Sample records for alleviate traffic congestion

  1. Agent Reward Shaping for Alleviating Traffic Congestion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tumer, Kagan; Agogino, Adrian

    2006-01-01

    Traffic congestion problems provide a unique environment to study how multi-agent systems promote desired system level behavior. What is particularly interesting in this class of problems is that no individual action is intrinsically "bad" for the system but that combinations of actions among agents lead to undesirable outcomes, As a consequence, agents need to learn how to coordinate their actions with those of other agents, rather than learn a particular set of "good" actions. This problem is ubiquitous in various traffic problems, including selecting departure times for commuters, routes for airlines, and paths for data routers. In this paper we present a multi-agent approach to two traffic problems, where far each driver, an agent selects the most suitable action using reinforcement learning. The agent rewards are based on concepts from collectives and aim to provide the agents with rewards that are both easy to learn and that if learned, lead to good system level behavior. In the first problem, we study how agents learn the best departure times of drivers in a daily commuting environment and how following those departure times alleviates congestion. In the second problem, we study how agents learn to select desirable routes to improve traffic flow and minimize delays for. all drivers.. In both sets of experiments,. agents using collective-based rewards produced near optimal performance (93-96% of optimal) whereas agents using system rewards (63-68%) barely outperformed random action selection (62-64%) and agents using local rewards (48-72%) performed worse than random in some instances.

  2. Research on Urban Road Traffic Congestion Charging Based on Sustainable Development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ye, Sun

    Traffic congestion is a major problem which bothers our urban traffic sustainable development at present. Congestion charging is an effective measure to alleviate urban traffic congestion. The paper first probes into several key issues such as the goal, the pricing, the scope, the method and the redistribution of congestion charging from theoretical angle. Then it introduces congestion charging practice in Singapore and London and draws conclusion and suggestion that traffic congestion charging should take scientific plan, support of public, public transportation development as the premise.

  3. Traffic congestion and reliability : trends and advanced strategies for congestion mitigation.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-09-01

    The report Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Trends and Advanced Strategies for : Congestion Mitigation provides a snapshot of congestion in the United States by : summarizing recent trends in congestion, highlighting the role of travel time : reli...

  4. Making the Traffic Operations Case for Congestion Pricing: Operational Impacts of Congestion Pricing

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Chin, Shih-Miao; Hu, Patricia S; Davidson, Diane

    2011-02-01

    Congestion begins when an excess of vehicles on a segment of roadway at a given time, resulting in speeds that are significantly slower than normal or 'free flow' speeds. Congestion often means stop-and-go traffic. The transition occurs when vehicle density (the number of vehicles per mile in a lane) exceeds a critical level. Once traffic enters a state of congestion, recovery or time to return to a free-flow state is lengthy; and during the recovery process, delay continues to accumulate. The breakdown in speed and flow greatly impedes the efficient operation of the freeway system, resulting in economic, mobility, environmentalmore » and safety problems. Freeways are designed to function as access-controlled highways characterized by uninterrupted traffic flow so references to freeway performance relate primarily to the quality of traffic flow or traffic conditions as experienced by users of the freeway. The maximum flow or capacity of a freeway segment is reached while traffic is moving freely. As a result, freeways are most productive when they carry capacity flows at 60 mph, whereas lower speeds impose freeway delay, resulting in bottlenecks. Bottlenecks may be caused by physical disruptions, such as a reduced number of lanes, a change in grade, or an on-ramp with a short merge lane. This type of bottleneck occurs on a predictable or 'recurrent' basis at the same time of day and same day of week. Recurrent congestion totals 45% of congestion and is primarily from bottlenecks (40%) as well as inadequate signal timing (5%). Nonrecurring bottlenecks result from crashes, work zone disruptions, adverse weather conditions, and special events that create surges in demand and that account for over 55% of experienced congestion. Figure 1.1 shows that nonrecurring congestion is composed of traffic incidents (25%), severe weather (15%), work zones, (10%), and special events (5%). Between 1995 and 2005, the average percentage change in increased peak traveler delay

  5. Phase diagram of congested traffic flow: An empirical study

    PubMed

    Lee; Lee; Kim

    2000-10-01

    We analyze traffic data from a highway section containing one effective on-ramp. Based on two criteria, local velocity variation patterns and expansion (or nonexpansion) of congested regions, three distinct congested traffic states are identified. These states appear at different levels of the upstream flux and the on-ramp flux, thereby generating a phase digram of the congested traffic flow. Observed traffic states are compared with recent theoretical analyses and both agreeing and disagreeing features are found.

  6. Congestion control strategy on complex network with privilege traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Shi-Bao; He, Ya; Liu, Jian-Hang; Zhang, Zhi-Gang; Huang, Jun-Wei

    The congestion control of traffic is one of the most important studies in complex networks. In the previous congestion algorithms, all the network traffic is assumed to have the same priority, and the privilege of traffic is ignored. In this paper, a privilege and common traffic congestion control routing strategy (PCR) based on the different priority of traffic is proposed, which can be devised to cope with the different traffic congestion situations. We introduce the concept of privilege traffic in traffic dynamics for the first time and construct a new traffic model which taking into account requirements with different priorities. Besides, a new factor Ui is introduced by the theoretical derivation to characterize the interaction between different traffic routing selection, furthermore, Ui is related to the network throughput. Since the joint optimization among different kinds of traffic is accomplished by PCR, the maximum value of Ui can be significantly reduced and the network performance can be improved observably. The simulation results indicate that the network throughput with PCR has a better performance than the other strategies. Moreover, the network capacity is improved by 25% at least. Additionally, the network throughput is also influenced by privilege traffic number and traffic priority.

  7. Understanding the topological characteristics and flow complexity of urban traffic congestion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wen, Tzai-Hung; Chin, Wei-Chien-Benny; Lai, Pei-Chun

    2017-05-01

    For a growing number of developing cities, the capacities of streets cannot meet the rapidly growing demand of cars, causing traffic congestion. Understanding the spatial-temporal process of traffic flow and detecting traffic congestion are important issues associated with developing sustainable urban policies to resolve congestion. Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose a flow-based ranking algorithm for investigating traffic demands in terms of the attractiveness of street segments and flow complexity of the street network based on turning probability. Our results show that, by analyzing the topological characteristics of streets and volume data for a small fraction of street segments in Taipei City, the most congested segments of the city were identified successfully. The identified congested segments are significantly close to the potential congestion zones, including the officially announced most congested streets, the segments with slow moving speeds at rush hours, and the areas near significant landmarks. The identified congested segments also captured congestion-prone areas concentrated in the business districts and industrial areas of the city. Identifying the topological characteristics and flow complexity of traffic congestion provides network topological insights for sustainable urban planning, and these characteristics can be used to further understand congestion propagation.

  8. A toolbox for alleviating traffic congestion and enhancing mobility

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-06-01

    This report presents the Tolling Data Test Plan for the national evaluation of the Los Angeles (LA) Congestion Reduction Demonstration (Metro ExpressLanes) under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Congestion Reduction Demonstra...

  9. Traffic congestion and reliability : linking solutions to problems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2004-07-19

    The Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Linking Solutions to Problems Report provides : a snapshot of congestion in the United States by summarizing recent trends in : congestion, highlighting the role of unreliable travel times in the effects of con...

  10. Land use and traffic congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-03-01

    "The study investigated the link between land use, travel behavior, and traffic congestion. Popular wisdom : suggests that higher-density development patterns may be beneficial in reducing private vehicle dependency : and use, which if true, could ho...

  11. Traffic Congestion Detection System through Connected Vehicles and Big Data

    PubMed Central

    Cárdenas-Benítez, Néstor; Aquino-Santos, Raúl; Magaña-Espinoza, Pedro; Aguilar-Velazco, José; Edwards-Block, Arthur; Medina Cass, Aldo

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the simulation and evaluation of a traffic congestion detection system which combines inter-vehicular communications, fixed roadside infrastructure and infrastructure-to-infrastructure connectivity and big data. The system discussed in this article permits drivers to identify traffic congestion and change their routes accordingly, thus reducing the total emissions of CO2 and decreasing travel time. This system monitors, processes and stores large amounts of data, which can detect traffic congestion in a precise way by means of a series of algorithms that reduces localized vehicular emission by rerouting vehicles. To simulate and evaluate the proposed system, a big data cluster was developed based on Cassandra, which was used in tandem with the OMNeT++ discreet event network simulator, coupled with the SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) traffic simulator and the Veins vehicular network framework. The results validate the efficiency of the traffic detection system and its positive impact in detecting, reporting and rerouting traffic when traffic events occur. PMID:27136548

  12. Traffic Congestion Detection System through Connected Vehicles and Big Data.

    PubMed

    Cárdenas-Benítez, Néstor; Aquino-Santos, Raúl; Magaña-Espinoza, Pedro; Aguilar-Velazco, José; Edwards-Block, Arthur; Medina Cass, Aldo

    2016-04-28

    This article discusses the simulation and evaluation of a traffic congestion detection system which combines inter-vehicular communications, fixed roadside infrastructure and infrastructure-to-infrastructure connectivity and big data. The system discussed in this article permits drivers to identify traffic congestion and change their routes accordingly, thus reducing the total emissions of CO₂ and decreasing travel time. This system monitors, processes and stores large amounts of data, which can detect traffic congestion in a precise way by means of a series of algorithms that reduces localized vehicular emission by rerouting vehicles. To simulate and evaluate the proposed system, a big data cluster was developed based on Cassandra, which was used in tandem with the OMNeT++ discreet event network simulator, coupled with the SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) traffic simulator and the Veins vehicular network framework. The results validate the efficiency of the traffic detection system and its positive impact in detecting, reporting and rerouting traffic when traffic events occur.

  13. The economic cost of traffic congestion in Florida.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-08-01

    Traffic congestion in the U.S. is bad and getting worse, and it is expensive. Appropriate solutions to this problem require appropriate information. A comprehensive and accurate analysis of congestion costs is a critical tool for planning and impleme...

  14. Guidelines for operating congested traffic signals.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-08-01

    The objective of this project was to develop guidelines for mitigating congestion in traffic signal systems. As : part of the project, researchers conducted a thorough review of literature and developed preliminary : guidelines for combating congesti...

  15. Predictability of Road Traffic and Congestion in Urban Areas

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Jingyuan; Mao, Yu; Li, Jing; Xiong, Zhang; Wang, Wen-Xu

    2015-01-01

    Mitigating traffic congestion on urban roads, with paramount importance in urban development and reduction of energy consumption and air pollution, depends on our ability to foresee road usage and traffic conditions pertaining to the collective behavior of drivers, raising a significant question: to what degree is road traffic predictable in urban areas? Here we rely on the precise records of daily vehicle mobility based on GPS positioning device installed in taxis to uncover the potential daily predictability of urban traffic patterns. Using the mapping from the degree of congestion on roads into a time series of symbols and measuring its entropy, we find a relatively high daily predictability of traffic conditions despite the absence of any priori knowledge of drivers' origins and destinations and quite different travel patterns between weekdays and weekends. Moreover, we find a counterintuitive dependence of the predictability on travel speed: the road segment associated with intermediate average travel speed is most difficult to be predicted. We also explore the possibility of recovering the traffic condition of an inaccessible segment from its adjacent segments with respect to limited observability. The highly predictable traffic patterns in spite of the heterogeneity of drivers' behaviors and the variability of their origins and destinations enables development of accurate predictive models for eventually devising practical strategies to mitigate urban road congestion. PMID:25849534

  16. Congested traffic states in empirical observations and microscopic simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Treiber, Martin; Hennecke, Ansgar; Helbing, Dirk

    2000-08-01

    We present data from several German freeways showing different kinds of congested traffic forming near road inhomogeneities, specifically lane closings, intersections, or uphill gradients. The states are localized or extended, homogeneous or oscillating. Combined states are observed as well, like the coexistence of moving localized clusters and clusters pinned at road inhomogeneities, or regions of oscillating congested traffic upstream of nearly homogeneous congested traffic. The experimental findings are consistent with a recently proposed theoretical phase diagram for traffic near on-ramps [D. Helbing, A. Hennecke, and M. Treiber, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4360 (1999)]. We simulate these situations with a continuous microscopic single-lane model, the ``intelligent driver model,'' using empirical boundary conditions. All observations, including the coexistence of states, are qualitatively reproduced by describing inhomogeneities with local variations of one model parameter. We show that the results of the microscopic model can be understood by formulating the theoretical phase diagram for bottlenecks in a more general way. In particular, a local drop of the road capacity induced by parameter variations has essentially the same effect as an on-ramp.

  17. Traffic control strategies for congested freeways and work zones.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-10-01

    The primary objective of the research was to identify and evaluate effective ways of improving traffic operations and : safety on congested freeways. There was particular interest in finding condition-responsive traffic control solutions : for the fo...

  18. Surveying traffic congestion based on the concept of community structure of complex networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Lili; Zhang, Zhanli; Li, Meng

    2016-07-01

    In this paper, taking the traffic of Beijing city as an instance, we study city traffic states, especially traffic congestion, based on the concept of network community structure. Concretely, using the floating car data (FCD) information of vehicles gained from the intelligent transport system (ITS) of the city, we construct a new traffic network model which is with floating cars as network nodes and time-varying. It shows that this traffic network has Gaussian degree distributions at different time points. Furthermore, compared with free traffic situations, our simulations show that the traffic network generally has more obvious community structures with larger values of network fitness for congested traffic situations, and through the GPSspg web page, we show that all of our results are consistent with the reality. Then, it indicates that network community structure should be an available way for investigating city traffic congestion problems.

  19. Innovative contracting methods and construction traffic congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-01-01

    Increasing travel demand and lack of sufficient highway capacity are serious problems in most : major metropolitan areas in the United States. Large metropolitan cities have been experiencing : increased traffic congestion problems over the past seve...

  20. A Michigan toolbox for mitigating traffic congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-09-30

    "Researchers created A Michigan Toolbox for Mitigating Traffic Congestion to be a useful desk reference : for practitioners and an educational tool for elected officials acting through public policy boards to better : understand the development, plan...

  1. Traffic congestion and blood pressure elevation: A comparative cross-sectional study in Lebanon.

    PubMed

    Bou Samra, Patrick; El Tomb, Paul; Hosni, Mohammad; Kassem, Ahmad; Rizk, Robin; Shayya, Sami; Assaad, Sarah

    2017-12-01

    This comparative cross-sectional study examines the association between traffic congestion and elevation of systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure levels among a convenience sample of 310 drivers. Data collection took place during a gas station pause at a fixed time of day. Higher average systolic (142 vs 123 mm Hg) and diastolic (87 vs 78 mm Hg) blood pressures were detected among drivers exposed to traffic congestion compared with those who were not exposed (P<.001), while controlling for body mass index, age, sex, pack-year smoking, driving hours per week, and occupational driving. Moreover, among persons exposed to traffic congestion, longer exposure time was associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Further studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms of the significant association between elevated blood pressure and traffic congestion. ©2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Feasibility of incorporating crash risk in developing congestion mitigation measures for interstate highways : a case study of the Hampton Roads area.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-01-01

    A relationship between traffic flow variables and crash characteristics can greatly help the traffic engineer in the field to arrive at appropriate congestion mitigation measures that not only alleviate congestion and save time but also reduce the pr...

  3. A simulation-optimization-based decision support tool for mitigating traffic congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-12-01

    "Traffic congestion has grown considerably in the United States over the past twenty years. In this paper, we develop : a robust decision support tool based on simulation optimization to evaluate and recommend congestion-mitigation : strategies to tr...

  4. How Travel Demand Affects Detection of Non-Recurrent Traffic Congestion on Urban Road Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anbaroglu, B.; Heydecker, B.; Cheng, T.

    2016-06-01

    Occurrence of non-recurrent traffic congestion hinders the economic activity of a city, as travellers could miss appointments or be late for work or important meetings. Similarly, for shippers, unexpected delays may disrupt just-in-time delivery and manufacturing processes, which could lose them payment. Consequently, research on non-recurrent congestion detection on urban road networks has recently gained attention. By analysing large amounts of traffic data collected on a daily basis, traffic operation centres can improve their methods to detect non-recurrent congestion rapidly and then revise their existing plans to mitigate its effects. Space-time clusters of high link journey time estimates correspond to non-recurrent congestion events. Existing research, however, has not considered the effect of travel demand on the effectiveness of non-recurrent congestion detection methods. Therefore, this paper investigates how travel demand affects detection of non-recurrent traffic congestion detection on urban road networks. Travel demand has been classified into three categories as low, normal and high. The experiments are carried out on London's urban road network, and the results demonstrate the necessity to adjust the relative importance of the component evaluation criteria depending on the travel demand level.

  5. Containing air pollution and traffic congestion: Transport policy and the environment in Singapore

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chin, Anthony T. H.

    Land transportation remains one of the main contributors of noise and air pollution in urban areas. This is in addition to traffic congestion and accidents which result in the loss of productive activity. While there is a close relationship between traffic volumes and levels of noise and air pollution, transport authorities often assume that solving traffic congestion would reduce noise and air pollutant levels. Tight control over automobile ownership and use in Singapore has contributed in improving traffic flows, travel speeds and air quality. The adoption of internationally accepted standards on automobile emissions and gasoline have been effective in reducing air pollution from motor vehicles. Demand management measures have largely focused on controlling the source of traffic congestion, i.e. private automobile ownership and its use especially within the Central Business District during the day. This paper reviews and analyzes the effectiveness of two measures which are instrumental in controlling congestion and automobile ownership, i.e. road pricing and the vehicle quota scheme (VQS). While these measures have been successful in achieving desired objectives, it has also led to the spreading of traffic externalities to other roads in the network, loss in consumer welfare and rent seeking by automobile traders.

  6. Using mobile probes to inform and measure the effectiveness of traffic control strategies on urban networks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-07-01

    Urban traffic congestion is a problem that plagues many cities in the United States. Testing strategies to alleviate this : congestion is especially challenging due to the difficulty of modeling complex urban traffic networks. However, recent work ha...

  7. Green supply chain: Simulating road traffic congestion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jalal, Muhammad Zulqarnain Hakim Abd; Nawawi, Mohd Kamal Mohd; Laailatul Hanim Mat Desa, Wan; Khalid, Ruzelan; Khalid Abduljabbar, Waleed; Ramli, Razamin

    2017-09-01

    With the increasing awareness of the consumers about environmental issues, businesses, households and governments increasingly want use green products and services which lead to green supply chain. This paper discusses a simulation study of a selected road traffic system that will contribute to the air pollution if in the congestion state. Road traffic congestion (RTC) can be caused by a temporary obstruction, a permanent capacity bottleneck in the network itself, and stochastic fluctuation in demand within a particular sector of the network, leading to spillback and queue propagation. A discrete-event simulation model is developed to represent the real traffic light control (TLC) system condition during peak hours. Certain performance measures such as average waiting time and queue length were measured using the simulation model. Existing system uses pre-set cycle time to control the light changes which is fixed time cycle. In this research, we test several other combination of pre-set cycle time with the objective to find the best system. In addition, we plan to use a combination of the pre-set cycle time and a proximity sensor which have the authority to manipulate the cycle time of the lights. The sensors work in such situation when the street seems to have less occupied vehicles, obviously it may not need a normal cycle for green light, and automatically change the cycle to street where vehicle is present.

  8. Using mobile probes to inform and measure the effectiveness of macroscopic traffic control strategies on urban networks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-06-01

    Urban traffic congestion is a problem that plagues many cities in the United States. Testing strategies to alleviate this : congestion is especially challenging due to the difficulty of modeling complex urban traffic networks. However, recent work ha...

  9. Algorithm and data support of traffic congestion forecasting in the controlled transport

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dmitriev, S. V.

    2015-06-01

    The topicality of problem of the traffic congestion forecasting in the logistic systems of product movement highways is considered. The concepts: the controlled territory, the highway occupancy by vehicles, the parking and the controlled territory are introduced. Technical realizabilityof organizing the necessary flow of information on the state of the transport system for its regulation has been marked. Sequence of practical implementation of the solution is given. An algorithm for predicting traffic congestion in the controlled transport system is suggested.

  10. Evaluation of the public health impacts of traffic congestion: a health risk assessment

    PubMed Central

    2010-01-01

    Background Traffic congestion is a significant issue in urban areas in the United States and around the world. Previous analyses have estimated the economic costs of congestion, related to fuel and time wasted, but few have quantified the public health impacts or determined how these impacts compare in magnitude to the economic costs. Moreover, the relative magnitudes of economic and public health impacts of congestion would be expected to vary significantly across urban areas, as a function of road infrastructure, population density, and atmospheric conditions influencing pollutant formation, but this variability has not been explored. Methods In this study, we evaluate the public health impacts of ambient exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations associated with a business-as-usual scenario of predicted traffic congestion. We evaluate 83 individual urban areas using traffic demand models to estimate the degree of congestion in each area from 2000 to 2030. We link traffic volume and speed data with the MOBILE6 model to characterize emissions of PM2.5 and particle precursors attributable to congestion, and we use a source-receptor matrix to evaluate the impact of these emissions on ambient PM2.5 concentrations. Marginal concentration changes are related to a concentration-response function for mortality, with a value of statistical life approach used to monetize the impacts. Results We estimate that the monetized value of PM2.5-related mortality attributable to congestion in these 83 cities in 2000 was approximately $31 billion (2007 dollars), as compared with a value of time and fuel wasted of $60 billion. In future years, the economic impacts grow (to over $100 billion in 2030) while the public health impacts decrease to $13 billion in 2020 before increasing to $17 billion in 2030, given increasing population and congestion but lower emissions per vehicle. Across cities and years, the public health impacts range from more than an order of

  11. Evaluation of the public health impacts of traffic congestion: a health risk assessment.

    PubMed

    Levy, Jonathan I; Buonocore, Jonathan J; von Stackelberg, Katherine

    2010-10-27

    Traffic congestion is a significant issue in urban areas in the United States and around the world. Previous analyses have estimated the economic costs of congestion, related to fuel and time wasted, but few have quantified the public health impacts or determined how these impacts compare in magnitude to the economic costs. Moreover, the relative magnitudes of economic and public health impacts of congestion would be expected to vary significantly across urban areas, as a function of road infrastructure, population density, and atmospheric conditions influencing pollutant formation, but this variability has not been explored. In this study, we evaluate the public health impacts of ambient exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations associated with a business-as-usual scenario of predicted traffic congestion. We evaluate 83 individual urban areas using traffic demand models to estimate the degree of congestion in each area from 2000 to 2030. We link traffic volume and speed data with the MOBILE6 model to characterize emissions of PM2.5 and particle precursors attributable to congestion, and we use a source-receptor matrix to evaluate the impact of these emissions on ambient PM2.5 concentrations. Marginal concentration changes are related to a concentration-response function for mortality, with a value of statistical life approach used to monetize the impacts. We estimate that the monetized value of PM2.5-related mortality attributable to congestion in these 83 cities in 2000 was approximately $31 billion (2007 dollars), as compared with a value of time and fuel wasted of $60 billion. In future years, the economic impacts grow (to over $100 billion in 2030) while the public health impacts decrease to $13 billion in 2020 before increasing to $17 billion in 2030, given increasing population and congestion but lower emissions per vehicle. Across cities and years, the public health impacts range from more than an order of magnitude less to in excess of

  12. Impact of traffic congestion on road accidents: a spatial analysis of the M25 motorway in England.

    PubMed

    Wang, Chao; Quddus, Mohammed A; Ison, Stephen G

    2009-07-01

    Traffic congestion and road accidents are two external costs of transport and the reduction of their impacts is often one of the primary objectives for transport policy makers. The relationship between traffic congestion and road accidents however is not apparent and less studied. It is speculated that there may be an inverse relationship between traffic congestion and road accidents, and as such this poses a potential dilemma for transport policy makers. This study aims to explore the impact of traffic congestion on the frequency of road accidents using a spatial analysis approach, while controlling for other relevant factors that may affect road accidents. The M25 London orbital motorway, divided into 70 segments, was chosen to conduct this study and relevant data on road accidents, traffic and road characteristics were collected. A robust technique has been developed to map M25 accidents onto its segments. Since existing studies have often used a proxy to measure the level of congestion, this study has employed a precise congestion measurement. A series of Poisson based non-spatial (such as Poisson-lognormal and Poisson-gamma) and spatial (Poisson-lognormal with conditional autoregressive priors) models have been used to account for the effects of both heterogeneity and spatial correlation. The results suggest that traffic congestion has little or no impact on the frequency of road accidents on the M25 motorway. All other relevant factors have provided results consistent with existing studies.

