DEVELOPMENT OF A TRAFIC FLOW SIMULATOR (SMART INFRASTRUCTURE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER)

The development of integrated information and telecommunications applications for roads and vehicles is proceeding steadily in the field of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). ITS includes development in such fields as sophisticated navigation, automatic toll collection systems, and safe driving assistance, and the Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway Systems (AHS; hereafter AHS systems) are defined as an area for application of ITS safe driving assistance. The deployment of AHS systems on actual roads will require full prior assessment and elimination of the resulting disturbance of traffic flow and other conceivable negative impacts of deployment. Therefore, the use of simulation is the most efficient method for implementing impact assessments to show how AHS systems will function in actual traffic scenarios. There is also increasing demand for prior assessment of the impact that deployment of services such as Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) and the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS) will have on efficiency, and the impact that improvements to road structure will have on traffic flow. The traffic flow simulator functions being demanded are as follows: (1) Microscopic traffic flow simulation function for a local area in which AHS and ITS service are applied; (2) Macroscopic traffic flow simulation function capable of assessing the effects of the above services on traffic flow over a wide area; (3) Digital map information for Japan on a nation-wide scale; (4) Origin-destination (OD) traffic density information on a nation-wide scale for Japan, and the technology for OD applications. On the other hand, direct verification of ITS deployment impact over a wide-area network is difficult in the case of a system like AHS, which cannot be assessed without focusing on the microscopic movement of individual vehicles. Taking these circumstances into consideration, the authors developed a traffic flow simulation platform with every kind of microscopic and macroscopic models that can deal with various conditions on a case-by-case basis, and these models are plugged into this simulation platform with large-scale digital map information and OD traffic volume information. They named this traffic flow simulation platform SIPA (smart infrastructure performance analyzer). They additionally developed a SIPA model that is a microscopic model capable of defining and controlling the behavior of individual vehicles. This is for the purpose of assessing the impact of AHS vehicles on traffic flow when AHS and non-AHS vehicles are mixed together in traffic. This report will describe the substance of the above developments.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  ITS America

  1100 17th Street, NW, 12th Floor
  Washington, DC  United States  20036
• Authors:
  • YOKOCHI, K
  • Katayama, Yasunori
  • Suzuki, S
  • Ikegami, Y
  • Yokota, T
• Conference:
  • 8th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems
  • Location: Sydney, Australia
  • Date: 2001-9-30 to 2001-10-4
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 9p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Advanced vehicle control systems; Deployment; Digital maps; Highway traffic; Intelligent transportation systems; Macroscopic traffic flow; Microscopic traffic flow; Origin and destination; Traffic density; Traffic flow; Traffic simulation
• Identifier Terms: Smart Infrastructure Performance Analyzer (SIPA)
• Geographic Terms: Japan
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00977684
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 15 2004 12:00AM