso-simulation approach in which the anisotropic property of traffic flow and the uniform acceleration of vehicle packets are explicitly considered. The flow performances on link-route dynamics have been derived by reasonably alternating the adopted two-phase, i.e., congested and un-congested, fundamental relation of traffic flow. The linear speed–density relation with the creeping speed assumption is substituted with the triangular flow–density relation in order to investigate the performance of the network flow model in varying flow patterns. Applying the anisotropic mesoscopic model, the measure of travel time is obtained as a link performance from a simplified dynamic network loading process. Travel time reconstruction performance of the network flow model is sought considering the actual measures that are obtained by a probe vehicle, in addition to reconstructions by a macroscopic network flow model. The main improvements on travel time reconstruction process are encountered in terms of the computation load within the explicit analyses by the alternation of adopted two-phase fundamental diagram. Although the accuracies of the flow model with the adoption of two different fundamental diagrams are hard to differentiate, the computational burden of the simulation process by the triangular fundamental diagram is found to be considerably different.     

Application of a simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment model

The evaluation of on-line intelligent transportation system (ITS) measures, such as adaptive route-guidance and traffic management systems, depends heavily on the use of faster than real time traffic simulation models. Off-line applications, such as the testing of ITS strategies and planning studies, are also best served by fast-running traffic models due to the repetitive or iterative nature of such investigations. This paper describes a simulation-based, iterative dynamic equilibrium traffic assignment model. The determination of time-dependent path flows is modeled as a master problem that is solved using the method of successive averages (MSA). The determination of path travel times for a given set of path flows is the network-loading sub-problem, which is solved using the space-time queuing approach of Mahut. This loading method has been shown to provide reasonably accurate results with very little computational effort. The model was applied to the Stockholm road network, which consists of 2100 links, 1191 nodes, 228 zones, representing and 4964 turns. The results show that this model is applicable to medium-size networks with a very reasonable computation time.     

Numerical resolution for a compressible two-phase flow model based on the theory of thermodynamically compatible systems

This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of the equations governing two-phase gas-solid mixture in the framework of thermodynamically compatible systems theory. The equations constitute a non-homogeneous system of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws. A total variation diminishing (TVD) slope limiter centre (SLIC) numerical scheme, based on the splitting approach, is presented and applied for the solution of the initial-boundary value problem for the equations. The model equations and the numerical methods are systematically assessed through a series of numerical test cases. Strong numerical evidence shows that the model and the methods are accurate, robust and conservative. The model correctly describes the formations of shocks and rarefactions in two-phase gas-solid flow.     

Analysis of traffic flow by the finite element method

A finite elernent methodology is developed for the numerical solution of traffic flow problems encountered in arterial streets. The simple continuum traffic flow model consisting of the equation of continuity and an equilibrium flow-density relationship is adopted. A Galerkin type finite element method is used to formulate the problem in discrete form and the solution is obtained by a step-by-step time integration in conjunction with the Newton-Raphson method. The proposed finite element methodology, which is of the shock capturing type, is applied to flow traffic problems. Two numerical examples illustrate the method and demonstrate its advantages over other analytical or numerical techniques.     

Some general models of traffic flow in an isolated network

Starting form basic principles, we obtain mathematical models that describe the traffic of material objects in a network represented by a graph. We analyze existence, uniqueness, and positivity of solutions for some implicit models. Also, some linear models and their equilibria are analyzed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using graph concepts to assess the feasibility of a sequenced air traffic flow with low conflict rate

In this paper, we propose to study feasibility issues of a new air traffic paradigm. In this paradigm, aircraft are following immaterial moving points in such a way that no conflict (or at most few) occurs between aircraft. We provide lower and upper bounds on the maximum density of a solution. In particular, we characterize the density of the solution according to the colorability of an auxiliary graph, modelling the potential conflicts between moving points.     

Analytical studies on the instabilities of heterogeneous intelligent traffic flow

It has been widely reported in literature that a small perturbation in traffic flow such as a sudden deceleration of a vehicle could lead to the formation of traffic jams without a clear bottleneck. These traffic jams are usually related to instabilities in traffic flow. The applications of intelligent traffic systems are a potential solution to reduce the amplitude or to eliminate the formation of such traffic instabilities. A lot of research has been conducted to theoretically study the effect of intelligent vehicles, for example adaptive cruise control vehicles, using either computer simulation or analytical method. However, most current analytical research has only applied to single class traffic flow. To this end, the main topic of this paper is to perform a linear stability analysis to find the stability threshold of heterogeneous traffic flow using microscopic models, particularly the effect of intelligent vehicles on heterogeneous (or multi-class) traffic flow instabilities. The analytical results will show how intelligent vehicle percentages affect the stability of multi-class traffic flow.     