  13. Traffic Congestion on a University Campus: A Consideration of Unconventional Remedies to Nontraditional Transportation Patterns

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaplan, Dave; Clapper, Thomas

    2007-01-01

    U.S. transportation data suggest that the number of vehicle miles traveled has far surpassed new capacity, resulting in increased traffic congestion in many communities throughout the country. This article reports on traffic congestion around a university campus located within a small town. The mix of trip purposes varies considerably in this…

  14. Launching automated rotary parking system: Towards traffic congestion free Dhaka city

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Islam, Mohummad Shariful; Tithi, Afshana Morshed; Hossain, Farzad; Shetu, Rifat Sultana; Amin, S. M. Abdullah Al; Chowdhury, Shakia Zannatul Ferdous

    2017-12-01

    Bangladesh is the most densely populated city in the whole world, which is visible more in the capital city Dhaka. People have to suffer and valuable times are being wasted for this chronic quandary. Lack of proper planning of the city, different speed vehicles on the same road, over population, inadequate road space, unplanned stoppage or parking etc. are responsible for causing the traffic congestion in Dhaka City. Among those insufficient/unplanned parking system is one of the main reasons for causing traffic congestion. The automated rotary car parking system is the best and suitable because of its less utilization of space compared to other systems. It is a friendly parking system due to the non-utilization of noise/pollution related mechanism. The aim of this paper is to develop an automated car parking system with a minimum cost for reducing congestion in Dhaka city.

  15. Reducing Traffic Congestions by Introducing CACC-Vehicles on a Multi-Lane Highway Using Agent-Based Approach

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arnaout, Georges M.; Bowling, Shannon R.

    2011-01-01

    Traffic congestion is an ongoing problem of great interest to researchers from different areas in academia. With the emerging technology for inter-vehicle communication, vehicles have the ability to exchange information with predecessors by wireless communication. In this paper, we present an agent-based model of traffic congestion and examine the impact of having CACC (Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control) embedded vehicle(s) on a highway system consisting of 4 traffic lanes without overtaking. In our model, CACC vehicles adapt their acceleration/deceleration according to vehicle-to-vehicle inter-communication. We analyze the average speed of the cars, the shockwaves, and the evolution of traffic congestion throughout the lifecycle of the model. The study identifies how CACC vehicles affect the dynamics of traffic flow on a complex network and reduce the oscillatory behavior (stop and go) resulting from the acceleration/deceleration of the vehicles.

  16. Understanding congested travel in urban areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Çolak, Serdar; Lima, Antonio; González, Marta C.

    2016-03-01

    Rapid urbanization and increasing demand for transportation burdens urban road infrastructures. The interplay of number of vehicles and available road capacity on their routes determines the level of congestion. Although approaches to modify demand and capacity exist, the possible limits of congestion alleviation by only modifying route choices have not been systematically studied. Here we couple the road networks of five diverse cities with the travel demand profiles in the morning peak hour obtained from billions of mobile phone traces to comprehensively analyse urban traffic. We present that a dimensionless ratio of the road supply to the travel demand explains the percentage of time lost in congestion. Finally, we examine congestion relief under a centralized routing scheme with varying levels of awareness of social good and quantify the benefits to show that moderate levels are enough to achieve significant collective travel time savings.

  17. Methodology for evaluating effectiveness of traffic-responsive systems on intersection congestion and traffic safety

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    In 1986, the city of Milwaukee applied for and received approval for a hazard elimination grant to reduce congestion and traffic accidents at the intersection of two major and one minor arterial on the northwest side of the city. The intersection com...

  18. Dynamic traffic assignment : genetic algorithms approach

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    Real-time route guidance is a promising approach to alleviating congestion on the nations highways. A dynamic traffic assignment model is central to the development of guidance strategies. The artificial intelligence technique of genetic algorithm...

  19. Traffic signal synchronization in the saturated high-density grid road network.

    PubMed

    Hu, Xiaojian; Lu, Jian; Wang, Wei; Zhirui, Ye

    2015-01-01

    Most existing traffic signal synchronization strategies do not perform well in the saturated high-density grid road network (HGRN). Traffic congestion often occurs in the saturated HGRN, and the mobility of the network is difficult to restore. In order to alleviate traffic congestion and to improve traffic efficiency in the network, the study proposes a regional traffic signal synchronization strategy, named the long green and long red (LGLR) traffic signal synchronization strategy. The essence of the strategy is to control the formation and dissipation of queues and to maximize the efficiency of traffic flows at signalized intersections in the saturated HGRN. With this strategy, the same signal control timing plan is used at all signalized intersections in the HGRN, and the straight phase of the control timing plan has a long green time and a long red time. Therefore, continuous traffic flows can be maintained when vehicles travel, and traffic congestion can be alleviated when vehicles stop. Using the strategy, the LGLR traffic signal synchronization model is developed, with the objective of minimizing the number of stops. Finally, the simulation is executed to analyze the performance of the model by comparing it to other models, and the superiority of the LGLR model is evident in terms of delay, number of stops, queue length, and overall performance in the saturated HGRN.

  20. Traffic Signal Synchronization in the Saturated High-Density Grid Road Network

    PubMed Central

    Hu, Xiaojian; Lu, Jian; Wang, Wei; Zhirui, Ye

    2015-01-01

    Most existing traffic signal synchronization strategies do not perform well in the saturated high-density grid road network (HGRN). Traffic congestion often occurs in the saturated HGRN, and the mobility of the network is difficult to restore. In order to alleviate traffic congestion and to improve traffic efficiency in the network, the study proposes a regional traffic signal synchronization strategy, named the long green and long red (LGLR) traffic signal synchronization strategy. The essence of the strategy is to control the formation and dissipation of queues and to maximize the efficiency of traffic flows at signalized intersections in the saturated HGRN. With this strategy, the same signal control timing plan is used at all signalized intersections in the HGRN, and the straight phase of the control timing plan has a long green time and a long red time. Therefore, continuous traffic flows can be maintained when vehicles travel, and traffic congestion can be alleviated when vehicles stop. Using the strategy, the LGLR traffic signal synchronization model is developed, with the objective of minimizing the number of stops. Finally, the simulation is executed to analyze the performance of the model by comparing it to other models, and the superiority of the LGLR model is evident in terms of delay, number of stops, queue length, and overall performance in the saturated HGRN. PMID:25663835

  1. Understanding congested travel in urban areas

    PubMed Central

    Çolak, Serdar; Lima, Antonio; González, Marta C.

    2016-01-01

    Rapid urbanization and increasing demand for transportation burdens urban road infrastructures. The interplay of number of vehicles and available road capacity on their routes determines the level of congestion. Although approaches to modify demand and capacity exist, the possible limits of congestion alleviation by only modifying route choices have not been systematically studied. Here we couple the road networks of five diverse cities with the travel demand profiles in the morning peak hour obtained from billions of mobile phone traces to comprehensively analyse urban traffic. We present that a dimensionless ratio of the road supply to the travel demand explains the percentage of time lost in congestion. Finally, we examine congestion relief under a centralized routing scheme with varying levels of awareness of social good and quantify the benefits to show that moderate levels are enough to achieve significant collective travel time savings. PMID:26978719

  2. Input-Output Modeling and Control of the Departure Process of Congested Airports

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pujet, Nicolas; Delcaire, Bertrand; Feron, Eric

    2003-01-01

    A simple queueing model of busy airport departure operations is proposed. This model is calibrated and validated using available runway configuration and traffic data. The model is then used to evaluate preliminary control schemes aimed at alleviating departure traffic congestion on the airport surface. The potential impact of these control strategies on direct operating costs, environmental costs and overall delay is quantified and discussed.

  3. Packet Traffic Dynamics Near Onset of Congestion in Data Communication Network Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lawniczak, A. T.; Tang, X.

    2006-05-01

    The dominant technology of data communication networks is the Packet Switching Network (PSN). It is a complex technology organized as various hierarchical layers according to the International Standard Organization (ISO) Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model. The Network Layer of the ISO OSI Reference Model is responsible for delivering packets from their sources to their destinations and for dealing with congestion if it arises in a network. Thus, we focus on this layer and present an abstraction of the Network Layer of the ISO OSI Reference Model. Using this abstraction we investigate how onset of traffic congestion is affected for various routing algorithms by changes in network connection topology. We study how aggregate measures of network performance depend on network connection topology and routing. We explore packets traffic spatio-temporal dynamics near the phase transition point from free flow to congestion for various network connection topologies and routing algorithms. We consider static and adaptive routings. We present selected simulation results.

  4. Traffic congestion and ozone precursor emissions in Bilbao, Spain.

    PubMed

    Ibarra-Berastegi, Gabriel; Madariaga, Imanol

    2003-01-01

    In urban environments, the measured levels of ozone are the result of the interaction between emissions of precursors (mainly VOCs and NOx) and meteorological effects. In this work, time series of daily values of ozone, measured at three locations in Bilbao (Spain), have been built. Then, after removing meteorological effects from them, ozone and traffic data have been analyzed jointly. The goal was to identify traffic situations and link them to ozone levels in the area of Bilbao. To remove meteorological effects from the selected ozone time series, the technique developed by Rao and Zurbenko was used. This is a widely used technique and, after its application, the fraction obtained from a given ozone time series represents an ozone forming capability attributable to emissions of precursors. This fraction is devoid of any meteorological influence and includes only the apportion of periodicities above 1.7 years. In the case of Bilbao, the ozone fractions obtained at three locations have been compared on that time scale with traffic data from the area. For the 1993-1996 period, a regression analysis of the ozone and traffic fractions due to periodicities above 1.7 years (long-term fractions), shows that traffic is the main explanatory factor for ozone with R2 ranging from 0.916 to 0.996 at the three locations studied. Analysis of these longterm fractions has made it possible to identify two traffic regimes for the whole area, associated to different profiles of ozone forming capability. The first one favors low ozone forming capability, and is associated with a situation of fluent traffic. The second one shows high ozone forming capability and represents congestion. Joint analysis of raw data of ozone and traffic do not show any clear pattern due to the strong masking effects that seasonal-meteorological effects (mainly radiation) have on the measured ozone signal. If only immission data of ozone are available, as in this case, a comparison between ozone and traffic

  5. Congestion transition in air traffic networks.

    PubMed

    Monechi, Bernardo; Servedio, Vito D P; Loreto, Vittorio

    2015-01-01

    Air Transportation represents a very interesting example of a complex techno-social system whose importance has considerably grown in time and whose management requires a careful understanding of the subtle interplay between technological infrastructure and human behavior. Despite the competition with other transportation systems, a growth of air traffic is still foreseen in Europe for the next years. The increase of traffic load could bring the current Air Traffic Network above its capacity limits so that safety standards and performances might not be guaranteed anymore. Lacking the possibility of a direct investigation of this scenario, we resort to computer simulations in order to quantify the disruptive potential of an increase in traffic load. To this end we model the Air Transportation system as a complex dynamical network of flights controlled by humans who have to solve potentially dangerous conflicts by redirecting aircraft trajectories. The model is driven and validated through historical data of flight schedules in a European national airspace. While correctly reproducing actual statistics of the Air Transportation system, e.g., the distribution of delays, the model allows for theoretical predictions. Upon an increase of the traffic load injected in the system, the model predicts a transition from a phase in which all conflicts can be successfully resolved, to a phase in which many conflicts cannot be resolved anymore. We highlight how the current flight density of the Air Transportation system is well below the transition, provided that controllers make use of a special re-routing procedure. While the congestion transition displays a universal scaling behavior, its threshold depends on the conflict solving strategy adopted. Finally, the generality of the modeling scheme introduced makes it a flexible general tool to simulate and control Air Transportation systems in realistic and synthetic scenarios.

  6. Time allocation shifts and pollutant exposure due to traffic congestion: an analysis using the national human activity pattern survey.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Kai; Batterman, Stuart A

    2009-10-15

    Traffic congestion increases air pollutant exposures of commuters and urban populations due to the increased time spent in traffic and the increased vehicular emissions that occur in congestion, especially "stop-and-go" traffic. Increased time in traffic also decreases time in other microenvironments, a trade-off that has not been considered in previous time activity pattern (TAP) analyses conducted for exposure assessment purposes. This research investigates changes in time allocations and exposures that result from traffic congestion. Time shifts were derived using data from the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS), which was aggregated to nine microenvironments (six indoor locations, two outdoor locations and one transport location). After imputing missing values, handling outliers, and conducting other quality checks, these data were stratified by respondent age, employment status and period (weekday/weekend). Trade-offs or time-shift coefficients between time spent in vehicles and the eight other microenvironments were then estimated using robust regression. For children and retirees, congestion primarily reduced the time spent at home; for older children and working adults, congestion shifted the time spent at home as well as time in schools, public buildings, and other indoor environments. Changes in benzene and PM(2.5) exposure were estimated for the current average travel delay in the U.S. (9 min day(-1)) and other scenarios using the estimated time shifts coefficients, concentrations in key microenvironments derived from the literature, and a probabilistic analysis. Changes in exposures depended on the duration of the congestion and the pollutant. For example, a 30 min day(-1) travel delay was determined to account for 21+/-12% of current exposure to benzene and 14+/-8% of PM(2.5) exposure. The time allocation shifts and the dynamic approach to TAPs improve estimates of exposure impacts from congestion and other recurring events.

  7. Heterogeneity Index for the Assessment of Relationship Between Land Use Pattern and Road Traffic Congestion in Apapa-Oworoshoki Express way, Lagos Metropolis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alaigba, D. B.; Soumah, M.; Banjo, M. O.

    2017-05-01

    The problem of urban mobility is complicated by traffic delay, resulting from poor planning, high population density and poor condition of roads within urban spaces. This study assessed traffic congestion resulting from differential contribution made by various land-uses along Apapa-Oworoshoki expressway in Lagos metropolis. The data for this study was from both primary and secondary sources; GPS point data was collected at selected points for traffic volume count; observation of the nature of vehicular traffic congestion, and land use types along the corridor. Existing data on traffic count along the corridor, connectivity map and land use map sourced from relevant authorities were acquired. Traffic congestion within the area was estimated using volume capacity ratio (V/C). Heterogeneity Index was developed and used to quantify the percentage contribution to traffic volume from various land-use categories. Analytical Hierarchical Processing (AHP) and knowledge-based weighting were used to rank the importance of different heterogeneity indices. Results showed significant relationship between the degree of heterogeneity of the land use pattern and road traffic congestion. Volume Capacity Ratio computed revealed that the route corridor exceeds its designed capacity in the southward direction between the hours of 8am and 12pm on working days. Five major nodes were analyzed along the corridor, and were all above the expected Passenger Car Unit (PCU), these are "Oshodi" 15 %, "Airport junction" 10 %, "Cele bus stop" 21 %, "Mile 2" 14 %, "Berger" 15 % and "Tincan bus stop" 33 % indicating heavy traffic congestion.

  8. Development of a mobile probe-based traffic data fusion and flow management platform for innovative public-private information-based partnerships.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-10-17

    "Under the aegis of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), real-time traffic information provision strategies are being proposed to manage traffic congestion, alleviate the effects of incidents, enhance response efficiency after disasters, and imp...

  9. An efficient routing strategy for traffic dynamics on two-layer complex networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Jinlong; Wang, Huiling; Zhang, Zhuxi; Zhang, Yi; Duan, Congwen; Qi, Zhaohui; Liu, Yu

    2018-05-01

    In order to alleviate traffic congestion on multilayer networks, designing an efficient routing strategy is one of the most important ways. In this paper, a novel routing strategy is proposed to reduce traffic congestion on two-layer networks. In the proposed strategy, the optimal paths in the physical layer are chosen by comprehensively considering the roles of nodes’ degrees of the two layers. Both numerical and analytical results indicate that our routing strategy can reasonably redistribute the traffic load of the physical layer, and thus the traffic capacity of two-layer complex networks are significantly enhanced compared with the shortest path routing (SPR) and the global awareness routing (GAR) strategies. This study may shed some light on the optimization of networked traffic dynamics.

  10. Public Acceptance and User Response to ATIS Products and Services: The Use of Travel Simulators to Investigate the Response to Traffic Information

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1993-12-01

    Increasing attention has been paid in recent years to the use of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) for alleviating traffic congestion. Understanding user response to traffic, transit, and parking information is important both for designing...

  11. Increasing Intelligence in Inter-Vehicle Communications to Reduce Traffic Congestions: Experiments in Urban and Highway Environments.

    PubMed

    Meneguette, Rodolfo I; Filho, Geraldo P R; Guidoni, Daniel L; Pessin, Gustavo; Villas, Leandro A; Ueyama, Jó

    2016-01-01

    Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) rely on Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) to streamline the operation of vehicles by managing vehicle traffic, assisting drivers with safety and sharing information, as well as providing appropriate services for passengers. Traffic congestion is an urban mobility problem, which causes stress to drivers and economic losses. In this context, this work proposes a solution for the detection, dissemination and control of congested roads based on inter-vehicle communication, called INCIDEnT. The main goal of the proposed solution is to reduce the average trip time, CO emissions and fuel consumption by allowing motorists to avoid congested roads. The simulation results show that our proposed solution leads to short delays and a low overhead. Moreover, it is efficient with regard to the coverage of the event and the distance to which the information can be propagated. The findings of the investigation show that the proposed solution leads to (i) high hit rate in the classification of the level of congestion, (ii) a reduction in average trip time, (iii) a reduction in fuel consumption, and (iv) reduced CO emissions.

  12. Increasing Intelligence in Inter-Vehicle Communications to Reduce Traffic Congestions: Experiments in Urban and Highway Environments

    PubMed Central

    Filho, Geraldo P. R.; Guidoni, Daniel L.; Pessin, Gustavo; Villas, Leandro A.; Ueyama, Jó

    2016-01-01

    Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) rely on Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) to streamline the operation of vehicles by managing vehicle traffic, assisting drivers with safety and sharing information, as well as providing appropriate services for passengers. Traffic congestion is an urban mobility problem, which causes stress to drivers and economic losses. In this context, this work proposes a solution for the detection, dissemination and control of congested roads based on inter-vehicle communication, called INCIDEnT. The main goal of the proposed solution is to reduce the average trip time, CO emissions and fuel consumption by allowing motorists to avoid congested roads. The simulation results show that our proposed solution leads to short delays and a low overhead. Moreover, it is efficient with regard to the coverage of the event and the distance to which the information can be propagated. The findings of the investigation show that the proposed solution leads to (i) high hit rate in the classification of the level of congestion, (ii) a reduction in average trip time, (iii) a reduction in fuel consumption, and (iv) reduced CO emissions PMID:27526048

  13. Development of decision support systems for real-time freeway traffic routing : volume II.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-01-01

    Real-time traffic flow routing is a promising approach to alleviating congestion. Existing approaches to developing real-time routing strategies, however, have limitations. This study explored the potential for using case-based reasoning (CBR), an em...

  14. Nature of the Congested Traffic and Quasi-steady States of the General Motor Models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Bo; Xu, Xihua; Pang, John Z. F.; Monterola, Christopher

    2015-03-01

    We look at the general motor (GM) class microscopic traffic models and analyze some of the universal features of the (multi-)cluster solutions, including the emergence of an intrinsic scale and the quasisoliton dynamics. We show that the GM models can capture the essential physics of the real traffic dynamics, especially the phase transition from the free flow to the congested phase, from which the wide moving jams emerges (the F-S-J transition pioneered by B.S. Kerner). In particular, the congested phase can be associated with either the multi-cluster quasi-steady states, or their more homogeneous precursor states. In both cases the states can last for a long time, and the narrow clusters will eventually grow and merge, leading to the formation of the wide moving jams. We present a general method to fit the empirical parameters so that both quantitative and qualitative macroscopic empirical features can be reproduced with a minimal GM model. We present numerical results for the traffic dynamics both with and without the bottleneck, including various types of spontaneous and induced ``synchronized flow,'' as well as the evolution of wide moving jams. We also discuss its implications to the nature of different phases in traffic dynamics.

  15. Transport growth in Bangkok: Energy, environment, and traffic congestion. Workshop proceedings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Philpott, J.

    1995-07-01

    Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is a physically and economically complexcity with a complicated transport system. With daily traffic congestion averaging 16 hours, the air quality is such that to breathe street level pollution for 8 eight hours is roughly equivalent to smoking nine cigarettes per day. Estimates suggest idling traffic costs up to $1.6 billion annually. Energy use within the transport sector is on a steady rise with an estimated increase in 11 years of two and one half times. Severe health impacts have begun to effect many residents - young children and the elderly being particularly vulnerable. Bangkok`smore » air quality and congestion problems are far from hopeless. Great potential exists for Bangkok to remedy its transport-related problems. The city has many necessary characteristics that allow an efficient, economical system of transport. For example, its high density level makes the city a prime candidate for an efficient system of mass transit and the multitude and close proximity of shops, street vendors, restaurants, and residential areas is highly conducive to walking and cycling. Technical knowledge and capacity to devise and implement innovative policies and projects to address air quality and congestion problems is plentiful. There is also consensus among Bangkokians that something needs to be done immediately to clear the air and the roads. However, little has been done. This report proposes a new approach to transport planning for Bangkok that integrates consideration of ecological, social, and financial viability in the process of making decisions regarding managing existing infrastructure and investments in new infrastructure. Selected papers have been indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.« less

  16. Characterization of arterial traffic congestion through analysis of operational parameters (gap acceptance and lane changing).

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-05-01

    This project monitored an urban arterial highway to characterize recurring congestion. There were two major initiatives in the project. The first one focused on observed variations in gap acceptance and lane changing in relation to traffic flow rates...

  17. Highly Dynamic and Adaptive Traffic Congestion Avoidance in Real-Time Inspired by Honey Bee Behavior

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wedde, Horst F.; Lehnhoff, Sebastian; van Bonn, Bernhard; Bay, Z.; Becker, S.; Böttcher, S.; Brunner, C.; Büscher, A.; Fürst, T.; Lazarescu, A. M.; Rotaru, E.; Senge, S.; Steinbach, B.; Yilmaz, F.; Zimmermann, T.

    Traffic congestions have become a major problem in metropolitan areas world-wide, within and between cities, to an extent where they make driving and transportation times largely unpredictable. Due to the highly dynamic character of congestion building and dissolving this phenomenon appears even to resist a formal treatment. Static approaches, and even more their global management, have proven counterproductive in practice. Given the latest progress in VANET technology and the remarkable commercially driven efforts like in the European C2C consortium, or the VSC Project in the US, allow meanwhile to tackle various aspects of traffic regulation through VANET communication. In this paper we introduce a novel, completely decentralized multi-agent routing algorithm (termed BeeJamA) which we have derived from the foraging behavior of honey bees. It is highly dynamic, adaptive, robust, and scalable, and it allows for both avoiding congestions, and minimizing traveling times to individual destinations. Vehicle guidance is provided well ahead of every intersection, depending on the individual speeds. Thus strict deadlines are imposed on, and respected by, the BeeJamA algorithm. We report on extensive simulation experiments which show the superior performance of BeeJamA over conventional approaches.

  18. Evaluating Environmental Impact of Traffic Congestion in Real Time Based on Sparse Mobile Crowd-sourced Data

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2018-02-02

    Traffic congestion at arterial intersections and freeway bottlenecks degrades the air quality and threatens the public health. Conventionally, air pollutants are monitored by sparsely-distributed Quality Assurance Air Monitoring Sites. Sparse mobile ...

  19. Reasoning the causality of city sprawl, traffic congestion, and green land disappearance in Taiwan using the CLD model.

    PubMed

    Chen, Mei-Chih; Chang, Kaowen

    2014-11-06

    Many city governments choose to supply more developable land and transportation infrastructure with the hope of attracting people and businesses to their cities. However, like those in Taiwan, major cities worldwide suffer from traffic congestion. This study applies the system thinking logic of the causal loops diagram (CLD) model in the System Dynamics (SD) approach to analyze the issue of traffic congestion and other issues related to roads and land development in Taiwan's cities. Comparing the characteristics of development trends with yearbook data for 2002 to 2013 for all of Taiwan's cities, this study explores the developing phenomenon of unlimited city sprawl and identifies the cause and effect relationships in the characteristics of development trends in traffic congestion, high-density population aggregation in cities, land development, and green land disappearance resulting from city sprawl. This study provides conclusions for Taiwan's cities' sustainability and development (S&D). When developing S&D policies, during decision making processes concerning city planning and land use management, governments should think with a holistic view of carrying capacity with the assistance of system thinking to clarify the prejudices in favor of the unlimited developing phenomena resulting from city sprawl.

  20. Reasoning the Causality of City Sprawl, Traffic Congestion, and Green Land Disappearance in Taiwan Using the CLD Model

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Mei-Chih; Chang, Kaowen

    2014-01-01

    Many city governments choose to supply more developable land and transportation infrastructure with the hope of attracting people and businesses to their cities. However, like those in Taiwan, major cities worldwide suffer from traffic congestion. This study applies the system thinking logic of the causal loops diagram (CLD) model in the System Dynamics (SD) approach to analyze the issue of traffic congestion and other issues related to roads and land development in Taiwan’s cities. Comparing the characteristics of development trends with yearbook data for 2002 to 2013 for all of Taiwan’s cities, this study explores the developing phenomenon of unlimited city sprawl and identifies the cause and effect relationships in the characteristics of development trends in traffic congestion, high-density population aggregation in cities, land development, and green land disappearance resulting from city sprawl. This study provides conclusions for Taiwan’s cities’ sustainability and development (S&D). When developing S&D policies, during decision making processes concerning city planning and land use management, governments should think with a holistic view of carrying capacity with the assistance of system thinking to clarify the prejudices in favor of the unlimited developing phenomena resulting from city sprawl. PMID:25383609

  1. Comparing Perceptions and Measures of Congestion

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-10-01

    Peoples perception of congestion and the actual measured congestion do not always agree. Measured : congestion relates to the delay resulting from field measurements of traffic volume, speed, and travel : time. Peoples perception of congestion ...

  2. Optimizing airport capacity utilization in air traffic flow management subject to constraints at arrival and departure fixes

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-09-01

    This paper formulates a new approach for improvement : of air traffic flow management at airports, which leads to : more efficient utilization of existing airport capacity to alleviate : the consequences of congestion. A new model is presented, : whi...

  3. Approach for counting vehicles in congested traffic flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tan, Xiaojun; Li, Jun; Liu, Wei

    2005-02-01

    More and more image sensors are used in intelligent transportation systems. In practice, occlusion is always a problem when counting vehicles in congested traffic. This paper tries to present an approach to solve the problem. The proposed approach consists of three main procedures. Firstly, a new algorithm of background subtraction is performed. The aim is to segment moving objects from an illumination-variant background. Secondly, object tracking is performed, where the CONDENSATION algorithm is used. This can avoid the problem of matching vehicles in successive frames. Thirdly, an inspecting procedure is executed to count the vehicles. When a bus firstly occludes a car and then the bus moves away a few frames later, the car will appear in the scene. The inspecting procedure should find the "new" car and add it as a tracking object.

  4. Dynamic route guidance strategy in a two-route pedestrian-vehicle mixed traffic flow system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Mianfang; Xiong, Shengwu; Li, Bixiang

    2016-05-01

    With the rapid development of transportation, traffic questions have become the major issue for social, economic and environmental aspects. Especially, during serious emergencies, it is very important to alleviate road traffic congestion and improve the efficiency of evacuation to reduce casualties, and addressing these problems has been a major task for the agencies responsible in recent decades. Advanced road guidance strategies have been developed for homogeneous traffic flows, or to reduce traffic congestion and enhance the road capacity in a symmetric two-route scenario. However, feedback strategies have rarely been considered for pedestrian-vehicle mixed traffic flows with variable velocities and sizes in an asymmetric multi-route traffic system, which is a common phenomenon in many developing countries. In this study, we propose a weighted road occupancy feedback strategy (WROFS) for pedestrian-vehicle mixed traffic flows, which considers the system equilibrium to ease traffic congestion. In order to more realistic simulating the behavior of mixed traffic objects, the paper adopted a refined and dynamic cellular automaton model (RDPV_CA model) as the update mechanism for pedestrian-vehicle mixed traffic flow. Moreover, a bounded rational threshold control was introduced into the feedback strategy to avoid some negative effect of delayed information and reduce. Based on comparisons with the two previously proposed strategies, the simulation results obtained in a pedestrian-vehicle traffic flow scenario demonstrated that the proposed strategy with a bounded rational threshold was more effective and system equilibrium, system stability were reached.

  5. Design and Implementation of Real-Time Vehicular Camera for Driver Assistance and Traffic Congestion Estimation

    PubMed Central

    Son, Sanghyun; Baek, Yunju

    2015-01-01

    As society has developed, the number of vehicles has increased and road conditions have become complicated, increasing the risk of crashes. Therefore, a service that provides safe vehicle control and various types of information to the driver is urgently needed. In this study, we designed and implemented a real-time traffic information system and a smart camera device for smart driver assistance systems. We selected a commercial device for the smart driver assistance systems, and applied a computer vision algorithm to perform image recognition. For application to the dynamic region of interest, dynamic frame skip methods were implemented to perform parallel processing in order to enable real-time operation. In addition, we designed and implemented a model to estimate congestion by analyzing traffic information. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using images of a real road environment. We found that the processing time improved by 15.4 times when all the proposed methods were applied in the application. Further, we found experimentally that there was little or no change in the recognition accuracy when the proposed method was applied. Using the traffic congestion estimation model, we also found that the average error rate of the proposed model was 5.3%. PMID:26295230

  6. Design and Implementation of Real-Time Vehicular Camera for Driver Assistance and Traffic Congestion Estimation.

    PubMed

    Son, Sanghyun; Baek, Yunju

    2015-08-18

    As society has developed, the number of vehicles has increased and road conditions have become complicated, increasing the risk of crashes. Therefore, a service that provides safe vehicle control and various types of information to the driver is urgently needed. In this study, we designed and implemented a real-time traffic information system and a smart camera device for smart driver assistance systems. We selected a commercial device for the smart driver assistance systems, and applied a computer vision algorithm to perform image recognition. For application to the dynamic region of interest, dynamic frame skip methods were implemented to perform parallel processing in order to enable real-time operation. In addition, we designed and implemented a model to estimate congestion by analyzing traffic information. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using images of a real road environment. We found that the processing time improved by 15.4 times when all the proposed methods were applied in the application. Further, we found experimentally that there was little or no change in the recognition accuracy when the proposed method was applied. Using the traffic congestion estimation model, we also found that the average error rate of the proposed model was 5.3%.

  7. Examining the speed-flow-delay paradox in the Washington, DC region : potential impacts of reduced traffic on congestion delay and potential for reductions in discretionary travel during peak periods.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-12-01

    Traffic congestion in the Washington, DC area, especially congestion on our freeways, costs our residents every day : in terms of wasted time, fuel, and increased air pollution. Highway studies have determined that once traffic volumes : exceed the c...

  8. Microscopic Statistical Characterisation of the Congested Traffic Flow and Some Salient Empirical Features

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Bo; Yoon, Ji Wei; Monterola, Christopher

    We present large scale, detailed analysis of the microscopic empirical data of the congested traffic flow, focusing on the non-linear interactions between the components of the many-body traffic system. By implementing a systematic procedure that averages over relatively unimportant factors, we extract the effective dependence of the acceleration on the gap between the vehicles, velocity and relative velocity. Such relationship is characterised not just by a few vehicles but the traffic system as a whole. Several interesting features of the detailed vehicle-to-vehicle interactions are revealed, including the stochastic distribution of the human responses, relative importance of the non-linear terms in different density regimes, symmetric response to the relative velocity, and the insensitivity of the acceleration to the velocity within a certain gap and velocity range. The latter leads to a multitude of steady-states without a fundamental diagram. The empirically constructed functional dependence of the acceleration on the important dynamical quantities not only gives the detailed collective driving behaviours of the traffic system, it also serves as the fundamental reference for the validations of the deterministic and stochastic microscopic traffic models in the literature.

  9. Integrated Traffic Flow Management Decision Making

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Grabbe, Shon R.; Sridhar, Banavar; Mukherjee, Avijit

    2009-01-01

    A generalized approach is proposed to support integrated traffic flow management decision making studies at both the U.S. national and regional levels. It can consider tradeoffs between alternative optimization and heuristic based models, strategic versus tactical flight controls, and system versus fleet preferences. Preliminary testing was accomplished by implementing thirteen unique traffic flow management models, which included all of the key components of the system and conducting 85, six-hour fast-time simulation experiments. These experiments considered variations in the strategic planning look-ahead times, the replanning intervals, and the types of traffic flow management control strategies. Initial testing indicates that longer strategic planning look-ahead times and re-planning intervals result in steadily decreasing levels of sector congestion for a fixed delay level. This applies when accurate estimates of the air traffic demand, airport capacities and airspace capacities are available. In general, the distribution of the delays amongst the users was found to be most equitable when scheduling flights using a heuristic scheduling algorithm, such as ration-by-distance. On the other hand, equity was the worst when using scheduling algorithms that took into account the number of seats aboard each flight. Though the scheduling algorithms were effective at alleviating sector congestion, the tactical rerouting algorithm was the primary control for avoiding en route weather hazards. Finally, the modeled levels of sector congestion, the number of weather incursions, and the total system delays, were found to be in fair agreement with the values that were operationally observed on both good and bad weather days.

  10. Impact of congestion on bus operations and costs.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-10-01

    Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes substantial operational and monetary penalty on bus service. The purpose of this project was to quantify the additional time and costs due to traffic congestion. A regression model was developed that ...

  11. Effect of density feedback on the two-route traffic scenario with bottleneck

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Xiao-Yan; Ding, Zhong-Jun; Huang, Guo-Hua

    2016-12-01

    In this paper, we investigate the effect of density feedback on the two-route scenario with a bottleneck. The simulation and theory analysis shows that there exist two critical vehicle entry probabilities αc1 and αc2. When vehicle entry probability α≤αc1, four different states, i.e. free flow state, transition state, maximum current state and congestion state are identified in the system, which correspond to three critical reference densities. However, in the interval αc1<α<αc2, the free flow and transition state disappear, and there is only congestion state when α≥αc2. According to the results, traffic control center can adjust the reference density so that the system is in maximum current state. In this case, the capacity of the traffic system reaches maximum so that drivers can make full use of the roads. We hope that the study results can provide good advice for alleviating traffic jam and be useful to traffic control center for designing advanced traveller information systems.

  12. Analysis of vehicular traffic flow in the major areas of Kuala Lumpur utilizing open-traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manogaran, Saargunawathy; Ali, Muhammad; Yusof, Kamaludin Mohamad; Suhaili, Ramdhan

    2017-09-01

    Vehicular traffic congestion occurs when a large number of drivers are overcrowded on the road and the traffic flow does not run smoothly. Traffic congestion causes chaos on the road and interruption to daily activities of users. Time consumed on road give lots of negative effects on productivity, social behavior, environmental and cost to economy. Congestion is worsens and leads to havoc during the emergency such as flood, accidents, road maintenance and etc., where behavior of traffic flow is always unpredictable and uncontrollable. Real-time and historical traffic data are critical inputs for most traffic flow analysis applications. Researcher attempt to predict traffic using simulations as there is no exact model of traffic flow exists due to its high complexity. Open Traffic is an open source platform available for traffic data analysis linked to Open Street Map (OSM). This research is aimed to study and understand the Open Traffic platform. The real-time traffic flow pattern in Kuala Lumpur area was successfully been extracted and analyzed using Open Traffic. It was observed that the congestion occurs on every major road in Kuala Lumpur and most of it owes to the offices and the economic and commercial centers during rush hours. At some roads the congestion occurs at night due to the tourism activities.

  13. An Evaluation of Traffic Management at ISF Academy on Kong Sin Wan Road

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, M.

    2016-12-01

    The ISF Academy, a school with 1500 students, is located on Kong Sin Wan Road. The majority of students from the academy commute to school every morning by private cars, school buses and other public transportation. For the past few years, the school management team has been imposing traffic management regulations to alleviate and minimize traffic congestion in the nearby area. In spite of that, traffic management on Kong Sin Wan Road is fairly limited and inadequate, resulting in congestion at the start and finish of the school day. As a school, we are dedicated to reduce and mitigate the number of private cars and school buses, as well as to control carbon dioxide emissions from the variety of vehicles. In order to implement strategies to make improvements to the current traffic management system, we, as a school, aim to establish a systematic approach to calculate and model the number of private cars, EV cars, plug-in hybrids and school buses flowing near the ISF campus every day, and the number of students on each vehicle. According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average annual carbon dioxide emission for a typical passenger vehicle is 4.7 metric tons. By multiplying the average carbon dioxide emission by the number of cars coming to campus every morning, we will gain a better understanding of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from school vehicles. To extend the research, we will design a survey to investigate and encourage carpooling between families and students who live close, in order to combat and relieve rising traffic congestion and minimize cars crowding the roads. The traffic study project will not only help the school community create a more environment-friendly campus, but also improve the traffic congestion around the school area.

  14. Urban roadway congestion : annual report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-01-01

    The annual traffic congestion study is an effort to monitor roadway congestion in major urban areas in the United States. The comparisons to other areas and to previous experiences in each area are facilitated by a database that begins in 1982 and in...

  15. Adaptive mechanism-based congestion control for networked systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Zhi; Zhang, Yun; Chen, C. L. Philip

    2013-03-01

    In order to assure the communication quality in network systems with heavy traffic and limited bandwidth, a new ATRED (adaptive thresholds random early detection) congestion control algorithm is proposed for the congestion avoidance and resource management of network systems. Different to the traditional AQM (active queue management) algorithms, the control parameters of ATRED are not configured statically, but dynamically adjusted by the adaptive mechanism. By integrating with the adaptive strategy, ATRED alleviates the tuning difficulty of RED (random early detection) and shows a better control on the queue management, and achieve a more robust performance than RED under varying network conditions. Furthermore, a dynamic transmission control protocol-AQM control system using ATRED controller is introduced for the systematic analysis. It is proved that the stability of the network system can be guaranteed when the adaptive mechanism is finely designed. Simulation studies show the proposed ATRED algorithm achieves a good performance in varying network environments, which is superior to the RED and Gentle-RED algorithm, and providing more reliable service under varying network conditions.

  16. Better road congestion measures are needed

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-05-01

    Road congestion is growing worse as demand : outstrips new roadway construction and other : efforts to increase traffic flows. : Better ways to measure congestion are needed to : effectively address the problem. : Actual measures of speeds an...

  17. Traffic jams induced by fluctuation of a leading car.

    PubMed

    Nagatani, T

    2000-04-01

    We present a phase diagram of the different kinds of congested traffic triggered by fluctuation of a leading car in an open system without sources and sinks. Traffic states and density waves are investigated numerically by varying the amplitude of fluctuation using a car following model. The phase transitions among the free traffic, oscillatory congested traffic, and homogeneous congested traffic occur by fluctuation of a leading car. With increasing the amplitude of fluctuation, the transition between the free traffic and oscillatory traffic occurs at lower density and the transition between the homogeneous congested traffic and the oscillatory traffic occurs at higher density. The oscillatory congested traffic corresponds to the coexisting phase. Also, the moving localized clusters appear just above the transition lines.

  18. The Influence of Individual Driver Characteristics on Congestion Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Lanjun; Zhang, Hao; Meng, Huadong; Wang, Xiqin

    Previous works have pointed out that one of the reasons for the formation of traffic congestion is instability in traffic flow. In this study, we investigate theoretically how the characteristics of individual drivers influence the instability of traffic flow. The discussions are based on the optimal velocity model, which has three parameters related to individual driver characteristics. We specify the mappings between the model parameters and driver characteristics in this study. With linear stability analysis, we obtain a condition for when instability occurs and a constraint about how the model parameters influence the unstable traffic flow. Meanwhile, we also determine how the region of unstable flow densities depends on these parameters. Additionally, the Langevin approach theoretically validates that under the constraint, the macroscopic characteristics of the unstable traffic flow becomes a mixture of free flows and congestions. All of these results imply that both overly aggressive and overly conservative drivers are capable of triggering traffic congestion.

  19. Staff Recall Travel Time for ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction Impacted by Traffic Congestion and Distance: A Digitally Integrated Map Software Study.

    PubMed

    Cole, Justin; Beare, Richard; Phan, Thanh G; Srikanth, Velandai; MacIsaac, Andrew; Tan, Christianne; Tong, David; Yee, Susan; Ho, Jesslyn; Layland, Jamie

    2017-01-01

    Recent evidence suggests hospitals fail to meet guideline specified time to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for a proportion of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) presentations. Implicit in achieving this time is the rapid assembly of crucial catheter laboratory staff. As a proof-of-concept, we set out to create regional maps that graphically show the impact of traffic congestion and distance to destination on staff recall travel times for STEMI, thereby producing a resource that could be used by staff to improve reperfusion time for STEMI. Travel times for staff recalled to one inner and one outer metropolitan hospital at midnight, 6 p.m., and 7 a.m. were estimated using Google Maps Application Programming Interface. Computer modeling predictions were overlaid on metropolitan maps showing color coded staff recall travel times for STEMI, occurring within non-peak and peak hour traffic congestion times. Inner metropolitan hospital staff recall travel times were more affected by traffic congestion compared with outer metropolitan times, and the latter was more affected by distance. The estimated mean travel times to hospital during peak hour were greater than midnight travel times by 13.4 min to the inner and 6.0 min to the outer metropolitan hospital at 6 p.m. ( p  < 0.001). At 7 a.m., the mean difference was 9.5 min to the inner and 3.6 min to the outer metropolitan hospital ( p  < 0.001). Only 45% of inner metropolitan staff were predicted to arrive within 30 min at 6 p.m. compared with 100% at midnight ( p  < 0.001), and 56% of outer metropolitan staff at 6 p.m. ( p  = 0.021). Our results show that integration of map software with traffic congestion data, distance to destination and travel time can predict optimal residence of staff when on-call for PCI.

  20. Speed harmonization and peak-period shoulder use to manage urban freeway congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-10-01

    Traffic congestion is an increasing problem in the nations urban areas, leading to personal inconvenience, : increased pollution, hampered economic productivity, and reduced quality of life. While traffic congestion tends : to continuously increas...

  1. The importance of antipersistence for traffic jams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krause, Sebastian M.; Habel, Lars; Guhr, Thomas; Schreckenberg, Michael

    2017-05-01

    Universal characteristics of road networks and traffic patterns can help to forecast and control traffic congestion. The antipersistence of traffic flow time series has been found for many data sets, but its relevance for congestion has been overseen. Based on empirical data from motorways in Germany, we study how antipersistence of traffic flow time-series impacts the duration of traffic congestion on a wide range of time scales. We find a large number of short-lasting traffic jams, which implies a large risk for rear-end collisions.

  2. Assessment and management of human health risk from toxic metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban stormwater arising from anthropogenic activities and traffic congestion.

    PubMed

    Ma, Yukun; Liu, An; Egodawatta, Prasanna; McGree, James; Goonetilleke, Ashantha

    2017-02-01

    Toxic metals (TMs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in urban stormwater pose risk to human health, thereby constraining its reuse potential. Based on the hypothesis that stormwater quality is primarily influenced by anthropogenic activities and traffic congestion, the primary focus of the research study was to analyse the impacts on human health risk from TMs and PAHs in urban stormwater and thereby develop a quantitative risk assessment model. The study found that anthropogenic activities and traffic congestion exert influence on the risk posed by TMs and PAHs in stormwater from commercial and residential areas. Motor vehicle related businesses (FVS) and traffic congestion (TC) were identified as two parameters which need to be included as independent variables to improve the model. Based on the study outcomes, approaches for mitigating the risk associated with TMs and PAHs in urban stormwater are discussed. Additionally, a roadmap is presented for the assessment and management of the risk arising from these pollutants. The study outcomes are expected to contribute to reducing the human health risk associated urban stormwater pollution and thereby enhance its reuse potential. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Minnesota : innovative choices for congestion relief.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    Minnesota UPA projects focus on reducing traffic congestion in the I-35W corridor and in downtown Minneapolis. ITS technologies underlie many of the Minnesota UPA projects, including those centered on tolling, real-time traffic and transit informatio...

  4. A Bayesian ridge regression analysis of congestion's impact on urban expressway safety.

    PubMed

    Shi, Qi; Abdel-Aty, Mohamed; Lee, Jaeyoung

    2016-03-01

    With the rapid growth of traffic in urban areas, concerns about congestion and traffic safety have been heightened. This study leveraged both Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) system and Microwave Vehicle Detection System (MVDS) installed on an expressway in Central Florida to explore how congestion impacts the crash occurrence in urban areas. Multiple congestion measures from the two systems were developed. To ensure more precise estimates of the congestion's effects, the traffic data were aggregated into peak and non-peak hours. Multicollinearity among traffic parameters was examined. The results showed the presence of multicollinearity especially during peak hours. As a response, ridge regression was introduced to cope with this issue. Poisson models with uncorrelated random effects, correlated random effects, and both correlated random effects and random parameters were constructed within the Bayesian framework. It was proven that correlated random effects could significantly enhance model performance. The random parameters model has similar goodness-of-fit compared with the model with only correlated random effects. However, by accounting for the unobserved heterogeneity, more variables were found to be significantly related to crash frequency. The models indicated that congestion increased crash frequency during peak hours while during non-peak hours it was not a major crash contributing factor. Using the random parameter model, the three congestion measures were compared. It was found that all congestion indicators had similar effects while Congestion Index (CI) derived from MVDS data was a better congestion indicator for safety analysis. Also, analyses showed that the segments with higher congestion intensity could not only increase property damage only (PDO) crashes, but also more severe crashes. In addition, the issues regarding the necessity to incorporate specific congestion indicator for congestion's effects on safety and to take care of the

  5. Measures to alleviate congestion at rural intersections.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-02-01

    Many rural highways experience a surge in traffic flow levels on certain high-travel days during national holidays. Due to the : platooned nature of the high volume traffic on the main highway, vehicles on the minor approach attempting to turn ...

  6. Microscale traffic simulation and emission estimation in a heavily trafficked roundabout in Madrid (Spain).

    PubMed

    Quaassdorff, Christina; Borge, Rafael; Pérez, Javier; Lumbreras, Julio; de la Paz, David; de Andrés, Juan Manuel

    2016-10-01

    This paper presents the evaluation of emissions from vehicle operations in a domain of 300m×300m covering a complex urban roundabout with high traffic density in Madrid. Micro-level simulation was successfully applied to estimate the emissions on a scale of meters. Two programs were used: i) VISSIM to simulate the traffic on the square and to compute velocity-time profiles; and ii) VERSIT+micro through ENVIVER that uses VISSIM outputs to compute the related emissions at vehicle level. Data collection was achieved by a measurement campaign obtaining empirical data of vehicle flows and traffic intensities. Twelve simulations of different traffic situations (scenarios) were conducted, representing different hours from several days in a week and the corresponding NOX and PM10 emissions were estimated. The results show a general reduction on average speeds for higher intensities due to braking-acceleration patterns that contribute to increase the average emission factor and, therefore, the total emissions in the domain, especially on weekdays. The emissions are clearly related to traffic volume, although maximum emission scenario does not correspond to the highest traffic intensity due to congestion and variations in fleet composition throughout the day. These results evidence the potential that local measures aimed at alleviating congestion may have in urban areas to reduce emissions. In general, scenario-averaged emission factors estimated with the VISSIM-VERSIT+micro modelling system fitted well those from the average-speed model COPERT, used as a preliminary validation of the results. The largest deviations between these two models occur in those scenarios with more congestion. The design and resolution of the microscale modelling system allow to reflect the impact of actual traffic conditions on driving patterns and related emissions, making it useful for the design of mitigation measures for specific traffic hot-spots. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights

  7. Cooperative vehicles for robust traffic congestion reduction: An analysis based on algorithmic, environmental and agent behavioral factors

    PubMed Central

    Desai, Prajakta; Desai, Aniruddha

    2017-01-01

    Traffic congestion continues to be a persistent problem throughout the world. As vehicle-to-vehicle communication develops, there is an opportunity of using cooperation among close proximity vehicles to tackle the congestion problem. The intuition is that if vehicles could cooperate opportunistically when they come close enough to each other, they could, in effect, spread themselves out among alternative routes so that vehicles do not all jam up on the same roads. Our previous work proposed a decentralized multiagent based vehicular congestion management algorithm entitled Congestion Avoidance and Route Allocation using Virtual Agent Negotiation (CARAVAN), wherein the vehicles acting as intelligent agents perform cooperative route allocation using inter-vehicular communication. This paper focuses on evaluating the practical applicability of this approach by testing its robustness and performance (in terms of travel time reduction), across variations in: (a) environmental parameters such as road network topology and configuration; (b) algorithmic parameters such as vehicle agent preferences and route cost/preference multipliers; and (c) agent-related parameters such as equipped/non-equipped vehicles and compliant/non-compliant agents. Overall, the results demonstrate the adaptability and robustness of the decentralized cooperative vehicles approach to providing global travel time reduction using simple local coordination strategies. PMID:28792513

  8. Cooperative vehicles for robust traffic congestion reduction: An analysis based on algorithmic, environmental and agent behavioral factors.