The traffic problem: Modeling of the overtaking

The classical microscopic single line follow‐the‐leader model of a road traffic may collapse in finite time due to a car collision. In order to avoid the collision, the natural action of a driver would be to overtake the slower car. We propose a simple model of overtaking assuming a circular road. The model is a dynamical system with discontinuous right‐hand side (the Filippov system). As a case study, we assumed that the system consists of N =3 identical cars. We studied a particular periodic solution (oscillatory pattern). We explored the possibility to use the standard software (AUTO97) to continue the pattern with respect to a parameter. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On smoothness of a fundamental solution to a second order hyperbolic equation

We consider the problem of constructing a fundamental solution to a second order hyperbolic linear equation with variable coefficients depending on the space variable x ∈ ? ⁿ . Under the assumption of high but finite smoothness of the coefficients, we write out the structure of a fundamental solution, establish smoothness of the coefficients of the expansion of its singular part, and characterize smoothness of the regular part.     

Existence of a classical solution to complex material flow problems

An existence result of smooth solutions for a complex material flow problem is provided. The considered equations are of hyperbolic type including a nonlocal interaction term. The existence proof is based on a problem‐adapted linear iteration scheme exploiting the structure conditions of the nonlocal term. 35Q70, 35L65 Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrated modelling and numerical treatment of freeway flow

The effectiveness of macroscopic dynamic freeway flow models at both uninterrupted and interrupted flow conditions is tested. Model implementation is made by finite difference methods developed here for solving the system's governing equations. These schemes are more effective than existing numerical methods, particularly when generation terms are introduced. The modelling alternatives and numerical solution algorithms are compared by employing a data base generated through microscopic simulation. Despite the effectiveness of the proposed numerical treatments, substantial deviations from the data at interrupted flows are still noticeable. In order to improve performance when flow is interrupted, we develop a modelling methodology that takes into account the ramp-freeway interactions so that all freeway components are treated as a system. We show that the coupling effects of the merging traffic streams are significant. Finally, the incremental benefits of using the more sophisticated high-order continuum models are assessed.     

An application of deterministic chaotic maps to model packet traffic

We investigate the application of deterministic chaotic maps to model traffic sources in packet based networks, motivated in part by recent measurement studies which indicate the presence of significant statistical features in packet traffic more characteristic of fractal processes than conventional stochastic processes. We describe one approach whereby traffic sources can be modeled by chaotic maps, and illustrate the traffic characteristics that can be generated by analyzing several classes of maps. We outline a potential performance analysis approach based on chaotic maps that can be used to assess the traffic significance of fractal properties. We show that low order nonlinear maps can capture several of the fractal properties observed in actual data, and show that the source characteristics observed in actual traffic can lead to heavy-tailed queue length distributions. It is our conclusion that while there are considerable analytical difficulties, chaotic maps may allow accurate, yet concise, models of packet traffic, with some potential for transient and steady state analysis.     

From the discrete kinetic theory of vehicular traffic flow to computing the velocity distribution at equilibrium

This paper deals with the identification of the parameters of a model of vehicular traffic flow using experimental data obtained on the highway Padova–Venezia. Subsequently, simulations of the model are developed corresponding to steady uniform flow conditions. These simulations allow us to describe the velocity distribution in the above conditions corresponding to the parameters obtained by identification on the basis of experimental data.     

关于一个非线性几何光学中的非严格双曲守恒律系统的研究

研究了一个产生于非线性几何光学中的非严格双曲守恒律系统.该系统具有强非线性流函数项,且狄拉克激波可能同时出现在解的两个状态变量中.通过未知函数的一个变换,该系统的非线性流函数项得到弱化,从而其黎曼问题被完全解决.     

Lower bounds of the topological entropy for nonautonomous dynamical systems

In this paper, lower bounds of the topological entropy for nonautonomous dynamical systems are given via the growths of topological complexity in fundamental group and in degree.