    PubMed

    Desai, Prajakta; Loke, Seng W; Desai, Aniruddha

    2017-01-01

    Traffic congestion continues to be a persistent problem throughout the world. As vehicle-to-vehicle communication develops, there is an opportunity of using cooperation among close proximity vehicles to tackle the congestion problem. The intuition is that if vehicles could cooperate opportunistically when they come close enough to each other, they could, in effect, spread themselves out among alternative routes so that vehicles do not all jam up on the same roads. Our previous work proposed a decentralized multiagent based vehicular congestion management algorithm entitled Congestion Avoidance and Route Allocation using Virtual Agent Negotiation (CARAVAN), wherein the vehicles acting as intelligent agents perform cooperative route allocation using inter-vehicular communication. This paper focuses on evaluating the practical applicability of this approach by testing its robustness and performance (in terms of travel time reduction), across variations in: (a) environmental parameters such as road network topology and configuration; (b) algorithmic parameters such as vehicle agent preferences and route cost/preference multipliers; and (c) agent-related parameters such as equipped/non-equipped vehicles and compliant/non-compliant agents. Overall, the results demonstrate the adaptability and robustness of the decentralized cooperative vehicles approach to providing global travel time reduction using simple local coordination strategies.

  9. Air quality assessment at a congested urban intersection

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-09-01

    The deficient transportation system of Beirut results in significant economic losses for the city and causes severe traffic congestion in the urban areas. Proposals have been made for grade separations at some of the worst congested intersections. Th...

  10. Communication efficiency and congestion of signal traffic in large-scale brain networks.

    PubMed

    Mišić, Bratislav; Sporns, Olaf; McIntosh, Anthony R

    2014-01-01

    The complex connectivity of the cerebral cortex suggests that inter-regional communication is a primary function. Using computational modeling, we show that anatomical connectivity may be a major determinant for global information flow in brain networks. A macaque brain network was implemented as a communication network in which signal units flowed between grey matter nodes along white matter paths. Compared to degree-matched surrogate networks, information flow on the macaque brain network was characterized by higher loss rates, faster transit times and lower throughput, suggesting that neural connectivity may be optimized for speed rather than fidelity. Much of global communication was mediated by a "rich club" of hub regions: a sub-graph comprised of high-degree nodes that are more densely interconnected with each other than predicted by chance. First, macaque communication patterns most closely resembled those observed for a synthetic rich club network, but were less similar to those seen in a synthetic small world network, suggesting that the former is a more fundamental feature of brain network topology. Second, rich club regions attracted the most signal traffic and likewise, connections between rich club regions carried more traffic than connections between non-rich club regions. Third, a number of rich club regions were significantly under-congested, suggesting that macaque connectivity actively shapes information flow, funneling traffic towards some nodes and away from others. Together, our results indicate a critical role of the rich club of hub nodes in dynamic aspects of global brain communication.

  11. Real time driver information for congestion management.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-07-01

    Traffic demand in the U.S. has grown substantially over the past few years because of the increase in population and : urbanization in large cities. This causes traffic congestion to spread out over U.S. highways and arterials, and subsequently : lea...

  12. Route guidance strategies revisited: Comparison and evaluation in an asymmetric two-route traffic network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Zhengbing; Chen, Bokui; Jia, Ning; Guan, Wei; Lin, Benchuan; Wang, Binghong

    2014-12-01

    To alleviate traffic congestion, a variety of route guidance strategies have been proposed for intelligent transportation systems. A number of strategies are introduced and investigated on a symmetric two-route traffic network over the past decade. To evaluate the strategies in a more general scenario, this paper conducts eight prevalent strategies on an asymmetric two-route traffic network with different slowdown behaviors on alternative routes. The results show that only mean velocity feedback strategy (MVFS) is able to equalize travel time, i.e. approximate user optimality (UO); while the others fail due to incapability of establishing relations between the feedback parameters and travel time. The paper helps better understand these strategies, and suggests MVFS if the authority intends to achieve user optimality.

  13. Modeling truck traffic volume growth congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-05-01

    Modeling of the statewide transportation system is an important element in understanding issues and programming of funds to thwart potential congestion. As Alabama grows its manufacturing economy, the number of heavy vehicles traversing its highways ...

  14. 78 FR 53107 - Drawbridge Operation Regulation; Passaic River, Kearny and Newark, NJ

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-28

    ... reducing vehicular traffic congestion during the morning and afternoon vehicular rush hour periods due to... alleviate traffic congestion resulting from area roadway closures. It is expected that this change to the regulations would provide relief to vehicular traffic while continuing to meet the reasonable needs of...

  15. Communication Efficiency and Congestion of Signal Traffic in Large-Scale Brain Networks

    PubMed Central

    Mišić, Bratislav; Sporns, Olaf; McIntosh, Anthony R.

    2014-01-01

    The complex connectivity of the cerebral cortex suggests that inter-regional communication is a primary function. Using computational modeling, we show that anatomical connectivity may be a major determinant for global information flow in brain networks. A macaque brain network was implemented as a communication network in which signal units flowed between grey matter nodes along white matter paths. Compared to degree-matched surrogate networks, information flow on the macaque brain network was characterized by higher loss rates, faster transit times and lower throughput, suggesting that neural connectivity may be optimized for speed rather than fidelity. Much of global communication was mediated by a “rich club” of hub regions: a sub-graph comprised of high-degree nodes that are more densely interconnected with each other than predicted by chance. First, macaque communication patterns most closely resembled those observed for a synthetic rich club network, but were less similar to those seen in a synthetic small world network, suggesting that the former is a more fundamental feature of brain network topology. Second, rich club regions attracted the most signal traffic and likewise, connections between rich club regions carried more traffic than connections between non-rich club regions. Third, a number of rich club regions were significantly under-congested, suggesting that macaque connectivity actively shapes information flow, funneling traffic towards some nodes and away from others. Together, our results indicate a critical role of the rich club of hub nodes in dynamic aspects of global brain communication. PMID:24415931

  16. Analysis of Aircraft Clusters to Measure Sector-Independent Airspace Congestion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bilimoria, Karl D.; Lee, Hilda Q.

    2005-01-01

    The Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) concept of operations* permits appropriately equipped aircraft to conduct Free Maneuvering operations. These independent aircraft have the freedom to optimize their trajectories in real time according to user preferences; however, they also take on the responsibility to separate themselves from other aircraft while conforming to any local Traffic Flow Management (TFM) constraints imposed by the air traffic service provider (ATSP). Examples of local-TFM constraints include temporal constraints such as a required time of arrival (RTA), as well as spatial constraints such as regions of convective weather, special use airspace, and congested airspace. Under current operations, congested airspace typically refers to a sector(s) that cannot accept additional aircraft due to controller workload limitations; hence Dynamic Density (a metric that is indicative of controller workload) can be used to quantify airspace congestion. However, for Free Maneuvering operations under DAG-TM, an additional metric is needed to quantify the airspace congestion problem from the perspective of independent aircraft. Such a metric would enable the ATSP to prevent independent aircraft from entering any local areas of congestion in which the flight deck based systems and procedures may not be able to ensure separation. This new metric, called Gaggle Density, offers the ATSP a mode of control to regulate normal operations and to ensure safety and stability during rare-normal or off-normal situations (e.g., system failures). It may be difficult to certify Free Maneuvering systems for unrestricted operations, but it may be easier to certify systems and procedures for specified levels of Gaggle Density that could be monitored by the ATSP, and maintained through relatively minor flow-rate (RTA type) restrictions. Since flight deck based separation assurance is airspace independent, the challenge is to measure congestion independent of sector

  17. Using pricing to reduce traffic congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-03-01

    Highway congestion occurs when a vehicle causes delay to other vehicles on the road, resulting in longer and less reliable travel times, the use of additional fuel, and other costs to the economy. According to one widely cited study, in 2005 highway ...

  18. An evaluation of congestion-reducing measures used in Virginia.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1992-01-01

    Congestion on our nation's highways, especially in urban areas, is a serious problem that is growing steadily worse. In Virginia, it is estimated that 28 percent of the daily vehicle miles of travel (VMT) occurring during peak hour traffic is congest...

  19. Developing a congestion mitigation toolbox.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-09-30

    Researchers created A Michigan Toolbox for Mitigating Traffic Congestion to be a useful desk reference for practitioners and an educational tool for elected officials acting through public policy boards to better understand the development, planning,...

  20. On-board congestion control for satellite packet switching networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chu, Pong P.

    1991-01-01

    It is desirable to incorporate packet switching capability on-board for future communication satellites. Because of the statistical nature of packet communication, incoming traffic fluctuates and may cause congestion. Thus, it is necessary to incorporate a congestion control mechanism as part of the on-board processing to smooth and regulate the bursty traffic. Although there are extensive studies on congestion control for both baseband and broadband terrestrial networks, these schemes are not feasible for space based switching networks because of the unique characteristics of satellite link. Here, we propose a new congestion control method for on-board satellite packet switching. This scheme takes into consideration the long propagation delay in satellite link and takes advantage of the the satellite's broadcasting capability. It divides the control between the ground terminals and satellite, but distributes the primary responsibility to ground terminals and only requires minimal hardware resource on-board satellite.

  1. Statewide planning scenario synthesis : transportation congestion measurement and management.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-09-01

    This study is a review of current practices in 13 states to: (1) measure traffic congestion and its costs; and (2) manage congestion with programs and techniques that do not involve the building of new highway capacity. In regard to the measures of c...

  2. Congestion-based emergency vehicle preemption.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-08-01

    This research analyzed and evaluated a new strategy for preemption of emergency vehicles along a corridor, which is : route-based and adaptive to real-time traffic conditions. The method uses dynamic offsets which are adjusted using : congestion-leve...

  3. Large-scale transportation network congestion evolution prediction using deep learning theory.

    PubMed

    Ma, Xiaolei; Yu, Haiyang; Wang, Yunpeng; Wang, Yinhai

    2015-01-01

    Understanding how congestion at one location can cause ripples throughout large-scale transportation network is vital for transportation researchers and practitioners to pinpoint traffic bottlenecks for congestion mitigation. Traditional studies rely on either mathematical equations or simulation techniques to model traffic congestion dynamics. However, most of the approaches have limitations, largely due to unrealistic assumptions and cumbersome parameter calibration process. With the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Internet of Things (IoT), transportation data become more and more ubiquitous. This triggers a series of data-driven research to investigate transportation phenomena. Among them, deep learning theory is considered one of the most promising techniques to tackle tremendous high-dimensional data. This study attempts to extend deep learning theory into large-scale transportation network analysis. A deep Restricted Boltzmann Machine and Recurrent Neural Network architecture is utilized to model and predict traffic congestion evolution based on Global Positioning System (GPS) data from taxi. A numerical study in Ningbo, China is conducted to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. Results show that the prediction accuracy can achieve as high as 88% within less than 6 minutes when the model is implemented in a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)-based parallel computing environment. The predicted congestion evolution patterns can be visualized temporally and spatially through a map-based platform to identify the vulnerable links for proactive congestion mitigation.

  4. Large-Scale Transportation Network Congestion Evolution Prediction Using Deep Learning Theory

    PubMed Central

    Ma, Xiaolei; Yu, Haiyang; Wang, Yunpeng; Wang, Yinhai

    2015-01-01

    Understanding how congestion at one location can cause ripples throughout large-scale transportation network is vital for transportation researchers and practitioners to pinpoint traffic bottlenecks for congestion mitigation. Traditional studies rely on either mathematical equations or simulation techniques to model traffic congestion dynamics. However, most of the approaches have limitations, largely due to unrealistic assumptions and cumbersome parameter calibration process. With the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Internet of Things (IoT), transportation data become more and more ubiquitous. This triggers a series of data-driven research to investigate transportation phenomena. Among them, deep learning theory is considered one of the most promising techniques to tackle tremendous high-dimensional data. This study attempts to extend deep learning theory into large-scale transportation network analysis. A deep Restricted Boltzmann Machine and Recurrent Neural Network architecture is utilized to model and predict traffic congestion evolution based on Global Positioning System (GPS) data from taxi. A numerical study in Ningbo, China is conducted to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. Results show that the prediction accuracy can achieve as high as 88% within less than 6 minutes when the model is implemented in a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)-based parallel computing environment. The predicted congestion evolution patterns can be visualized temporally and spatially through a map-based platform to identify the vulnerable links for proactive congestion mitigation. PMID:25780910

  5. Performance analysis of SS7 congestion controls under sustained overload

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manfield, David R.; Millsteed, Gregory K.; Zukerman, Moshe

    1994-04-01

    Congestion controls are a key factor in achieving the robust performance required of common channel signaling (CCS) networks in the face of partial network failures and extreme traffic loads, especially as networks become large and carry high traffic volume. The CCITT recommendations define a number of types of congestion control, and the parameters of the controls must be well set in order to ensure their efficacy under transient and sustained signalling network overload. The objective of this paper is to present a modeling approach to the determination of the network parameters that govern the performance of the SS7 congestion controls under sustained overload. Results of the investigation by simulation are presented and discussed.

  6. A hierarchical framework for air traffic control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roy, Kaushik

    Air travel in recent years has been plagued by record delays, with over $8 billion in direct operating costs being attributed to 100 million flight delay minutes in 2007. Major contributing factors to delay include weather, congestion, and aging infrastructure; the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) aims to alleviate these delays through an upgrade of the air traffic control system. Changes to large-scale networked systems such as air traffic control are complicated by the need for coordinated solutions over disparate temporal and spatial scales. Individual air traffic controllers must ensure aircraft maintain safe separation locally with a time horizon of seconds to minutes, whereas regional plans are formulated to efficiently route flows of aircraft around weather and congestion on the order of every hour. More efficient control algorithms that provide a coordinated solution are required to safely handle a larger number of aircraft in a fixed amount of airspace. Improved estimation algorithms are also needed to provide accurate aircraft state information and situational awareness for human controllers. A hierarchical framework is developed to simultaneously solve the sometimes conflicting goals of regional efficiency and local safety. Careful attention is given in defining the interactions between the layers of this hierarchy. In this way, solutions to individual air traffic problems can be targeted and implemented as needed. First, the regional traffic flow management problem is posed as an optimization problem and shown to be NP-Hard. Approximation methods based on aggregate flow models are developed to enable real-time implementation of algorithms that reduce the impact of congestion and adverse weather. Second, the local trajectory design problem is solved using a novel slot-based sector model. This model is used to analyze sector capacity under varying traffic patterns, providing a more comprehensive understanding of how increased automation

  7. Studies of vehicle overtaking dynamics and its influence on traffic flow at a bidirectional road

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Echab, H.; Marzoug, R.; Lakouari, N.; Ez-Zahraouy, H.

    For the purposes of optimizing traffic flow composed of different types of vehicles, it is important to understand the interactions between them. This paper proposes a cellular automata model to investigate a bidirectional two-lane traffic flow under the periodic boundary condition. The vehicle flux and the phase diagrams of the system in the (ρ1,ρ2) space are constructed by applying two different overtaking models (symmetric, asymmetric). The inter-lane correlation and the overtaking frequency are also studied. The simulation results show that the variation of the density of one lane has an apparent influence on the traffic of the adjacent lane. Furthermore, it is found that the phase diagram on both models is classified into several regions. Thus, for the symmetric model, as the overtaking probability increases, the traffic on the system becomes better. Likewise, the results also indicate that the asymmetric model can effectively enhance the traffic capacity and alleviate the congested state.

  8. Local empathy provides global minimization of congestion in communication networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meloni, Sandro; Gómez-Gardeñes, Jesús

    2010-11-01

    We present a mechanism to avoid congestion in complex networks based on a local knowledge of traffic conditions and the ability of routers to self-coordinate their dynamical behavior. In particular, routers make use of local information about traffic conditions to either reject or accept information packets from their neighbors. We show that when nodes are only aware of their own congestion state they self-organize into a hierarchical configuration that delays remarkably the onset of congestion although leading to a sharp first-order-like congestion transition. We also consider the case when nodes are aware of the congestion state of their neighbors. In this case, we show that empathy between nodes is strongly beneficial to the overall performance of the system and it is possible to achieve larger values for the critical load together with a smooth, second-order-like, transition. Finally, we show how local empathy minimize the impact of congestion as much as global minimization. Therefore, here we present an outstanding example of how local dynamical rules can optimize the system’s functioning up to the levels reached using global knowledge.

  9. Weather-responsive traffic management : real solutions for serious traffic problems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-04-01

    This flyer describes how weather responsive traffic management (WRTM) can prevent or mitigate the effects of weather on traffic operations and reduce congestion. The three types of WRTM described in the flyer include 1) Advisory strategies that provi...

  10. Reducing a congestion with introduce the greedy algorithm on traffic light control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Catur Siswipraptini, Puji; Hendro Martono, Wisnu; Hartanti, Dian

    2018-03-01

    The density of vehicles causes congestion seen at every junction in the city of jakarta due to the static or manual traffic timing lamp system consequently the length of the queue at the junction is uncertain. The research has been aimed at designing a sensor based traffic system based on the queue length detection of the vehicle to optimize the duration of the green light. In detecting the length of the queue of vehicles using infrared sensor assistance placed in each intersection path, then apply Greedy algorithm to help accelerate the movement of green light duration for the path that requires, while to apply the traffic lights regulation program based on greedy algorithm which is then stored on microcontroller with Arduino Mega 2560 type. Where a developed system implements the greedy algorithm with the help of the infrared sensor it will extend the duration of the green light on the long vehicle queue and accelerate the duration of the green light at the intersection that has the queue not too dense. Furthermore, the design is made to form an artificial form of the actual situation of the scale model or simple simulator (next we just called as scale model of simulator) of the intersection then tested. Sensors used are infrared sensors, where the placement of sensors in each intersection on the scale model is placed within 10 cm of each sensor and serves as a queue detector. From the results of the test process on the scale model with a longer queue obtained longer green light time so it will fix the problem of long queue of vehicles. Using greedy algorithms can add long green lights for 2 seconds on tracks that have long queues at least three sensor levels and accelerate time at other intersections that have longer queue sensor levels less than level three.

  11. Continuum modeling of cooperative traffic flow dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ngoduy, D.; Hoogendoorn, S. P.; Liu, R.

    2009-07-01

    This paper presents a continuum approach to model the dynamics of cooperative traffic flow. The cooperation is defined in our model in a way that the equipped vehicle can issue and receive a warning massage when there is downstream congestion. Upon receiving the warning massage, the (up-stream) equipped vehicle will adapt the current desired speed to the speed at the congested area in order to avoid sharp deceleration when approaching the congestion. To model the dynamics of such cooperative systems, a multi-class gas-kinetic theory is extended to capture the adaptation of the desired speed of the equipped vehicle to the speed at the downstream congested traffic. Numerical simulations are carried out to show the influence of the penetration rate of the equipped vehicles on traffic flow stability and capacity in a freeway.

  12. Impact of distracted driving on congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-03-01

    Studies have documented a link between distracted driving and diminished safety; however, an association : between distracted driving and traffic congestion has not been investigated in depth. The present study : examined the behavior of teens and yo...

  13. Congestion and communication in confined ant traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gravish, Nick; Gold, Gregory; Zangwill, Andrew; Goodisman, Michael A. D.; Goldman, Daniel I.

    2014-03-01

    Many social animals move and communicate within confined spaces. In subterranean fire ants Solenopsis invicta, mobility within crowded nest tunnels is important for resource and information transport. Within confined tunnels, communication and traffic flow are at odds: trafficking ants communicate through tactile interactions while stopped, yet ants that stop to communicate impose physical obstacles on the traffic. We monitor the bi-directional flow of fire ant workers in laboratory tunnels of varied diameter D. The persistence time of communicating ant aggregations, τ, increases approximately linearly with the number of participating ants, n. The sensitivity of traffic flow increases as D decreases and diverges at a minimum diameter, Dc. A cellular automata model incorporating minimal traffic features--excluded volume and communication duration--reproduces features of the experiment. From the model we identify a competition between information transfer and the need to maintain jam-free traffic flow. We show that by balancing information transfer and traffic flow demands, an optimum group strategy exists which maximizes information throughput. We acknowledge funding from NSF PoLS #0957659 and #PHY-1205878.

  14. 23 CFR 970.214 - Federal lands congestion management system (CMS).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... experiencing congestion, the NPS shall develop a separate CMS to cover those facilities. Approaches may include... congestion management strategies; (v) Determine methods to monitor and evaluate the performance of the multi... means the level at which transportation system performance is no longer acceptable due to traffic...

  15. 23 CFR 970.214 - Federal lands congestion management system (CMS).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... experiencing congestion, the NPS shall develop a separate CMS to cover those facilities. Approaches may include... congestion management strategies; (v) Determine methods to monitor and evaluate the performance of the multi... means the level at which transportation system performance is no longer acceptable due to traffic...

  16. Physics of Traffic Flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, L. C.

    2015-03-01

    The Texas A&M Transportation Institute estimated that traffic congestion cost the United States 121 billion in 2011 (the latest data available). The cost is due to wasted time and fuel. In addition to accidents and road construction, factors contributing to congestion include large demand, instability of high-density free flow and selfish behavior of drivers, which produces self-organized traffic bottlenecks. Extensive data collected on instrumented highways in various countries have led to a better understanding of traffic dynamics. From these measurements, Boris Kerner and colleagues developed a new theory called three-phase theory. They identified three major phases of flow observed in the data: free flow, synchronous flow and wide moving jams. The intermediate phase is called synchronous because vehicles in different lanes tend to have similar velocities. This congested phase, characterized by lower velocities yet modestly high throughput, frequently occurs near on-ramps and lane reductions. At present there are only two widely used methods of congestion mitigation: ramp metering and the display of current travel-time information to drivers. To find more effective methods to reduce congestion, researchers perform large-scale simulations using models based on the new theories. An algorithm has been proposed to realize Wardrop equilibria with real-time route information. Such equilibria have equal travel time on alternative routes between a given origin and destination. An active area of current research is the dynamics of connected vehicles, which communicate wirelessly with other vehicles and the surrounding infrastructure. These systems show great promise for improving traffic flow and safety.

  17. A model of jam formation in congested traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bunzarova, N. Zh; Pesheva, N. C.; Priezzhev, V. B.; Brankov, J. G.

    2017-12-01

    We study a model of irreversible jam formation in congested vehicular traffic on an open segment of a single-lane road. The vehicles obey a stochastic discrete-time dynamics which is a limiting case of the generalized Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process. Its characteristic features are: (a) the existing clusters of jammed cars cannot break into parts; (b) when the leading vehicle of a cluster hops to the right, the whole cluster follows it deterministically, and (c) any two clusters of vehicles, occupying consecutive positions on the chain, may become nearest-neighbors and merge irreversibly into a single cluster. The above dynamics was used in a one-dimensional model of irreversible aggregation by Bunzarova and Pesheva [Phys. Rev. E 95, 052105 (2017)]. The model has three stationary non-equilibrium phases, depending on the probabilities of injection (α), ejection (β), and hopping (p) of particles: a many-particle one, MP, a completely jammed phase CF, and a mixed MP+CF phase. An exact expression for the stationary probability P(1) of a completely jammed configuration in the mixed MP+CF phase is obtained. The gap distribution between neighboring clusters of jammed cars at large lengths L of the road is studied. Three regimes of evolution of the width of a single gap are found: (i) growing gaps with length of the order O(L) when β > p; (ii) shrinking gaps with length of the order O(1) when β < p; and (iii) critical gaps at β = p, of the order O(L 1/2). These results are supported by extensive Monte Carlo calculations.

  18. A Novel Biobjective Risk-Based Model for Stochastic Air Traffic Network Flow Optimization Problem.

    PubMed

    Cai, Kaiquan; Jia, Yaoguang; Zhu, Yanbo; Xiao, Mingming

    2015-01-01

    Network-wide air traffic flow management (ATFM) is an effective way to alleviate demand-capacity imbalances globally and thereafter reduce airspace congestion and flight delays. The conventional ATFM models assume the capacities of airports or airspace sectors are all predetermined. However, the capacity uncertainties due to the dynamics of convective weather may make the deterministic ATFM measures impractical. This paper investigates the stochastic air traffic network flow optimization (SATNFO) problem, which is formulated as a weighted biobjective 0-1 integer programming model. In order to evaluate the effect of capacity uncertainties on ATFM, the operational risk is modeled via probabilistic risk assessment and introduced as an extra objective in SATNFO problem. Computation experiments using real-world air traffic network data associated with simulated weather data show that presented model has far less constraints compared to stochastic model with nonanticipative constraints, which means our proposed model reduces the computation complexity.

  19. Air pollution and health risks due to vehicle traffic.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Kai; Batterman, Stuart

    2013-04-15

    Traffic congestion increases vehicle emissions and degrades ambient air quality, and recent studies have shown excess morbidity and mortality for drivers, commuters and individuals living near major roadways. Presently, our understanding of the air pollution impacts from congestion on roads is very limited. This study demonstrates an approach to characterize risks of traffic for on- and near-road populations. Simulation modeling was used to estimate on- and near-road NO2 concentrations and health risks for freeway and arterial scenarios attributable to traffic for different traffic volumes during rush hour periods. The modeling used emission factors from two different models (Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model and Motor Vehicle Emissions Factor Model version 6.2), an empirical traffic speed-volume relationship, the California Line Source Dispersion Model, an empirical NO2-NOx relationship, estimated travel time changes during congestion, and concentration-response relationships from the literature, which give emergency doctor visits, hospital admissions and mortality attributed to NO2 exposure. An incremental analysis, which expresses the change in health risks for small increases in traffic volume, showed non-linear effects. For a freeway, "U" shaped trends of incremental risks were predicted for on-road populations, and incremental risks are flat at low traffic volumes for near-road populations. For an arterial road, incremental risks increased sharply for both on- and near-road populations as traffic increased. These patterns result from changes in emission factors, the NO2-NOx relationship, the travel delay for the on-road population, and the extended duration of rush hour for the near-road population. This study suggests that health risks from congestion are potentially significant, and that additional traffic can significantly increase risks, depending on the type of road and other factors. Further, evaluations of risk associated with congestion must

  20. Air pollution and health risks due to vehicle traffic

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Kai; Batterman, Stuart

    2014-01-01

    Traffic congestion increases vehicle emissions and degrades ambient air quality, and recent studies have shown excess morbidity and mortality for drivers, commuters and individuals living near major roadways. Presently, our understanding of the air pollution impacts from congestion on roads is very limited. This study demonstrates an approach to characterize risks of traffic for on- and near-road populations. Simulation modeling was used to estimate on- and near-road NO2 concentrations and health risks for freeway and arterial scenarios attributable to traffic for different traffic volumes during rush hour periods. The modeling used emission factors from two different models (Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model and Motor Vehicle Emissions Factor Model version 6.2), an empirical traffic speed–volume relationship, the California Line Source Dispersion Model, an empirical NO2–NOx relationship, estimated travel time changes during congestion, and concentration–response relationships from the literature, which give emergency doctor visits, hospital admissions and mortality attributed to NO2 exposure. An incremental analysis, which expresses the change in health risks for small increases in traffic volume, showed non-linear effects. For a freeway, “U” shaped trends of incremental risks were predicted for on-road populations, and incremental risks are flat at low traffic volumes for near-road populations. For an arterial road, incremental risks increased sharply for both on- and near-road populations as traffic increased. These patterns result from changes in emission factors, the NO2–NOx relationship, the travel delay for the on-road population, and the extended duration of rush hour for the near-road population. This study suggests that health risks from congestion are potentially significant, and that additional traffic can significantly increase risks, depending on the type of road and other factors. Further, evaluations of risk associated with congestion

  1. Intelligent traffic lights based on MATLAB

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nie, Ying

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, I describes the traffic lights system and it has some. Through analysis, I used MATLAB technology, transformed the camera photographs into digital signals. Than divided the road vehicle is into three methods: very congestion, congestion, a little congestion. Through the MCU programming, solved the different roads have different delay time, and Used this method, saving time and resources, so as to reduce road congestion.

  2. Distributive routing and congestion control in wireless multihop ad hoc communication networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glauche, Ingmar; Krause, Wolfram; Sollacher, Rudolf; Greiner, Martin

    2004-10-01

    Due to their inherent complexity, engineered wireless multihop ad hoc communication networks represent a technological challenge. Having no mastering infrastructure the nodes have to selforganize themselves in such a way that for example network connectivity, good data traffic performance and robustness are guaranteed. In this contribution the focus is on routing and congestion control. First, random data traffic along shortest path routes is studied by simulations as well as theoretical modeling. Measures of congestion like end-to-end time delay and relaxation times are given. A scaling law of the average time delay with respect to network size is revealed and found to depend on the underlying network topology. In the second step, a distributive routing and congestion control is proposed. Each node locally propagates its routing cost estimates and information about its congestion state to its neighbors, which then update their respective cost estimates. This allows for a flexible adaptation of end-to-end routes to the overall congestion state of the network. Compared to shortest-path routing, the critical network load is significantly increased.

  3. A Survey on Urban Traffic Management System Using Wireless Sensor Networks.

    PubMed

    Nellore, Kapileswar; Hancke, Gerhard P

    2016-01-27

    Nowadays, the number of vehicles has increased exponentially, but the bedrock capacities of roads and transportation systems have not developed in an equivalent way to efficiently cope with the number of vehicles traveling on them. Due to this, road jamming and traffic correlated pollution have increased with the associated adverse societal and financial effect on different markets worldwide. A static control system may block emergency vehicles due to traffic jams. Wireless Sensor networks (WSNs) have gained increasing attention in traffic detection and avoiding road congestion. WSNs are very trendy due to their faster transfer of information, easy installation, less maintenance, compactness and for being less expensive compared to other network options. There has been significant research on Traffic Management Systems using WSNs to avoid congestion, ensure priority for emergency vehicles and cut the Average Waiting Time (AWT) of vehicles at intersections. In recent decades, researchers have started to monitor real-time traffic using WSNs, RFIDs, ZigBee, VANETs, Bluetooth devices, cameras and infrared signals. This paper presents a survey of current urban traffic management schemes for priority-based signalling, and reducing congestion and the AWT of vehicles. The main objective of this survey is to provide a taxonomy of different traffic management schemes used for avoiding congestion. Existing urban traffic management schemes for the avoidance of congestion and providing priority to emergency vehicles are considered and set the foundation for further research.

  4. A Survey on Urban Traffic Management System Using Wireless Sensor Networks

    PubMed Central

    Nellore, Kapileswar; Hancke, Gerhard P.

    2016-01-01

    Nowadays, the number of vehicles has increased exponentially, but the bedrock capacities of roads and transportation systems have not developed in an equivalent way to efficiently cope with the number of vehicles traveling on them. Due to this, road jamming and traffic correlated pollution have increased with the associated adverse societal and financial effect on different markets worldwide. A static control system may block emergency vehicles due to traffic jams. Wireless Sensor networks (WSNs) have gained increasing attention in traffic detection and avoiding road congestion. WSNs are very trendy due to their faster transfer of information, easy installation, less maintenance, compactness and for being less expensive compared to other network options. There has been significant research on Traffic Management Systems using WSNs to avoid congestion, ensure priority for emergency vehicles and cut the Average Waiting Time (AWT) of vehicles at intersections. In recent decades, researchers have started to monitor real-time traffic using WSNs, RFIDs, ZigBee, VANETs, Bluetooth devices, cameras and infrared signals. This paper presents a survey of current urban traffic management schemes for priority-based signalling, and reducing congestion and the AWT of vehicles. The main objective of this survey is to provide a taxonomy of different traffic management schemes used for avoiding congestion. Existing urban traffic management schemes for the avoidance of congestion and providing priority to emergency vehicles are considered and set the foundation for further research. PMID:26828489

  5. Quantifying incident-induced travel delays on freeways using traffic sensor data

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-02-01

    Traffic congestion is a major operational problem for freeways in Washington State. Recent studies have estimated that more than 50% of freeway congestion is caused by traffic incidents. To help the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDO...

  6. Quantifying incident-induced travel delays on freeways using traffic sensor data

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-05-01

    Traffic congestion is a major operational problem for freeways in Washington State. Recent studies have estimated that more than 50 percent of freeway congestion is caused by traffic incidents. To help the Washington State Department of Transportatio...

  7. Development of a Traffic Management Decision Support Tool for Freeway Incident Traffic Management (FITM) Plan Deployment

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-12-01

    Traffic incidents have long been recognized as the main contributor to congestion in highway networks. Thus, contending with non-recurrent congestion has been a priority task for most highway agencies over the past decades. Under most incident scenar...

  8. A resilience-oriented approach for quantitatively assessing recurrent spatial-temporal congestion on urban roads.

    PubMed

    Tang, Junqing; Heinimann, Hans Rudolf

    2018-01-01

    Traffic congestion brings not only delay and inconvenience, but other associated national concerns, such as greenhouse gases, air pollutants, road safety issues and risks. Identification, measurement, tracking, and control of urban recurrent congestion are vital for building a livable and smart community. A considerable amount of works has made contributions to tackle the problem. Several methods, such as time-based approaches and level of service, can be effective for characterizing congestion on urban streets. However, studies with systemic perspectives have been minor in congestion quantification. Resilience, on the other hand, is an emerging concept that focuses on comprehensive systemic performance and characterizes the ability of a system to cope with disturbance and to recover its functionality. In this paper, we symbolized recurrent congestion as internal disturbance and proposed a modified metric inspired by the well-applied "R4" resilience-triangle framework. We constructed the metric with generic dimensions from both resilience engineering and transport science to quantify recurrent congestion based on spatial-temporal traffic patterns and made the comparison with other two approaches in freeway and signal-controlled arterial cases. Results showed that the metric can effectively capture congestion patterns in the study area and provides a quantitative benchmark for comparison. Also, it suggested not only a good comparative performance in measuring strength of proposed metric, but also its capability of considering the discharging process in congestion. The sensitivity tests showed that proposed metric possesses robustness against parameter perturbation in Robustness Range (RR), but the number of identified congestion patterns can be influenced by the existence of ϵ. In addition, the Elasticity Threshold (ET) and the spatial dimension of cell-based platform differ the congestion results significantly on both the detected number and intensity. By tackling

  9. Curbing gridlock: Peak-period fees to relieve traffic congestion. Volume 2. Commissioned papers. Special report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1994-01-01

    ;Contents: Volume 2: Commissioned Papers: Congestion Trends in Metropolitan Areas; Alternative Methods for Measuring Congestion Levels; Potential of Congestion Pricing in the Metropolitan Washington Region; Transportation Pricing and Travel Behavior; Peak Pricing Strategies in Transportation, Utilities, and Telecommunications: Lessons for Road Pricing; Cashing Out Employer-Paid Parking: A Precedent for Congestion Pricing; The New York Region: First in Tolls, Last in Road Pricing; Pricing Urban Roadways: Administrative and Institutional Issues; Equity and Fairness Considerations of Congestion Pricing; The Politics of Congestion Pricing; Institutional and Political Challenges in Implementing Congestion Pricing: Case Study of the San Francisco Bay Area; How Congestion Pricingmore » Came to Be Proposed in the San Diego Region: A Case History; Urban Transportation Congestion Pricing: Effects on Urban Form; Congestion Pricing and Motor Vehicle Emissions: An Initial Review; Private Toll Roads: Acceptability of Congestion Pricing in Southern California; Potential of Next-Generation Technology; Electronic Toll Collection Systems; and Impacts of Congestion Pricing on Transit and Carpool Demand and Supply.« less

  10. The traffic crisis and a tale of two cities: Traffic and air quality in Bangkok and Mexico City

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pendakur, V.S.; Badami, M.G.

    1995-12-31

    This paper focuses on congestion management techniques, traffic congestion levels and air quality. By using data from Bangkok and Mexico City, it illustrates the need for drastic changes in transportation policy tools and techniques for congestion management and for improving environmental quality. New approaches to investment and regulatory policy analysis and implementation are suggested. This requires the inclusion of all costs and benefits (economic and ecological) in the policy matrix so that investment and regulatory policies act in unison. Megacities are dominant in social, political and economic terms. 30 to 60% of national GDP is typically produced in these cities.more » Their human and motor vehicle populations have been doubling every 15-20 and 6-10 years respectively. They also have the most severe traffic congestion and air quality problems. They have the nation`s highest incidence of poverty and absolute poverty. Large portions of their populations endure severely unhealthy housing and sanitation conditions. Following are important characteristics of urban transportation systems in the megacities: the city centres are heavily congested with motorized traffic; traffic crawl rates vary from 2 to 10 km/hr; car and motorcycle ownership are increasing at annual rates of 10-12% and 15-20% respectively; significant air pollution with no relief in sight; TDM strategies are primarily creating new supply of road capacity; fairly high transit trips with substantial transit investments; weak air pollution monitoring and enforcement; and fairly cheap fuel and high costs of vehicles.« less

  11. Intelligent Traffic Quantification System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohanty, Anita; Bhanja, Urmila; Mahapatra, Sudipta

    2017-08-01

    Currently, city traffic monitoring and controlling is a big issue in almost all cities worldwide. Vehicular ad-hoc Network (VANET) technique is an efficient tool to minimize this problem. Usually, different types of on board sensors are installed in vehicles to generate messages characterized by different vehicle parameters. In this work, an intelligent system based on fuzzy clustering technique is developed to reduce the number of individual messages by extracting important features from the messages of a vehicle. Therefore, the proposed fuzzy clustering technique reduces the traffic load of the network. The technique also reduces congestion and quantifies congestion.

  12. Visual Analysis of Air Traffic Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Albrecht, George Hans; Pang, Alex

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we present visual analysis tools to help study the impact of policy changes on air traffic congestion. The tools support visualization of time-varying air traffic density over an area of interest using different time granularity. We use this visual analysis platform to investigate how changing the aircraft separation volume can reduce congestion while maintaining key safety requirements. The same platform can also be used as a decision aid for processing requests for unmanned aerial vehicle operations.

  13. Towards Realistic Urban Traffic Experiments Using DFROUTER: Heuristic, Validation and Extensions

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Traffic congestion is an important problem faced by Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), requiring models that allow predicting the impact of different solutions on urban traffic flow. Such an approach typically requires the use of simulations, which should be as realistic as possible. However, achieving high degrees of realism can be complex when the actual traffic patterns, defined through an Origin/Destination (O-D) matrix for the vehicles in a city, remain unknown. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is a heuristic for improving traffic congestion modeling. In particular, we propose a procedure that, starting from real induction loop measurements made available by traffic authorities, iteratively refines the output of DFROUTER, which is a module provided by the SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) tool. This way, it is able to generate an O-D matrix for traffic that resembles the real traffic distribution and that can be directly imported by SUMO. We apply our technique to the city of Valencia, and we then compare the obtained results against other existing traffic mobility data for the cities of Cologne (Germany) and Bologna (Italy), thereby validating our approach. We also use our technique to determine what degree of congestion is expectable if certain conditions cause additional traffic to circulate in the city, adopting both a uniform pattern and a hotspot-based pattern for traffic injection to demonstrate how to regulate the overall number of vehicles in the city. This study allows evaluating the impact of vehicle flow changes on the overall traffic congestion levels. PMID:29244762

  14. Towards Realistic Urban Traffic Experiments Using DFROUTER: Heuristic, Validation and Extensions.

    PubMed

    Zambrano-Martinez, Jorge Luis; Calafate, Carlos T; Soler, David; Cano, Juan-Carlos

    2017-12-15

    Traffic congestion is an important problem faced by Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), requiring models that allow predicting the impact of different solutions on urban traffic flow. Such an approach typically requires the use of simulations, which should be as realistic as possible. However, achieving high degrees of realism can be complex when the actual traffic patterns, defined through an Origin/Destination (O-D) matrix for the vehicles in a city, remain unknown. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is a heuristic for improving traffic congestion modeling. In particular, we propose a procedure that, starting from real induction loop measurements made available by traffic authorities, iteratively refines the output of DFROUTER, which is a module provided by the SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility) tool. This way, it is able to generate an O-D matrix for traffic that resembles the real traffic distribution and that can be directly imported by SUMO. We apply our technique to the city of Valencia, and we then compare the obtained results against other existing traffic mobility data for the cities of Cologne (Germany) and Bologna (Italy), thereby validating our approach. We also use our technique to determine what degree of congestion is expectable if certain conditions cause additional traffic to circulate in the city, adopting both a uniform pattern and a hotspot-based pattern for traffic injection to demonstrate how to regulate the overall number of vehicles in the city. This study allows evaluating the impact of vehicle flow changes on the overall traffic congestion levels.

  15. Seasonal variation in traffic congestion : a study of three U.S. cities

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-08-01

    Drivers may notice seasonal : changes in patterns of highway : congestion in many urban : areas of the country. These : patterns, however, can be very different for individual cities. : This report looks at congestion patterns over a 3-year period : ...

  16. Impact of traffic oscillations on freeway crash occurrences.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Zuduo; Ahn, Soyoung; Monsere, Christopher M

    2010-03-01

    Traffic oscillations are typical features of congested traffic flow that are characterized by recurring decelerations followed by accelerations (stop-and-go driving). The negative environmental impacts of these oscillations are widely accepted, but their impact on traffic safety has been debated. This paper describes the impact of freeway traffic oscillations on traffic safety. This study employs a matched case-control design using high-resolution traffic and crash data from a freeway segment. Traffic conditions prior to each crash were taken as cases, while traffic conditions during the same periods on days without crashes were taken as controls. These were also matched by presence of congestion, geometry and weather. A total of 82 cases and about 80,000 candidate controls were extracted from more than three years of data from 2004 to 2007. Conditional logistic regression models were developed based on the case-control samples. To verify consistency in the results, 20 different sets of controls were randomly extracted from the candidate pool for varying control-case ratios. The results reveal that the standard deviation of speed (thus, oscillations) is a significant variable, with an average odds ratio of about 1.08. This implies that the likelihood of a (rear-end) crash increases by about 8% with an additional unit increase in the standard deviation of speed. The average traffic states prior to crashes were less significant than the speed variations in congestion. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  17. I-55 integrated diversion traffic management benefit study.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-11-01

    Traffic congestion, recurrent and non-recurrent, creates significant economic losses and environmental impacts. : Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) is a U.S.DOT research initiative that has been proven to effectively relieve : recurrent congestion...

  18. Utilizing traffic simulation tools with MOVES and AERMOD

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    Overview: Quantify the emissions and fuel consumption associated with traffic congestion from Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) crashes Project Description Traffic Simulation Emissions Analysis Future Use with Dispersion Analysis

  19. Development of a Traffic Management Decision Support Tool for Freeway Incident Traffic Management (FITM) Plan Deployment : Research Summary

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-12-01

    In designing an effective traffic management plan for non-recurrent congestion, it is critical for responsible highway agencies to have some vital information, such as estimated incident duration, resulting traffic queues, and the expected delays. Ov...

  20. Agent-based real-time signal coordination in congested networks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-01-01

    This study is the continuation of a previous NEXTRANS study on agent-based reinforcement : learning methods for signal coordination in congested networks. In the previous study, the : formulation of a real-time agent-based traffic signal control in o...

  1. Reducing Traffic Congestion: Using Market Prices to Enhance Mobility

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-01-01

    This is the Department of Transportation's 1997 biennial report on the Congestion Pricing Pilot Program, as required by Section 1012(b) of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, P.L. 102-240. The report highlights the significa...

  2. The Physics of Traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, L. Craig

    2006-03-01

    Congestion in freeway traffic is an example of self-organization in the language of complexity theory. Nonequilibrium, first-order phase transitions from free flow cause complex spatiotemporal patterns. Two distinct phases of congestion are observed in empirical traffic data--wide moving jams and synchronous flow. Wide moving jams are characterized by stopped or slowly moving vehicles within the jammed region, which widens and moves upstream at 15-20 km/h. Above a critical density of vehicles, a sudden decrease in the velocity of a lead vehicle can initiate a transition from metastable states to this phase. Human behaviors, especially delayed reactions, are implicated in the formation of jams. The synchronous flow phase results from a bottleneck such as an on-ramp. Thus, in contrast to a jam, the downstream front is pinned at a fixed location. The name of the phase comes from the equilibration (or synchronization) of speed and flow rate across all lanes caused by frequent vehicle lane changes. Synchronous flow occurs when the mainline flow and the rate of merging from an on-ramp are sufficiently large. Large-scale simulations using car-following models reproduce the physical phenomena occurring in traffic and suggest methods to improve flow and mediate congestion.

  3. Commuting, congestion, and pollution : the employer-paid parking connection

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1992-09-01

    Urban areas increasingly face problems associated with traffic congestion and vehicle air emissions. Employer-paid parking--a form of matching grant whereby an employer offers to pay the cost of parking if employees are willing to pay all other costs...

  4. Integrated database and analysis system for the evaluation of freeway corridors for potential ramp signaling : [summary].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    Ramp signaling is the installation of traffic signals on freeway on-ramps. Studies have shown that in many locations, ramp signaling helped alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety. However, not all freeway locations are suitable for ramp sign...

  5. Ergodicity of Traffic Flow with Constant Penetration Rate for Traffic Monitoring via Floating Vehicle Technique

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gunawan, Fergyanto E.; Abbas, Bahtiar S.; Atmadja, Wiedjaja; Yoseph Chandra, Fajar; Agung, Alexander AS; Kusnandar, Erwin

    2014-03-01

    Traffic congestion in Asian megacities has become extremely worse, and any means to lessen the congestion level is urgently needed. Building an efficient mass transportation system is clearly necessary. However, implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have also been demonstrated effective in various advanced countries. Recently, the floating vehicle technique (FVT), an ITS implementation, has become cost effective to provide real-time traffic information with proliferation of the smartphones. Although many publications have discussed various issues related to the technique, none of them elaborates the discrepancy of a single floating car data (FCD) and the associated fleet data. This work addresses the issue based on an analysis of Sugiyama et al's experimental data. The results indicate that there is an optimum averaging time interval such that the estimated velocity by the FVT reasonably representing the traffic velocity.

  6. The Physics of Traffic Congestion and Road Pricing in Transportation Planning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Levinson, David

    2010-03-01

    This presentation develops congestion theory and congestion pricing theory from its micro- foundations, the interaction of two or more vehicles. Using game theory, with a two- player game it is shown that the emergence of congestion depends on the players' relative valuations of early arrival, late arrival, and journey delay. Congestion pricing can be used as a cooperation mechanism to minimize total costs (if returned to the players). The analysis is then extended to the case of the three- player game, which illustrates congestion as a negative externality imposed on players who do not themselves contribute to it. A multi-agent model of travelers competing to utilize a roadway in time and space is presented. To realize the spillover effect among travelers, N-player games are constructed in which the strategy set includes N+1 strategies. We solve the N-player game (for N = 7) and find Nash equilibria if they exist. This model is compared to the bottleneck model. The results of numerical simulation show that the two models yield identical results in terms of lowest total costs and marginal costs when a social optimum exists. Moving from temporal dynamics to spatial complexity, using consistent agent- based techniques, we model the decision-making processes of users and infrastructure owner/operators to explore the welfare consequence of price competition, capacity choice, and product differentiation on congested transportation networks. Component models include: (1) An agent-based travel demand model wherein each traveler has learning capabilities and unique characteristics (e.g. value of time); (2) Econometric facility provision cost models; and (3) Representations of road authorities making pricing and capacity decisions. Different from small-network equilibrium models in prior literature, this agent- based model is applicable to pricing and investment analyses on large complex networks. The subsequent economic analysis focuses on the source, evolution

  7. Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Philadelphia Metropolitan Region : planning for congestion

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-04-01

    The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission uses a systematic process for managing traffic congestion and monitoring transportation system performance in the Philadelphia metropolitan region. Guided by an advisory team of stakeholders, the agenc...

  8. Traveler oriented traffic performance metrics using real time traffic data from the Midtown-in-Motion (MIM) project in Manhattan, NY.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-10-01

    In a congested urban street network the average traffic speed is an inadequate metric for measuring : speed changes that drivers can perceive from changes in traffic control strategies. : A driver oriented metric is needed. Stop frequency distrib...

  9. Research on three-phase traffic flow modeling based on interaction range

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zeng, Jun-Wei; Yang, Xu-Gang; Qian, Yong-Sheng; Wei, Xu-Ting

    2017-12-01

    On the basis of the multiple velocity difference effect (MVDE) model and under short-range interaction, a new three-phase traffic flow model (S-MVDE) is proposed through careful consideration of the influence of the relationship between the speeds of the two adjacent cars on the running state of the rear car. The random slowing rule in the MVDE model is modified in order to emphasize the influence of vehicle interaction between two vehicles on the probability of vehicles’ deceleration. A single-lane model which without bottleneck structure under periodic boundary conditions is simulated, and it is proved that the traffic flow simulated by S-MVDE model will generate the synchronous flow of three-phase traffic theory. Under the open boundary, the model is expanded by adding an on-ramp, the congestion pattern caused by the bottleneck is simulated at different main road flow rates and on-ramp flow rates, which is compared with the traffic congestion pattern observed by Kerner et al. and it is found that the results are consistent with the congestion characteristics in the three-phase traffic flow theory.

  10. A toolbox for alleviating traffic congestion and enhancing mobility

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    Over 40 years ago, the United States embarked upon the largest public works project in its history--the construction of the Interstate highway system. The urban portions of this system along with the highways and public transportation services develo...

  11. How congestion shapes cities: from mobility patterns to scaling

    PubMed Central

    Louf, Rémi; Barthelemy, Marc

    2014-01-01

    The recent availability of data for cities has allowed scientists to exhibit scalings which present themselves in the form of a power-law dependence on population of various socio-economical and structural indicators. We propose here a stochastic theory of urban growth which accounts for some of the observed scalings and we confirm these predictions on US and OECD empirical data. In particular, we show that the dependence on population size of the total number of miles driven daily, the total length of the road network, the total traffic delay, the total consumption of gasoline, the quantity of CO2 emitted and the relation between area and population of cities, are all governed by a single parameter which characterizes the sensitivity to congestion. Our results suggest that diseconomies associated with congestion scale superlinearly with population size, implying that –despite polycentrism– cities whose transportation infrastructure rely heavily on traffic sensitive modes are unsustainable. PMID:24990624

  12. Inferring the background traffic arrival process in the Internet.

    PubMed

    Hága, Péter; Csabai, István; Vattay, Gábor

    2009-12-01

    Phase transition has been found in many complex interactivity systems. Complex networks are not exception either but there are quite few real systems where we can directly understand the emergence of this nontrivial behavior from the microscopic view. In this paper, we present the emergence of the phase transition between the congested and uncongested phases of a network link. We demonstrate a method to infer the background traffic arrival process, which is one of the key state parameters of the Internet traffic. The traffic arrival process in the Internet has been investigated in several studies, since the recognition of its self-similar nature. The statistical properties of the traffic arrival process are very important since they are fundamental in modeling the dynamical behavior. Here, we demonstrate how the widely used packet train technique can be used to determine the main properties of the traffic arrival process. We show that the packet train dispersion is sensitive to the congestion on the network path. We introduce the packet train stretch as an order parameter to describe the phase transition between the congested and uncongested phases of the bottleneck link in the path. We find that the distribution of the background traffic arrival process can be determined from the average packet train dispersion at the critical point of the system.

  13. Network traffic behaviour near phase transition point

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lawniczak, A. T.; Tang, X.

    2006-03-01

    We explore packet traffic dynamics in a data network model near phase transition point from free flow to congestion. The model of data network is an abstraction of the Network Layer of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) Reference Model of packet switching networks. The Network Layer is responsible for routing packets across the network from their sources to their destinations and for control of congestion in data networks. Using the model we investigate spatio-temporal packets traffic dynamics near the phase transition point for various network connection topologies, and static and adaptive routing algorithms. We present selected simulation results and analyze them.

  14. Enhancement of freeway incident traffic management and resulting benefits.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-04-01

    To improve traffic conditions on major highways plagued by non-recurrent congestion, most : highway agencies have invested their resources in two principal operational programs: incident response : and clearance, and traffic impact management. Howeve...

  15. Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center vehicular and pedestrian traffic congestion study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-05-01

    The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center of Tongass National Forest in Juneau, Alaska is experiencing vehicular and pedestrian congestion. This study was initiated by the United States Forest Service, Alaska Region, in cooperation with Western Federal L...

  16. Cloud-based large-scale air traffic flow optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cao, Yi

    The ever-increasing traffic demand makes the efficient use of airspace an imperative mission, and this paper presents an effort in response to this call. Firstly, a new aggregate model, called Link Transmission Model (LTM), is proposed, which models the nationwide traffic as a network of flight routes identified by origin-destination pairs. The traversal time of a flight route is assumed to be the mode of distribution of historical flight records, and the mode is estimated by using Kernel Density Estimation. As this simplification abstracts away physical trajectory details, the complexity of modeling is drastically decreased, resulting in efficient traffic forecasting. The predicative capability of LTM is validated against recorded traffic data. Secondly, a nationwide traffic flow optimization problem with airport and en route capacity constraints is formulated based on LTM. The optimization problem aims at alleviating traffic congestions with minimal global delays. This problem is intractable due to millions of variables. A dual decomposition method is applied to decompose the large-scale problem such that the subproblems are solvable. However, the whole problem is still computational expensive to solve since each subproblem is an smaller integer programming problem that pursues integer solutions. Solving an integer programing problem is known to be far more time-consuming than solving its linear relaxation. In addition, sequential execution on a standalone computer leads to linear runtime increase when the problem size increases. To address the computational efficiency problem, a parallel computing framework is designed which accommodates concurrent executions via multithreading programming. The multithreaded version is compared with its monolithic version to show decreased runtime. Finally, an open-source cloud computing framework, Hadoop MapReduce, is employed for better scalability and reliability. This framework is an "off-the-shelf" parallel computing model

  17. Characterizing the tradeoffs and costs associated with transportation congestion in supply chains.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-21

    We consider distribution and location-planning models for supply chains that explicitly : account for traffic congestion effects. The majority of facility location and transportation : planning models in the operations research literature consider fa...

  18. Congestion based mechanism for route discovery in a V2I-V2V system applying smart devices and IoT.

    PubMed

    Parrado, Natalia; Donoso, Yezid

    2015-03-31

    The Internet of Things is a new paradigm in which objects in a specific context can be integrated into traditional communication networks to actively participate in solving a determined problem. The Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technologies are specific cases of IoT and key enablers for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). V2V and V2I have been widely used to solve different problems associated with transportation in cities, in which the most important is traffic congestion. A high percentage of congestion is usually presented by the inappropriate use of resources in vehicular infrastructure. In addition, the integration of traffic congestion in decision making for vehicular traffic is a challenge due to its high dynamic behavior. In this paper, an optimization model over the load balancing in the congestion percentage of the streets is formulated. Later, we explore a fully congestion-oriented route discovery mechanism and we make a proposal on the communication infrastructure that should support it based on V2I and V2V communication. The mechanism is also compared with a modified Dijkstra's approach that reacts at congestion states. Finally, we compare the results of the efficiency of the vehicle's trip with the efficiency in the use of the capacity of the vehicular network.

  19. Congestion Based Mechanism for Route Discovery in a V2I-V2V System Applying Smart Devices and IoT

    PubMed Central

    Parrado, Natalia; Donoso, Yezid

    2015-01-01

    The Internet of Things is a new paradigm in which objects in a specific context can be integrated into traditional communication networks to actively participate in solving a determined problem. The Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technologies are specific cases of IoT and key enablers for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). V2V and V2I have been widely used to solve different problems associated with transportation in cities, in which the most important is traffic congestion. A high percentage of congestion is usually presented by the inappropriate use of resources in vehicular infrastructure. In addition, the integration of traffic congestion in decision making for vehicular traffic is a challenge due to its high dynamic behavior. In this paper, an optimization model over the load balancing in the congestion percentage of the streets is formulated. Later, we explore a fully congestion-oriented route discovery mechanism and we make a proposal on the communication infrastructure that should support it based on V2I and V2V communication. The mechanism is also compared with a modified Dijkstra’s approach that reacts at congestion states. Finally, we compare the results of the efficiency of the vehicle’s trip with the efficiency in the use of the capacity of the vehicular network. PMID:25835185

  20. Hysteresis phenomena of the intelligent driver model for traffic flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dahui, Wang; Ziqiang, Wei; Ying, Fan

    2007-07-01

    We present hysteresis phenomena of the intelligent driver model for traffic flow in a circular one-lane roadway. We show that the microscopic structure of traffic flow is dependent on its initial state by plotting the fraction of congested vehicles over the density, which shows a typical hysteresis loop, and by investigating the trajectories of vehicles on the velocity-over-headway plane. We find that the trajectories of vehicles on the velocity-over-headway plane, which usually show a hysteresis loop, include multiple loops. We also point out the relations between these hysteresis loops and the congested jams or high-density clusters in traffic flow.

  1. Optimized active traffic management and speed harmonization in work zones.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-01-01

    Traffic and demand management are major strategies to control delay and congestion in : highway bottlenecks including work zones. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) : introduced innovative strategies, called Active Traffic and Demand Managemen...

  2. Understanding widely scattered traffic flows, the capacity drop, and platoons as effects of variance-driven time gaps

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Treiber, Martin; Kesting, Arne; Helbing, Dirk

    2006-07-01

    We investigate the adaptation of the time headways in car-following models as a function of the local velocity variance, which is a measure of the inhomogeneity of traffic flow. We apply this mechanism to several car-following models and simulate traffic breakdowns in open systems with an on-ramp as bottleneck and in a closed ring road. Single-vehicle data and one-minute aggregated data generated by several virtual detectors show a semiquantitative agreement with microscopic and flow-density data from the Dutch freeway A9. This includes the observed distributions of the net time headways for free and congested traffic, the velocity variance as a function of density, and the fundamental diagram. The modal value of the time headway distribution is shifted by a factor of about 2 under congested conditions. Macroscopically, this corresponds to the capacity drop at the transition from free to congested traffic. The simulated fundamental diagram shows free, synchronized, and jammed traffic, and a wide scattering in the congested traffic regime. We explain this by a self-organized variance-driven process that leads to the spontaneous formation and decay of long-lived platoons even for a deterministic dynamics on a single lane.

  3. Receiver-Assisted Congestion Control to Achieve High Throughput in Lossy Wireless Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Kai; Shu, Yantai; Yang, Oliver; Luo, Jiarong

    2010-04-01

    Many applications would require fast data transfer in high-speed wireless networks nowadays. However, due to its conservative congestion control algorithm, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) cannot effectively utilize the network capacity in lossy wireless networks. In this paper, we propose a receiver-assisted congestion control mechanism (RACC) in which the sender performs loss-based control, while the receiver is performing delay-based control. The receiver measures the network bandwidth based on the packet interarrival interval and uses it to compute a congestion window size deemed appropriate for the sender. After receiving the advertised value feedback from the receiver, the sender then uses the additive increase and multiplicative decrease (AIMD) mechanism to compute the correct congestion window size to be used. By integrating the loss-based and the delay-based congestion controls, our mechanism can mitigate the effect of wireless losses, alleviate the timeout effect, and therefore make better use of network bandwidth. Simulation and experiment results in various scenarios show that our mechanism can outperform conventional TCP in high-speed and lossy wireless environments.

  4. Analysis of traffic congestion induced by the work zone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fei, L.; Zhu, H. B.; Han, X. L.

    2016-05-01

    Based on the cellular automata model, a meticulous two-lane cellular automata model is proposed, in which the driving behavior difference and the difference of vehicles' accelerations between the moving state and the starting state are taken into account. Furthermore the vehicles' motion is refined by using the small cell of one meter long. Then accompanied by coming up with a traffic management measure, a two-lane highway traffic model containing a work zone is presented, in which the road is divided into normal area, merging area and work zone. The vehicles in different areas move forward according to different lane changing rules and position updating rules. After simulation it is found that when the density is small the cluster length in front of the work zone increases with the decrease of the merging probability. Then the suitable merging length and the appropriate speed limit value are recommended. The simulation result in the form of the speed-flow diagram is in good agreement with the empirical data. It indicates that the presented model is efficient and can partially reflect the real traffic. The results may be meaningful for traffic optimization and road construction management.

  5. Dynamical analysis of Lorenz System on traffic problem in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hartono; Saptaningtyas, F. Y.; Krisnawan, K. P.

    2018-03-01

    The traffic congestion becomes a routine problem which occurs in Yogyakarta. This study was to develop a mathematical model of traffic congestion using Lorenz System. This system was used to analyze the traffic condition in Yogyakarta road. The data was taken from the observation of the road and it had been validated. Routh Hourwith used to analyse the stability of free jamm equlibrium. The dynamic analysis showed that the system was stabil. Numerical solution showed that the bigger value of ratio of the distance relaxsation time to velocity relaxsation time resulting the more time to reach the stabil condition. It showed that more and more time to reach optimal velocity, needed more and more time as well to reach equilibrium. Traffic condition at the time of observation was ideal and there was no transition of traffic jam.

  6. Congestion patterns of electric vehicles with limited battery capacity.

    PubMed

    Jing, Wentao; Ramezani, Mohsen; An, Kun; Kim, Inhi

    2018-01-01

    The path choice behavior of battery electric vehicle (BEV) drivers is influenced by the lack of public charging stations, limited battery capacity, range anxiety and long battery charging time. This paper investigates the congestion/flow pattern captured by stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) traffic assignment problem in transportation networks with BEVs, where the BEV paths are restricted by their battery capacities. The BEV energy consumption is assumed to be a linear function of path length and path travel time, which addresses both path distance limit problem and road congestion effect. A mathematical programming model is proposed for the path-based SUE traffic assignment where the path cost is the sum of the corresponding link costs and a path specific out-of-energy penalty. We then apply the convergent Lagrangian dual method to transform the original problem into a concave maximization problem and develop a customized gradient projection algorithm to solve it. A column generation procedure is incorporated to generate the path set. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and the solution algorithm.

  7. Congestion patterns of electric vehicles with limited battery capacity

    PubMed Central

    2018-01-01

    The path choice behavior of battery electric vehicle (BEV) drivers is influenced by the lack of public charging stations, limited battery capacity, range anxiety and long battery charging time. This paper investigates the congestion/flow pattern captured by stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) traffic assignment problem in transportation networks with BEVs, where the BEV paths are restricted by their battery capacities. The BEV energy consumption is assumed to be a linear function of path length and path travel time, which addresses both path distance limit problem and road congestion effect. A mathematical programming model is proposed for the path-based SUE traffic assignment where the path cost is the sum of the corresponding link costs and a path specific out-of-energy penalty. We then apply the convergent Lagrangian dual method to transform the original problem into a concave maximization problem and develop a customized gradient projection algorithm to solve it. A column generation procedure is incorporated to generate the path set. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and the solution algorithm. PMID:29543875

  8. Optimal topology to minimizing congestion in connected communication complex network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benyoussef, M.; Ez-Zahraouy, H.; Benyoussef, A.

    In this paper, a new model of the interdependent complex network is proposed, based on two assumptions that (i) the capacity of a node depends on its degree, and (ii) the traffic load depends on the distribution of the links in the network. Based on these assumptions, the presented model proposes a method of connection not based on the node having a higher degree but on the region containing hubs. It is found that the final network exhibits two kinds of degree distribution behavior, depending on the kind and the way of the connection. This study reveals a direct relation between network structure and traffic flow. It is found that pc the point of transition between the free flow and the congested phase depends on the network structure and the degree distribution. Moreover, this new model provides an improvement in the traffic compared to the results found in a single network. The same behavior of degree distribution found in a BA network and observed in the real world is obtained; except for this model, the transition point between the free phase and congested phase is much higher than the one observed in a network of BA, for both static and dynamic protocols.

  9. A study on the traffic impact of the road corridors due to flyover construction at Surabaya intersection, Banda Aceh of Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saleh, Sofyan M.; Sugiarto, Sugiarto; Hilal, Almira; Ariansyah, Dedek

    2017-11-01

    The urbanest areas are suffering from unmaintained externalities such as excessive travel time, unnecessary fuel consumption and even serious economic loss due extraordinary growth in automobile traffic (i.e. motorcycle and car), and as consequence of automobile ownership and usage have continued rapid growth into recent days including in Banda Aceh, a capital of Aceh Province. An increasing of automobile usage leads to induce traffic congestion in the city centers including in Surabaya intersection. To counter the negative effects of the congestion, the Government of Aceh (GoA) decided to build a flyover at the congested intersection mentioned above. However, during the construction period, traffic congestion is severe along this corridor, and traffic is randomly distributed to the road network in surrounding construction site without any traffic arrangement by the authority. It is, therefore, this research aims to analyze the traffic impact due to flyover's construction. The study was conducted at three corridors which are considered as the most congested corridors due to exiting of bottleneck traffic. Those corridors are Teuku Muhammad Hasan Rd., Prof Ali Hasyimi Rd., Tgk. Imum Lueng Bata Rd. The findings from the analysis revealed that the traffic loading has increased accounting up to 34% and 37% for Teuku Muhammad Hasan Rd. and Prof. Ali Hasyimi Rd., respectively. Furthermore, the results of the level of service (LOS) analyses show that dropped in LOS from B to C during the construction period for Teuku Muhammad Hasan Rd. and Prof. Ali Hasyimi Rd.

  10. Using temporal detrending to observe the spatial correlation of traffic.

    PubMed

    Ermagun, Alireza; Chatterjee, Snigdhansu; Levinson, David

    2017-01-01

    This empirical study sheds light on the spatial correlation of traffic links under different traffic regimes. We mimic the behavior of real traffic by pinpointing the spatial correlation between 140 freeway traffic links in a major sub-network of the Minneapolis-St. Paul freeway system with a grid-like network topology. This topology enables us to juxtapose the positive and negative correlation between links, which has been overlooked in short-term traffic forecasting models. To accurately and reliably measure the correlation between traffic links, we develop an algorithm that eliminates temporal trends in three dimensions: (1) hourly dimension, (2) weekly dimension, and (3) system dimension for each link. The spatial correlation of traffic links exhibits a stronger negative correlation in rush hours, when congestion affects route choice. Although this correlation occurs mostly in parallel links, it is also observed upstream, where travelers receive information and are able to switch to substitute paths. Irrespective of the time-of-day and day-of-week, a strong positive correlation is witnessed between upstream and downstream links. This correlation is stronger in uncongested regimes, as traffic flow passes through consecutive links more quickly and there is no congestion effect to shift or stall traffic. The extracted spatial correlation structure can augment the accuracy of short-term traffic forecasting models.

  11. Querying and Extracting Timeline Information from Road Traffic Sensor Data

    PubMed Central

    Imawan, Ardi; Indikawati, Fitri Indra; Kwon, Joonho; Rao, Praveen

    2016-01-01

    The escalation of traffic congestion in urban cities has urged many countries to use intelligent transportation system (ITS) centers to collect historical traffic sensor data from multiple heterogeneous sources. By analyzing historical traffic data, we can obtain valuable insights into traffic behavior. Many existing applications have been proposed with limited analysis results because of the inability to cope with several types of analytical queries. In this paper, we propose the QET (querying and extracting timeline information) system—a novel analytical query processing method based on a timeline model for road traffic sensor data. To address query performance, we build a TQ-index (timeline query-index) that exploits spatio-temporal features of timeline modeling. We also propose an intuitive timeline visualization method to display congestion events obtained from specified query parameters. In addition, we demonstrate the benefit of our system through a performance evaluation using a Busan ITS dataset and a Seattle freeway dataset. PMID:27563900

  12. Congestion control for a fair packet delivery in WSN: from a complex system perspective.

    PubMed

    Aguirre-Guerrero, Daniela; Marcelín-Jiménez, Ricardo; Rodriguez-Colina, Enrique; Pascoe-Chalke, Michael

    2014-01-01

    In this work, we propose that packets travelling across a wireless sensor network (WSN) can be seen as the active agents that make up a complex system, just like a bird flock or a fish school, for instance. From this perspective, the tools and models that have been developed to study this kind of systems have been applied. This is in order to create a distributed congestion control based on a set of simple rules programmed at the nodes of the WSN. Our results show that it is possible to adapt the carried traffic to the network capacity, even under stressing conditions. Also, the network performance shows a smooth degradation when the traffic goes beyond a threshold which is settled by the proposed self-organized control. In contrast, without any control, the network collapses before this threshold. The use of the proposed solution provides an effective strategy to address some of the common problems found in WSN deployment by providing a fair packet delivery. In addition, the network congestion is mitigated using adaptive traffic mechanisms based on a satisfaction parameter assessed by each packet which has impact on the global satisfaction of the traffic carried by the WSN.

  13. Discovering urban mobility patterns with PageRank based traffic modeling and prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Minjie; Yang, Su; Sun, Yi; Gao, Jun

    2017-11-01

    Urban transportation system can be viewed as complex network with time-varying traffic flows as links to connect adjacent regions as networked nodes. By computing urban traffic evolution on such temporal complex network with PageRank, it is found that for most regions, there exists a linear relation between the traffic congestion measure at present time and the PageRank value of the last time. Since the PageRank measure of a region does result from the mutual interactions of the whole network, it implies that the traffic state of a local region does not evolve independently but is affected by the evolution of the whole network. As a result, the PageRank values can act as signatures in predicting upcoming traffic congestions. We observe the aforementioned laws experimentally based on the trajectory data of 12000 taxies in Beijing city for one month.

  14. Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) special events traffic flow study : traffic data analysis and signal timing coordination

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-06-01

    Following special events at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) (e.g., conventions, concerts, graduation ceremonies), high volumes of traffic exiting the DECC create substantial congestion at adjacent intersections. The purpose of this ...

  15. 2004-2006 Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study | Transportation Secure Data

    Science.gov Websites

    Center | NREL 04-2006 Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study 2004-2006 Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study The 2004-2006 Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study tested the hypothesis that time-of-day variable Administration for a pilot project on congestion-based tolling. Methodology To test the hypothesis, the study

  16. Achieving Congestion Mitigation Using Distributed Power Control for Spectrum Sensor Nodes in Sensor Network-Aided Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Networks

    PubMed Central

    Zhuo, Fan; Duan, Hucai

    2017-01-01

    The data sequence of spectrum sensing results injected from dedicated spectrum sensor nodes (SSNs) and the data traffic from upstream secondary users (SUs) lead to unpredictable data loads in a sensor network-aided cognitive radio ad hoc network (SN-CRN). As a result, network congestion may occur at a SU acting as fusion center when the offered data load exceeds its available capacity, which degrades network performance. In this paper, we present an effective approach to mitigate congestion of bottlenecked SUs via a proposed distributed power control framework for SSNs over a rectangular grid based SN-CRN, aiming to balance resource load and avoid excessive congestion. To achieve this goal, a distributed power control framework for SSNs from interior tier (IT) and middle tier (MT) is proposed to achieve the tradeoff between channel capacity and energy consumption. In particular, we firstly devise two pricing factors by considering stability of local spectrum sensing and spectrum sensing quality for SSNs. By the aid of pricing factors, the utility function of this power control problem is formulated by jointly taking into account the revenue of power reduction and the cost of energy consumption for IT or MT SSN. By bearing in mind the utility function maximization and linear differential equation constraint of energy consumption, we further formulate the power control problem as a differential game model under a cooperation or noncooperation scenario, and rigorously obtain the optimal solutions to this game model by employing dynamic programming. Then the congestion mitigation for bottlenecked SUs is derived by alleviating the buffer load over their internal buffers. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach under the rectangular grid based SN-CRN scenario. PMID:28914803

  17. Ant colony optimization algorithm for signal coordination of oversaturated traffic networks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-05-01

    Traffic congestion is a daily and growing problem of the modern era in mostly all major cities in the world. : Increasing traffic demand strains the existing transportation system, leading to oversaturated network : conditions, especially at peak hou...

  18. The impact of truck repositioning on congestion and pollution in the LA basin.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-03-01

    Pollution and congestion caused by port related truck traffic is usually estimated based on careful transportation modeling and simulation. In these efforts, however, attention is normally focused on trucks on their way from a terminal at the Los Ang...

  19. Glass-like dynamics in confined and congested ant traffic.

    PubMed

    Gravish, Nick; Gold, Gregory; Zangwill, Andrew; Goodisman, Michael A D; Goldman, Daniel I

    2015-09-07

    The collective movement of animal groups often occurs in confined spaces. As animal groups are challenged to move at high density, their mobility dynamics may resemble the flow of densely packed non-living soft materials such as colloids, grains, or polymers. However, unlike inert soft-materials, self-propelled collective living systems often display social interactions whose influence on collective mobility are only now being explored. In this paper, we study the mobility of bi-directional traffic flow in a social insect (the fire ant Solenopsis invicta) as we vary the diameter of confining foraging tunnels. In all tunnel diameters, we observe the emergence of spatially heterogeneous regions of fast and slow traffic that are induced through two phenomena: physical obstruction, arising from the inability of individual ants to interpenetrate, and time-delay resulting from social interaction in which ants stop to briefly antennate. Density correlation functions reveal that the relaxation dynamics of high density traffic fluctuations scale linearly with fluctuation size and are sensitive to tunnel diameter. We separate the roles of physical obstruction and social interactions in traffic flow using cellular automata based simulation. Social interaction between ants is modeled as a dwell time (Tint) over which interacting ants remain stationary in the tunnel. Investigation over a range of densities and Tint reveals that the slowing dynamics of collective motion in social living systems are consistent with dynamics near a fragile glass transition in inert soft-matter systems. In particular, flow is relatively insensitive to density until a critical density is reached. As social interaction affinity is increased (increasing Tint) traffic dynamics change and resemble a strong glass transition. Thus, social interactions play an important role in the mobility of collective living systems at high density. Our experiments and model demonstrate that the concepts of soft

  20. Using temporal detrending to observe the spatial correlation of traffic

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    This empirical study sheds light on the spatial correlation of traffic links under different traffic regimes. We mimic the behavior of real traffic by pinpointing the spatial correlation between 140 freeway traffic links in a major sub-network of the Minneapolis—St. Paul freeway system with a grid-like network topology. This topology enables us to juxtapose the positive and negative correlation between links, which has been overlooked in short-term traffic forecasting models. To accurately and reliably measure the correlation between traffic links, we develop an algorithm that eliminates temporal trends in three dimensions: (1) hourly dimension, (2) weekly dimension, and (3) system dimension for each link. The spatial correlation of traffic links exhibits a stronger negative correlation in rush hours, when congestion affects route choice. Although this correlation occurs mostly in parallel links, it is also observed upstream, where travelers receive information and are able to switch to substitute paths. Irrespective of the time-of-day and day-of-week, a strong positive correlation is witnessed between upstream and downstream links. This correlation is stronger in uncongested regimes, as traffic flow passes through consecutive links more quickly and there is no congestion effect to shift or stall traffic. The extracted spatial correlation structure can augment the accuracy of short-term traffic forecasting models. PMID:28472093

  1. Environmental risk factors contributing to traffic accidents in children: a case-control study.

    PubMed

    Jamshidi, Ensiyeh; Moradi, Ali; Majdzadeh, Reza

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this study is to identify environmental risk factors related to road accidents in children of Tehran. This case-control study was performed in 2013. The cases were injured pedestrians aged 5-15 who were admitted to major hospitals supervised by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The sample size for the cases was 273 and for the control group was 546. For the completeness of the clusters, 7 extra persons in case (total = 280) and 14 persons (total = 560) in control group were included. The interference of confounding variables assessed through forward conditional logistic regression. Result shows occurrence of traffic accidents was significantly associate with the width of the alleys or (<5 m: OR = 8.4, 95% CI: 3.3-21.5; 5-8 m: OR = 4.7, 95% CI: 1.8-12.2), distance from home to school((<100 m: OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.0-2.8), existence of parking lot (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.0-2.3), traffic congestion (OR = 4.1, 95% CI: 2.6-6.4), traffic speed (OR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3-3.2) and existence of pedestrian bridges(OR = 4.2, 95% CI: 2.6-6.8). In the light of the important role of environmental factors in the occurrence of child traffic accidents, alleviating structural risk factors in addition to education and enforcement need more systematic efforts and planning by policymakers and urban planners to attain pedestrian safety goals.

  2. Development of a prototype vehicle-infrastructure integration system for real-time traffic management.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-08-01

    Freeway congestion is a major problem in many urban areas. It has been estimated that freeway incidents (events that impede the flow of traffic: accidents, disabled vehicles, etc.) account for one-half to three-fourths of the total congestion on metr...

  3. The effectiveness and safety of traffic and non-traffic related messages presented on changeable message signs : technical summary.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-08-01

    Changeable message signs are electronic devices used along roadways to provide drivers with guidance related to traffic conditions and other events. Displayed messages can suggest that drivers take alternate routes in response to congestion, accident...

  4. Optimizing congestion and emissions via tradable credit charge and reward scheme without initial credit allocations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Wenlong; Ma, Shoufeng; Tian, Junfang

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates the revenue-neutral tradable credit charge and reward scheme without initial credit allocations that can reassign network traffic flow patterns to optimize congestion and emissions. First, we prove the existence of the proposed schemes and further decentralize the minimum emission flow pattern to user equilibrium. Moreover, we design the solving method of the proposed credit scheme for minimum emission problem. Second, we investigate the revenue-neutral tradable credit charge and reward scheme without initial credit allocations for bi-objectives to obtain the Pareto system optimum flow patterns of congestion and emissions; and present the corresponding solutions are located in the polyhedron constituted by some inequalities and equalities system. Last, numerical example based on a simple traffic network is adopted to obtain the proposed credit schemes and verify they are revenue-neutral.

  5. Building better communities : a toolkit for quality growth

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-01-01

    Across the country, Americans are talking about the pace of growth in their communities and the challenges associated with it. They are discussing how to manage future development, alleviate traffic congestion, prevent overcrowding in schools, preser...

  6. Providing Advanced and Real-Time Travel/Traffic Information to Tourists

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-10-01

    Advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) analyze and communicate information that can enhance travel efficiency, alleviate congestion, and increase safety. In Texas, tourists (i.e., tripmakers unacquainted with the state) constitute an important ...

  7. Informational open houses for the Caldecott Improvement Project.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-06-01

    The Caldecott Improvement Project proposes to alleviate traffic congestion along State : Route 24 by adding a fourth bore to the Caldecott Tunnels. Environmental studies are : being conducted to identify long-term, permanent impacts of the project as...

  8. Rate-based congestion control in networks with smart links, revision. B.S. Thesis - May 1988

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heybey, Andrew Tyrrell

    1990-01-01

    The author uses a network simulator to explore rate-based congestion control in networks with smart links that can feed back information to tell senders to adjust their transmission rates. This method differs in a very important way from congestion control in which a congested network component just drops packets - the most commonly used method. It is clearly advantageous for the links in the network to communicate with the end users about the network capacity, rather than the users unilaterally picking a transmission rate. The components in the middle of the network, not the end users, have information about the capacity and traffic in the network. The author experiments with three different algorithms for calculating the control rate to feed back to the users. All of the algorithms exhibit problems in the form of large queues when simulated with a configuration modeling the dynamics of a packet-voice system. However, the problems are not with the algorithms themselves, but with the fact that feedback takes time. If the network steady-state utilization is low enough that it can absorb transients in the traffic through it, then the large queues disappear. If the users are modified to start sending slowly, to allow the network to adapt to a new flow without causing congestion, a greater portion of the network's bandwidth can be used.

  9. Incident Management, Fast-Trac, Phase Iib Deliverables, #20. The Model Analysis Report On The Benefits Of Scats In Alleviating The Impacts Of Incidents

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-01-01

    FAST-TRAC : SELECTING THE MOST APPROPRIATE TRAFFIC CONTROL STRATEGY FOR INCIDENT CONGESTION MANAGEMENT CAN HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE EXTENT AND DURATION OF THE RESULTING CONGESTION. THIS RESEARCH INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTIVENESSES OF SEVERAL CONTRO...

  10. Technical and economic viability of automated highway systems : preliminary analysis

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    Technical and economic investigations of automated highway systems (AHS) are addressed. It has generally been accepted that such systems show potential to alleviate urban traffic congestion, so most of the AHS research has been focused instead on tec...

  11. A knowledge-based system for controlling automobile traffic

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maravas, Alexander; Stengel, Robert F.

    1994-01-01

    Transportation network capacity variations arising from accidents, roadway maintenance activity, and special events as well as fluctuations in commuters' travel demands complicate traffic management. Artificial intelligence concepts and expert systems can be useful in framing policies for incident detection, congestion anticipation, and optimal traffic management. This paper examines the applicability of intelligent route guidance and control as decision aids for traffic management. Basic requirements for managing traffic are reviewed, concepts for studying traffic flow are introduced, and mathematical models for modeling traffic flow are examined. Measures for quantifying transportation network performance levels are chosen, and surveillance and control strategies are evaluated. It can be concluded that automated decision support holds great promise for aiding the efficient flow of automobile traffic over limited-access roadways, bridges, and tunnels.

  12. Understanding congestion context and a tool to help choose the right mitigation strategies : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-12-01

    Cities of every size (and even some rural areas) face growing traffic delays, increasing travel time variability, and overall longer trip times, which makes traveling more frustrating and difficult for everyone. Many congestion solutions focus on a s...

  13. Adapting End Host Congestion Control for Mobility

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Eddy, Wesley M.; Swami, Yogesh P.

    2005-01-01

    Network layer mobility allows transport protocols to maintain connection state, despite changes in a node's physical location and point of network connectivity. However, some congestion-controlled transport protocols are not designed to deal with these rapid and potentially significant path changes. In this paper we demonstrate several distinct problems that mobility-induced path changes can create for TCP performance. Our premise is that mobility events indicate path changes that require re-initialization of congestion control state at both connection end points. We present the application of this idea to TCP in the form of a simple solution (the Lightweight Mobility Detection and Response algorithm, that has been proposed in the IETF), and examine its effectiveness. In general, we find that the deficiencies presented are both relatively easily and painlessly fixed using this solution. We also find that this solution has the counter-intuitive property of being both more friendly to competing traffic, and simultaneously more aggressive in utilizing newly available capacity than unmodified TCP.

  14. Application of the stochastic optimization method in optimizing traffic signal control settings.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-01-01

    Traffic congestion has greatly affected not only the nation's economy and environment but also every citizen's quality of life. A recent study shows that every American traveler spent an extra 38 hours and 26 gallons of fuel per year due to traffic c...

  15. The congestion control algorithm based on queue management of each node in mobile ad hoc networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Yifei; Chang, Lin; Wang, Yali; Wang, Gaoping

    2016-12-01

    This paper proposes an active queue management mechanism, considering the node's own ability and its importance in the network to set the queue threshold. As the network load increases, local congestion of mobile ad hoc network may lead to network performance degradation, hot node's energy consumption increase even failure. If small energy nodes congested because of forwarding data packets, then when it is used as the source node will cause a lot of packet loss. This paper proposes an active queue management mechanism, considering the node's own ability and its importance in the network to set the queue threshold. Controlling nodes buffer queue in different levels of congestion area probability by adjusting the upper limits and lower limits, thus nodes can adjust responsibility of forwarding data packets according to their own situation. The proposed algorithm will slow down the send rate hop by hop along the data package transmission direction from congestion node to source node so that to prevent further congestion from the source node. The simulation results show that, the algorithm can better play the data forwarding ability of strong nodes, protect the weak nodes, can effectively alleviate the network congestion situation.

  16. Effects of mental workload on physiological and subjective responses during traffic density monitoring: A field study.

    PubMed

    Fallahi, Majid; Motamedzade, Majid; Heidarimoghadam, Rashid; Soltanian, Ali Reza; Miyake, Shinji

    2016-01-01

    This study evaluated operators' mental workload while monitoring traffic density in a city traffic control center. To determine the mental workload, physiological signals (ECG, EMG) were recorded and the NASA-Task Load Index (TLX) was administered for 16 operators. The results showed that the operators experienced a larger mental workload during high traffic density than during low traffic density. The traffic control center stressors caused changes in heart rate variability features and EMG amplitude, although the average workload score was significantly higher in HTD conditions than in LTD conditions. The findings indicated that increasing traffic congestion had a significant effect on HR, RMSSD, SDNN, LF/HF ratio, and EMG amplitude. The results suggested that when operators' workload increases, their mental fatigue and stress level increase and their mental health deteriorate. Therefore, it maybe necessary to implement an ergonomic program to manage mental health. Furthermore, by evaluating mental workload, the traffic control center director can organize the center's traffic congestion operators to sustain the appropriate mental workload and improve traffic control management. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  17. Video Traffic Analysis for Abnormal Event Detection

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-01

    We propose the use of video imaging sensors for the detection and classification of abnormal events to be used primarily for mitigation of traffic congestion. Successful detection of such events will allow for new road guidelines; for rapid deploymen...

  18. Video traffic analysis for abnormal event detection.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-01

    We propose the use of video imaging sensors for the detection and classification of abnormal events to : be used primarily for mitigation of traffic congestion. Successful detection of such events will allow for : new road guidelines; for rapid deplo...

  19. Real-time optimization of passenger collection for commuter rail systems.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-09-01

    Commuter rail systems are being introduced into many urban areas as an alternative mode to automobiles : for commuting trips. The shift from the auto mode to rail mode is anticipated to greatly help alleviate : traffic congestion in urban road networ...

  20. Effects of heavy vehicles on dynamic traffic features.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-02-01

    Traffic congestion on highways has been growing in urban areas where freight transportation hubs reside, affecting the efficiency and reliability of freight transportation. This research will investigate the effects of heavy vehicles on dynamic traff...

  1. Remotely Accessed Vehicle Traffic Management System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Al-Alawi, Raida

    2010-06-01

    The ever increasing number of vehicles in most metropolitan cities around the world and the limitation in altering the transportation infrastructure, led to serious traffic congestion and an increase in the travelling time. In this work we exploit the emergence of novel technologies such as the internet, to design an intelligent Traffic Management System (TMS) that can remotely monitor and control a network of traffic light controllers located at different sites. The system is based on utilizing Embedded Web Servers (EWS) technology to design a web-based TMS. The EWS located at each intersection uses IP technology for communicating remotely with a Central Traffic Management Unit (CTMU) located at the traffic department authority. Friendly GUI software installed at the CTMU will be able to monitor the sequence of operation of the traffic lights and the presence of traffic at each intersection as well as remotely controlling the operation of the signals. The system has been validated by constructing a prototype that resembles the real application.

  2. Auctionable fixed transmission rights for congestion management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alomoush, Muwaffaq Irsheid

    Electric power deregulation has proposed a major change to the regulated utility monopoly. The change manifests the main part of engineers' efforts to reshape three components of today's regulated monopoly: generation, distribution and transmission. In this open access deregulated power market, transmission network plays a major role, and transmission congestion is a major problem that requires further consideration especially when inter-zonal/intra-zonal scheme is implemented. Declaring that engineering studies and experience are the criteria to define zonal boundaries or defining a zone based on the fact that a zone is a densely interconnected area (lake) and paths connecting these densely interconnected areas are inter-zonal lines will render insufficient and fuzzy definitions. Moreover, a congestion problem formulation should take into consideration interactions between intra-zonal and inter-zonal flows and their effects on power systems. In this thesis, we introduce a procedure for minimizing the number of adjustments of preferred schedules to alleviate congestion and apply control schemes to minimize interactions between zones. In addition, we give the zone definition a certain criterion based on the Locational Marginal Price (LMP). This concept will be used to define congestion zonal boundaries and to decide whether any zone should be merged with another zone or split into new zones. The thesis presents a unified scheme that combines zonal and FTR schemes to manage congestion. This combined scheme is utilized with LMPs to define zonal boundaries more appropriately. The presented scheme gains the best features of the FTR scheme, which are providing financial certainty, maximizing the efficient use of the system and making users pay for the actual use of congested paths. LMPs may give an indication of the impact of wheeling transactions, and calculations of and comparisons of LMPs with and without wheeling transactions should be adequate criteria to approve

  3. Probabilistic Predictions of Traffic Demand for En Route Sectors Based on Individual Flight Data

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-01-01

    The Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) predicts the demand for each sector, and traffic managers use these predictions to spot possible congestion and to take measures to prevent it. These predictions of sector demand, however, are currently made ...

  4. From Traffic Flow to Economic System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bando, M.

    The optimal velocity model which is applied to traffic flow phenomena explains a spontaneous formation of traffic congestion. We discuss why the model works well in describing both free-flow and congested flow states in a unified way. The essential ingredient is that our model takes account of a sort of time delay in reacting to a given stimulus. This causes instability of many-body system, and yields a kind of phase transition above a certain critical density. Especially there appears a limit cycle on the phase space along which individual vehicle moves, and they show cyclic behavior. Once that we recognize the mechanism the same idea can be applied to a variety of phenomena which show cyclic behavior observed in many-body systems. As an example of such applications, we investigate business cycles commonly observed in economic system. We further discuss a possible origin of a kind of cyclic behavior observed in climate change.

  5. Improving pedestrian facilities in congested urban areas: a case study of Chennai city

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Subramanyam, B.; Prasanna Kumar, R.

    2017-07-01

    Traffic congestion and lack of public pedestrian space are some problems faced by most urban metropolises. Conventionally walking has been a mode of transportation in Indian cities. The percentage of pedestrians may vary from 16 to 57 depending upon the city. Encounters between vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic are at its rise currently. Rapid industrialization and urbanization in India has resulted in neglecting of pedestrian facilities. Consequently pedestrian are at greater risk for their safety more especially in the commercial zones of large cities. A change in perspective spotlight will create a sense of awareness that the pedestrian traffic is also vital as the vehicular traffic. Soothing the traffic would moderately cut the driving expediency but the pedestrians will get a much safer and peaceful route to their terminuses. Safety and comfort are the two pans of a balance while considering the pedestrian traffic. Considering these aspects, this study deals a study in improving pedestrian facilities by analysing the existing skeleton of the selected locations. The adequacy of facility is checked based on IRC latest guidelines and counteractive measures are postulated.

  6. Active Traffic Management: Comprehension, Legibility, Distance, and Motorist Behavior In Response to Selected Variable Speed Limit and Lane Control Signing

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-06-01

    Active traffic management (ATM) incorporates a collection of strategies allowing the dynamic management of recurrent and nonrecurrent congestion based on prevailing traffic conditions. These strategies help to increase peak capacity, smooth traffic f...

  7. A successful traffic relief program

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dimino, R.A.; Bezkorovainy, G.; Campbell, B.

    This article reports that in August 1986, under the direction of Mayor Raymond Flynn, the City of Boston initiated Phase I of a Traffic Relief Program (TRP). The program was an interagency effort of the Boston Transportation Department and the Boston Police Department, to provide increased enforcement of the city's traffic and parking regulations on congested roadways in downtown Boston. The TRP is a reaffirmation of the city's philosophy that major arterials' primary function is the movement of traffic during periods of heavy traffic flow. There were six objectives: to reduce vehicular travel time along travel corridors; to increase street/intersectionmore » capacity; to eliminate vehicular blockage at intersections; to eliminate double parking; to eliminate pedestrian/vehicular conflicts at intersections and thus reduce the potential number of accidents; and to provide clear regulatory and street name signage.« less

  8. The use of real-time ground-to-air video during aeromedical response to traffic crashes.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2002-01-01

    Deteriorating traffic conditions and resulting safety problems on I-81 have long been a topic of concern. This, coupled with increasing traffic congestion along this largely four-lane highway, has resulted in increased crash rates. Emergency medical ...

  9. Visual traffic jam analysis based on trajectory data.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zuchao; Lu, Min; Yuan, Xiaoru; Zhang, Junping; van de Wetering, Huub

    2013-12-01

    In this work, we present an interactive system for visual analysis of urban traffic congestion based on GPS trajectories. For these trajectories we develop strategies to extract and derive traffic jam information. After cleaning the trajectories, they are matched to a road network. Subsequently, traffic speed on each road segment is computed and traffic jam events are automatically detected. Spatially and temporally related events are concatenated in, so-called, traffic jam propagation graphs. These graphs form a high-level description of a traffic jam and its propagation in time and space. Our system provides multiple views for visually exploring and analyzing the traffic condition of a large city as a whole, on the level of propagation graphs, and on road segment level. Case studies with 24 days of taxi GPS trajectories collected in Beijing demonstrate the effectiveness of our system.

  10. Simulating and evaluating an adaptive and integrated traffic lights control system for smart city application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Djuana, E.; Rahardjo, K.; Gozali, F.; Tan, S.; Rambung, R.; Adrian, D.

    2018-01-01

    A city could be categorized as a smart city when the information technology has been developed to the point that the administration could sense, understand, and control every resource to serve its people and sustain the development of the city. One of the smart city aspects is transportation and traffic management. This paper presents a research project to design an adaptive traffic lights control system as a part of the smart system for optimizing road utilization and reducing congestion. Research problems presented include: (1) Congestion in one direction toward an intersection due to dynamic traffic condition from time to time during the day, while the timing cycles in traffic lights system are mostly static; (2) No timing synchronization among traffic lights in adjacent intersections that is causing unsteady flows; (3) Difficulties in traffic condition monitoring on the intersection and the lack of facility for remotely controlling traffic lights. In this research, a simulator has been built to model the adaptivity and integration among different traffic lights controllers in adjacent intersections, and a case study consisting of three sets of intersections along Jalan K. H. Hasyim Ashari has been simulated. It can be concluded that timing slots synchronization among traffic lights is crucial for maintaining a steady traffic flow.

  11. Fixed Point Learning Based Intelligent Traffic Control System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zongyao, Wang; Cong, Sui; Cheng, Shao

    2017-10-01

    Fixed point learning has become an important tool to analyse large scale distributed system such as urban traffic network. This paper presents a fixed point learning based intelligence traffic network control system. The system applies convergence property of fixed point theorem to optimize the traffic flow density. The intelligence traffic control system achieves maximum road resources usage by averaging traffic flow density among the traffic network. The intelligence traffic network control system is built based on decentralized structure and intelligence cooperation. No central control is needed to manage the system. The proposed system is simple, effective and feasible for practical use. The performance of the system is tested via theoretical proof and simulations. The results demonstrate that the system can effectively solve the traffic congestion problem and increase the vehicles average speed. It also proves that the system is flexible, reliable and feasible for practical use.

  12. Congestion and flow control in signaling system no. 7: Impacts of intelligent networks and new services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zepf, Joachim; Rufa, Gerhard

    1994-04-01

    This paper focuses on the transient performance analysis of the congestion and flow control mechanisms in CCITT Signaling System No. 7 (SS7). Special attention is directed to the impacts of the introduction of intelligent services and new applications, e.g., Freephone, credit card services, user-to-user signaling, etc. In particular, we show that signaling traffic characteristics like signaling scenarios or signaling message length as well as end-to-end signaling capabilities have a significant influence on the congestion and flow control and, therefore, on the real-time signaling performance. One important result of our performance studies is that if, e.g., intelligent services are introduced, the SS7 congestion and flow control does not work correctly. To solve this problem, some reinvestigations into these mechanisms would be necessary. Therefore, some approaches, e.g., modification of the Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) congestion control, usage of the SCCP relay function, or a redesign of the MTP flow control procedures are discussed in order to guarantee the efficacy of the congestion and flow control mechanisms also in the future.

  13. Improved efficient routing strategy on two-layer complex networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Jinlong; Han, Weizhan; Guo, Qing; Zhang, Shuai; Wang, Junfang; Wang, Zhihao

    2016-10-01

    The traffic dynamics of multi-layer networks has become a hot research topic since many networks are comprised of two or more layers of subnetworks. Due to its low traffic capacity, the traditional shortest path routing (SPR) protocol is susceptible to congestion on two-layer complex networks. In this paper, we propose an efficient routing strategy named improved global awareness routing (IGAR) strategy which is based on the betweenness centrality of nodes in the two layers. With the proposed strategy, the routing paths can bypass hub nodes of both layers to enhance the transport efficiency. Simulation results show that the IGAR strategy can bring much better traffic capacity than the SPR and the global awareness routing (GAR) strategies. Because of the significantly improved traffic performance, this study is helpful to alleviate congestion of the two-layer complex networks.

  14. Automation of Data Traffic Control on DSM Architecture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Frumkin, Michael; Jin, Hao-Qiang; Yan, Jerry

    2001-01-01

    The design of distributed shared memory (DSM) computers liberates users from the duty to distribute data across processors and allows for the incremental development of parallel programs using, for example, OpenMP or Java threads. DSM architecture greatly simplifies the development of parallel programs having good performance on a few processors. However, to achieve a good program scalability on DSM computers requires that the user understand data flow in the application and use various techniques to avoid data traffic congestions. In this paper we discuss a number of such techniques, including data blocking, data placement, data transposition and page size control and evaluate their efficiency on the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Parallel Benchmarks. We also present a tool which automates the detection of constructs causing data congestions in Fortran array oriented codes and advises the user on code transformations for improving data traffic in the application.

  15. An investigation of driver distraction near the tipping point of traffic flow stability.

    PubMed

    Cooper, Joel M; Vladisavljevic, Ivana; Medeiros-Ward, Nathan; Martin, Peter T; Strayer, David L

    2009-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the interrelationship between driver distraction and characteristics of driver behavior associated with reduced highway traffic efficiency. Research on the three-phase traffic theory and on behavioral driving suggests that a number of characteristics associated with efficient traffic flow may be affected by driver distraction. Previous studies have been limited, however, by the fact that researchers typically do not allow participants to change lanes, nor do they account for the impact of varying traffic states on driving performance. Participants drove in three simulated environments with differing traffic congestion while both using and not using a cell phone. Instructed only to obey the speed limit, participants were allowed to vary driving behaviors, such as those involving forward following distance, speed, and lane-changing frequency. Both driver distraction and traffic congestion were found to significantly affect lane change frequency, mean speed, and the likelihood of remaining behind a slower-moving lead vehicle. This research suggests that the behavioral profile of "cell phone drivers," which is often described as compensatory, may have far-reaching and unexpected consequences for traffic efficiency. By considering the dynamic interplay between characteristics of traffic flow and driver behavior, this research may inform both public policy regarding in-vehicle cell phone use and future investigations of driving behavior.

  16. A qualitative study of the core functions of Smart Traffic Centers at the Virginia Department of Transportation.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-01-01

    The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Smart Traffic Centers (STC) were established to address the growing problem of increased congestion caused by traffic demand exceeding roadway capacity. Initially, the core function of the STC was si...

  17. Study on the propagation and dissipation of inland ship congestion under different control strategies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yanyi; Wu, Hongyu; Wen, Zhe

    2017-05-01

    Inland waterway transportation is an important part of the comprehensive transportation system of sustainable development, and it is also a way of transportation which is restricted by natural conditions greatly. In recent years, the problems of insufficient traffic capacity of The Three Gorges become prominent due to the increasing in the number of ships. And the ship's detention caused by gale, frog, accident and one-way traffic in dry season has occurred, which not only increased the pressure of the navigable waterway but also seriously affected the safety of shipping. Based on the different types of ships, the Arena software was used to simulate the ship traffic flow. The paper analyzed the traffic congestion propagation and dissipation rule of the ship under different navigation control methods, and provided decision reference for the navigation management department to formulate the relevant navigation control strategy.

  18. Evaluation of the performance of the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) on Powell Boulevard in Portland, OR.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-07-01

    The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is used to mitigate traffic congestion along urban arterial corridors. Although there : has been research on SCATS performance, this report combines three different areas of research about SCA...

  19. The effects of congestions tax on air quality and health

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Johansson, Christer; Burman, Lars; Forsberg, Bertil

    The "Stockholm Trial" involved a road pricing system to improve the air quality and reduce traffic congestion. The test period of the trial was January 3-July 31, 2006. Vehicles travelling into and out of the charge cordon were charged for every passage during weekdays. The amount due varied during the day and was highest during rush hours (20 SEK = 2.2 EUR, maximum 60 SEK per day). Based on measured and modelled changes in road traffic it was estimated that this system resulted in a 15% reduction in total road use within the charged cordon. Total traffic emissions in this area of NO x and PM10 fell by 8.5% and 13%, respectively. Air quality dispersion modelling was applied to assess the effect of the emission reductions on ambient concentrations and population exposure. For the situations with and without the trial, meteorological conditions and other emissions than from road traffic were kept the same. The calculations show that, with a permanent congestion tax system like the Stockholm Trial, the annual average NO x concentrations would be lower by up to 12% along the most densely trafficked streets. PM10 concentrations would be up to 7% lower. The limit values for both PM10 and NO 2 would still be exceeded along the most densely trafficked streets. The total population exposure of NO x in Greater Stockholm (35 × 35 km with 1.44 million people) is estimated to decrease with a rather modest 0.23 μg m -3. However, based on a long-term epidemiological study, that found an increased mortality risk of 8% per 10 μg m -3 NO x, it is estimated that 27 premature deaths would be avoided every year. According to life-table analysis this would correspond to 206 years of life gained over 10 years per 100 000 people following the trial if the effects on exposures would persist. The effect on mortality is attributed to road traffic emissions (likely vehicle exhaust particles); NO x is merely regarded as an indicator of traffic exposure. This is only the tip of the ice

  20. Wireless Sensor Network Congestion Control Based on Standard Particle Swarm Optimization and Single Neuron PID

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Xiaoping; Chen, Xueying; Xia, Riting; Qian, Zhihong

    2018-01-01

    Aiming at the problem of network congestion caused by the large number of data transmissions in wireless routing nodes of wireless sensor network (WSN), this paper puts forward an algorithm based on standard particle swarm–neural PID congestion control (PNPID). Firstly, PID control theory was applied to the queue management of wireless sensor nodes. Then, the self-learning and self-organizing ability of neurons was used to achieve online adjustment of weights to adjust the proportion, integral and differential parameters of the PID controller. Finally, the standard particle swarm optimization to neural PID (NPID) algorithm of initial values of proportion, integral and differential parameters and neuron learning rates were used for online optimization. This paper describes experiments and simulations which show that the PNPID algorithm effectively stabilized queue length near the expected value. At the same time, network performance, such as throughput and packet loss rate, was greatly improved, which alleviated network congestion and improved network QoS. PMID:29671822

  1. Wireless Sensor Network Congestion Control Based on Standard Particle Swarm Optimization and Single Neuron PID.

    PubMed

    Yang, Xiaoping; Chen, Xueying; Xia, Riting; Qian, Zhihong

    2018-04-19

    Aiming at the problem of network congestion caused by the large number of data transmissions in wireless routing nodes of wireless sensor network (WSN), this paper puts forward an algorithm based on standard particle swarm⁻neural PID congestion control (PNPID). Firstly, PID control theory was applied to the queue management of wireless sensor nodes. Then, the self-learning and self-organizing ability of neurons was used to achieve online adjustment of weights to adjust the proportion, integral and differential parameters of the PID controller. Finally, the standard particle swarm optimization to neural PID (NPID) algorithm of initial values of proportion, integral and differential parameters and neuron learning rates were used for online optimization. This paper describes experiments and simulations which show that the PNPID algorithm effectively stabilized queue length near the expected value. At the same time, network performance, such as throughput and packet loss rate, was greatly improved, which alleviated network congestion and improved network QoS.

  2. Coordinated Traffic Incident and Congestion Management (TIM-CM) : Mitigating Regional Impacts of Major Traffic Incidents in the Seattle I-5 Corridor

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2018-02-02

    Within the Seattle metropolitan area, traffic incident management (TIM) operations provide a multi-jurisdictional and coordinated strategy to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow can be restored quickly and safely. The...

  3. Traffic flow behavior at un-signalized intersection with crossings pedestrians

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khallouk, A.; Echab, H.; Ez-Zahraouy, H.; Lakouari, N.

    2018-02-01

    Mixed traffic flux composed of crossing pedestrians and vehicles extensively exists in cities. To study the characteristics of the interference traffic flux, we develop a pedestrian-vehicle cellular automata model to present the interaction behaviors on a simple cross road. By realizing the fundamental parameters (i.e. injecting rates α1, α2, the extracting rate β and the pedestrian arrival rate αP), simulations are carried out. The vehicular traffic flux is calculated in terms of rates. The effect of the crosswalk can be regarded as a dynamic impurity. The system phase diagrams in the (α1 ,αP) plane are built. It is found that the phase diagrams consist essentially of four phases namely Free Flow, Congested, Maximal Current and Gridlock. The value of the Maximal current phase depends on the extracting rate β, while the Gridlock phase is achieved only when the pedestrians generating rate is higher than a critical value. Furthermore, the effect of vehicles changing lane (Pch1 ,Pch2) and the location of the crosswalk XP on the dynamic characteristics of vehicles flow are investigated. It is found that traffic situation in the system is slightly enhanced if the location of the crosswalks XP is far from the intersection. However, when Pch1, Pch2 increase, the traffic becomes congested and the Gridlock phase enlarges.

  4. [Reduction of automobile traffic: urgent health promotion policy].

    PubMed

    Tapia Granados, J A

    1998-03-01

    During the last few decades, traffic injuries have become one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world. In urban areas, traffic congestion, noise, and emissions from motor vehicles produce subjective disturbances and detectable pathological effects. More than one billion people are exposed to harmful levels of environmental pollution. Because its combustion engine generates carbon dioxide (CO2), the automobile is one of the chief sources of the gases that are causing the greenhouse effect. The latter has already caused a rise in the average ambient temperature, and over the next decades it will predictable cause significant climatic changes whose consequences, though uncertain, are likely to be harmful and possibly catastrophic. Aside from the greenhouse effect, the relentless growth of parking zones, traffic, and the roadway infrastructure in urban and rural areas is currently one of the leading causes of environmental degradation. Urban development, which is nearly always "planned" around traffic instead of people, leads to a significant deterioration in the quality of life, while it also destroys the social fabric. Unlike the private automobile, public transportation, bicycles, and walking help reduce pollution, congestion, and traffic volume, as well as the morbidity and mortality resulting from injuries and ailments related to pollution. Non-automobile transportation also encourages physical activity--with its positive effect on general health--and helps reduce the greenhouse effect. The drop in traffic volume and the increased use of alternate means of transportation are thus an integrated health promotion policy which should become an inherent part of the movement for the promotion of healthy cities and of transportation policies and economic policy in general.

  5. Empirical observation of the impact of traffic oscillations on freeway safety : final report, OTREC-RR-10-13, September 2010.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-09-01

    Traffic oscillations are typical features of congested traffic flow that are characterized by recurring decelerations : followed by accelerations (stop-and-go driving). The negative environmental impacts of these oscillations are widely : accepted, b...

  6. Does rush hour see a rush of emotions? Driver mood in conditions likely to exhibit congestion

    PubMed Central

    Morris, Eric A; Hirsch, Jana A.

    2016-01-01

    Polls show that a large portion of the public considers traffic congestion to be a problem and believes a number of policy interventions would ameliorate it. However, most of the public rejects new taxes and fees to fund these improvements. This may be because of a disconnect between the public's stated antipathy towards congestion and the recalled emotional costs congestion imposes. To explore this, we use a large and representative sample drawn from the American Time Use Survey to examine how drivers experience four emotions (happiness, sadness, stress, and fatigue), plus a constructed composite mood variable, when they travel in peak periods, in large cities, in city centers, and in combinations of these. We also explore the interactions between these indicators and trip duration. We find evidence that drivers in the largest cities at the very peak of rush hour (5:00pm-6:00pm) are in a less positive mood, presumably because of congestion. However, this effect, though significant, is small, and we find no significant results using broader definitions of the peak period. In all, our findings suggest that congestion's impact on drivers as a group is quite limited. This may help explain why the public's attitude toward painful financial trade-offs to address congestion is lukewarm. PMID:27231669

  7. Tomorrows' Air Transportation System Breakout Series Report

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this presentation is to discuss tomorrow's air transportation system. Section of this presentation includes: chair comments; other general comments; surface congestion alleviation; runway productivity; enhanced arrival/departure tools; integrated airspace decision support tools; national traffic flow management, runway independent operations; ATM TFM weather; and terminal weather.

  8. Examination of fundamental traffic characteristics and implications to ITS

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to study and analyze the essential traffic characteristics of a 5.4-mile stretch of I-64-40 located within the St. Louis metropolitan area. The freeway experiences heavy congestion during peak periods attributed to factor...

  9. Congestion and flow control in signaling system No. 7: Impacts of intelligent networks and new services

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zepf, J.; Rufa, G.

    1994-04-01

    This paper focuses on the transient performance analysis of the congestion and flow control mechanisms in CCITT Signaling System No. 7 (SS7). Special attention is directed to the impacts of the introduction of intelligent services and new applications, e.g., Freephone, credit card services, user-to-user signaling, etc. In particular, we show that signaling traffic characteristics like signaling scenarios or signaling message length as well as end-to-end signaling capabilities have a significant influence on the congestion and flow control and, therefore, on the real-time signaling performance. One important result of our performance studies is that if, e.g., intelligent services are introduced, themore » SS7 congestion and flow control does not work correctly. To solve this problem, some reinvestigations into these mechanisms would be necessary. Therefore, some approaches, e.g., modification of the Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) congestion control, usage of the SCCP relay function, or a redesign of the MTP flow control procedures are discussed in order to guarantee the efficacy of the congestion and flow control mechanisms also in the future. 16 refs.« less

  10. Balloon-borne air traffic management (ATM) as a precursor to space-based ATM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brodsky, Yuval; Rieber, Richard; Nordheim, Tom

    2012-01-01

    The International Space University—Balloon Air traffic control Technology Experiment (I-BATE ) has flown on board two stratospheric balloons and has tracked nearby aircraft by receiving their Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) transmissions. Air traffic worldwide is facing increasing congestion. It is predicted that daily European flight volumes will more than double by 2030 compared to 2009 volumes. ADS-B is an air traffic management system being used to mitigate air traffic congestion. Each aircraft is equipped with both a GPS receiver and an ADS-B transponder. The transponder transmits an equipped aircraft's unique identifier, position, heading, and velocity once per second. The ADS-B transmissions can then be received by ground stations for use in traditional air traffic management. Airspace not monitored by these ground stations or other traditional means remains uncontrolled and poorly monitored. A constellation of space-based ADS-B receivers could close these gaps and provide global air traffic monitoring. By flying an ADS-B receiver on a stratospheric balloon, I-BATE has served as a precursor to a constellation of ADS-B-equipped Earth-orbiting satellites. From the ˜30 km balloon altitude, I-BATE tracked aircraft ranging up to 850 km. The experiment has served as a proof of concept for space-based air traffic management and supports a technology readiness level 6 of space-based ADS-B reception. I-BATE: International Space University—Balloon Air traffic control Technology Experiment.

  11. Implementing and Simulating Dynamic Traffic Assignment with Intelligent Transportation Systems in Cube Avenue

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Foytik, Peter; Robinson, Mike

    2010-01-01

    As urban populations and traffic congestion levels increase, effective use of information and communication tools and intelligent transportation systems as becoming increasingly important in order to maximize the efficiency of transportation networks. The appropriate placement and employment of these tools within a network is critical to their effectiveness. This presentation proposes and demonstrates the use of a commercial transportation simulation tool to simulate dynamic traffic assignment and rerouting to model route modifications as a result of traffic information.

  12. Implementation of Alternative Transport Networks in University Campuses: The Case of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pitsiava-Latinopoulou, Magda; Basbas, Socrates; Gavanas, Nikolaos

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: In order to alleviate the impacts of traffic congestion that undermine the mobility and accessibility conditions of the Aristotle University campus, the paper aims at the presentation and description of a complementary network of alternative modes (i.e. pedestrian and bicycle) and the discussion of the appropriate measures for its…

  13. Dynamic, stochastic models for congestion pricing and congestion securities.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-12-01

    This research considers congestion pricing under demand uncertainty. In particular, a robust optimization (RO) approach is applied to optimal congestion pricing problems under user equilibrium. A mathematical model is developed and an analysis perfor...

  14. Traffic Feasibility Study for a Grade Separator at a Busy Intersection in Vellore

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vasantha Kumar, S.; Gulati, Himanshu; Arora, Shivam

    2017-11-01

    One of the byproduct of urbanization is traffic congestion and before suggesting any solutions to reduce congestion, understanding the present context becomes very important. Study of traffic volumes at busy intersections to find the percentage composition of different vehicle types, directional distribution and peak hour traffic volume is a first step towards understanding the present context of traffic. Hence in the present study, one of the busy intersections in Vellore, namely, Gandhi nagar intersection in Vellore-Katpadi road was selected and traffic flow data was collected using video surveys. It was found that at the selected intersection, the two wheelers and three wheelers alone share 80% of the total traffic when compared to other vehicle types. Nearly 700 trucks and multi axle trailers were observed to pass through the intersection during the analysis period of five hours. That is, on an average 2 trucks/multi axle trailers were passing through the intersection in each minute. As like in other major cities, entry of trucks and other heavy vehicles such as multi axle trailers into the city needs to be banned during peak hours for smooth flow of traffic within city limits. A highest hourly volume of 6939 PCU’s was observed between 4 and 5 pm at the selected intersection. By assuming a 10% uniform traffic growth every year, it was found that after about 4 years, i.e., in 2019, the traffic volume at the intersection may reach 10,000 PCU’s and may warrant for a grade separator or interchange at the intersection.

  15. Reducing congestion : congestion pricing has promise for improving use of transportation infrastructure

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-05-06

    Congestion pricing can potentially reduce congestion by providing incentives for drivers to shift trips to off-peak periods, use less congested routes, or use alternative modes, thereby spreading out demand for available transportation infrastructure...

  16. Alleviating Concrete Placement Issues Due to Congestion of Reinforcement in Post-Tensioned Haunch Slab Bridges - Phase 1

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-07-01

    A flowable hybrid concrete mix with a spread of 17 to 20 inches was created with a superplasticizer to be used in post-tension haunch-slab (PTHS) bridges where rebar congestion is heaviest. The mix would allow for proper concrete consolidation. A con...

  17. Development of operating mode distributions for different types of roadways under different congestion levels for vehicle emission assessment using MOVES.

    PubMed

    Qi, Yi; Padiath, Ameena; Zhao, Qun; Yu, Lei

    2016-10-01

    The Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) quantifies emissions as a function of vehicle modal activities. Hence, the vehicle operating mode distribution is the most vital input for running MOVES at the project level. The preparation of operating mode distributions requires significant efforts with respect to data collection and processing. This study is to develop operating mode distributions for both freeway and arterial facilities under different traffic conditions. For this purpose, in this study, we (1) collected/processed geographic information system (GIS) data, (2) developed a model of CO2 emissions and congestion from observations, (3) implemented the model to evaluate potential emission changes from a hypothetical roadway accident scenario. This study presents a framework by which practitioners can assess emission levels in the development of different strategies for traffic management and congestion mitigation. This paper prepared the primary input, that is, the operating mode ID distribution, required for running MOVES and developed models for estimating emissions for different types of roadways under different congestion levels. The results of this study will provide transportation planners or environmental analysts with the methods for qualitatively assessing the air quality impacts of different transportation operation and demand management strategies.

  18. Current state of traffic pollution in Bangladesh and metropolitan Dhaka

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Karim, Masud; Matsui, Hiroshi; Ohno, Takashi

    1997-12-31

    Limited resources, invested for the development of transport facilities, such as infrastructure and vehicles, coupled with the rapid rise in transport demand, existence of a huge number of non-motorized vehicles on roads, lack of application of adequate and proper traffic management schemes are producing severe transport problems in almost all the urban areas of Bangladesh. Worsening situation of traffic congestion in the streets and sufferings of the inhabitants from vehicle emissions demand extensive research in this field. However, no detailed study concerning traffic congestion and pollution problems for urban areas of Bangladesh has yet been done. Therefore, it has becomemore » increasingly important to examine the present state of the problem. This research is a preliminary evaluation of the current situation of traffic pollution problem in Bangladesh. The daily total emissions of NO{sub x}, HC, CO, PM, and SO{sub x} are estimated using the daily fuel consumption and total traffic flows in Dhaka city. Estimated daily emissions are 42, 39, 314, 14, and 42 t/d for NO{sub x}, HC, CO, PM, and SO{sub x}, respectively. The emissions estimated using two different methods revealed good correlation. Daily average concentration of NO{sub x} (NO{sub 2}, NO) were measured at 30 street locations in Dhaka city during September and November, 1996. The results showed extremely high concentrations of NO{sub 2} and NO in these locations.« less

  19. Complexity of spatiotemporal traffic phenomena in flow of identical drivers: Explanation based on fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kerner, Boris S.

    2012-03-01

    Based on numerical simulations of a stochastic three-phase traffic flow model, we reveal the physics of the fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory that, in contrast with a fundamental diagram of classical traffic flow theories, postulates the existence of a two-dimensional (2D) region of steady states of synchronized flow where a driver makes an arbitrary choice of a space gap (time headway) to the preceding vehicle. We find that macroscopic and microscopic spatiotemporal effects of the entire complexity of traffic congestion observed up to now in real measured traffic data can be explained by simulations of traffic flow consisting of identical drivers and vehicles, if a microscopic model used in these simulations incorporates the fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory. It is shown that the driver's choice of space gaps within the 2D region of synchronized flow associated with the fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory can qualitatively change types of congested patterns that can emerge at a highway bottleneck. In particular, if drivers choose long enough spaces gaps associated with the fundamental hypothesis, then general patterns, which consist of synchronized flow and wide moving jams, do not emerge independent of the flow rates and bottleneck characteristics: Even at a heavy bottleneck leading to a very low speed within congested patterns, only synchronized flow patterns occur in which no wide moving jams emerge spontaneously.

  20. Complexity of spatiotemporal traffic phenomena in flow of identical drivers: explanation based on fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory.

    PubMed

    Kerner, Boris S

    2012-03-01

    Based on numerical simulations of a stochastic three-phase traffic flow model, we reveal the physics of the fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory that, in contrast with a fundamental diagram of classical traffic flow theories, postulates the existence of a two-dimensional (2D) region of steady states of synchronized flow where a driver makes an arbitrary choice of a space gap (time headway) to the preceding vehicle. We find that macroscopic and microscopic spatiotemporal effects of the entire complexity of traffic congestion observed up to now in real measured traffic data can be explained by simulations of traffic flow consisting of identical drivers and vehicles, if a microscopic model used in these simulations incorporates the fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory. It is shown that the driver's choice of space gaps within the 2D region of synchronized flow associated with the fundamental hypothesis of three-phase theory can qualitatively change types of congested patterns that can emerge at a highway bottleneck. In particular, if drivers choose long enough spaces gaps associated with the fundamental hypothesis, then general patterns, which consist of synchronized flow and wide moving jams, do not emerge independent of the flow rates and bottleneck characteristics: Even at a heavy bottleneck leading to a very low speed within congested patterns, only synchronized flow patterns occur in which no wide moving jams emerge spontaneously.

  1. Minnesota urban partnership agreement national evaluation : traffic system data test plan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-11-17

    This report presents the traffic system data test plan for the Minnesota Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) UPA Program. The Minnesota UPA projects focus on reducing congestion by employi...

  2. Mobile phones in a traffic flow: a geographical perspective to evening rush hour traffic analysis using call detail records.

    PubMed

    Järv, Olle; Ahas, Rein; Saluveer, Erki; Derudder, Ben; Witlox, Frank

    2012-01-01

    Excessive land use and suburbanisation around densely populated urban areas has gone hand in hand with a growth in overall transportation and discussions about causality of traffic congestions. The objective of this paper is to gain new insight regarding the composition of traffic flows, and to reveal how and to what extent suburbanites' travelling affects rush hour traffic. We put forward an alternative methodological approach using call detail records of mobile phones to assess the composition of traffic flows during the evening rush hour in Tallinn, Estonia. We found that daily commuting and suburbanites influence transportation demand by amplifying the evening rush hour traffic, although daily commuting trips comprises only 31% of all movement at that time. The geography of the Friday evening rush hour is distinctive from other working days, presumably in connection with domestic tourism and leisure time activities. This suggests that the rise of the overall mobility of individuals due to societal changes may play a greater role in evening rush hour traffic conditions than does the impact of suburbanisation.

  3. Mobile Phones in a Traffic Flow: A Geographical Perspective to Evening Rush Hour Traffic Analysis Using Call Detail Records

    PubMed Central

    Järv, Olle; Ahas, Rein; Saluveer, Erki; Derudder, Ben; Witlox, Frank

    2012-01-01

    Excessive land use and suburbanisation around densely populated urban areas has gone hand in hand with a growth in overall transportation and discussions about causality of traffic congestions. The objective of this paper is to gain new insight regarding the composition of traffic flows, and to reveal how and to what extent suburbanites’ travelling affects rush hour traffic. We put forward an alternative methodological approach using call detail records of mobile phones to assess the composition of traffic flows during the evening rush hour in Tallinn, Estonia. We found that daily commuting and suburbanites influence transportation demand by amplifying the evening rush hour traffic, although daily commuting trips comprises only 31% of all movement at that time. The geography of the Friday evening rush hour is distinctive from other working days, presumably in connection with domestic tourism and leisure time activities. This suggests that the rise of the overall mobility of individuals due to societal changes may play a greater role in evening rush hour traffic conditions than does the impact of suburbanisation. PMID:23155461

  4. Assessing Transit Oriented Development Strategies with a New Combined Modal Split and Traffic Assignment Model

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-08-30

    Transit oriented development (TOD) has emerged in recent years as a promising paradigm to promote public transportation, increase active transportation usage, mitigate congestion, and alleviate air pollution. However, there is a lack of analytic stud...

  5. The Conception Approach to the Traffic Control in Czech Cities - Examples from Prague

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tichý, Tomáš; Krajčír, Dušan

    Modern and economic development of contemporary towns is without question highly dependent upon traffic infrastructure progress. Automobile transport intensity is dramatically rising in large towns and other Czech and European cities. At the same time number of traffic congestions and accidents is increasing, standing times are becoming longer and ecological stress is also escalated. To solve this situation seems to be the most effective solution to design intelligent traffic light intersection control system, variable message signs, preference of public transportation, road line traffic control and next telematics subsystems. This control system and subsystems should improve permeability of traffic road network with a respect for all demands on recent trends of traffic development in towns and regions.

  6. Study on traffic characteristics for a typical expressway on-ramp bottleneck considering various merging behaviors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Jie; Li, Zhipeng; Sun, Jian

    2015-12-01

    Recurring bottlenecks at freeway/expressway are considered as the main cause of traffic congestion in urban traffic system while on-ramp bottlenecks are the most significant sites that may result in congestion. In this paper, the traffic bottleneck characteristics for a simple and typical expressway on-ramp are investigated by the means of simulation modeling under the open boundary condition. In simulations, the running behaviors of each vehicle are described by a car-following model with a calibrated optimal velocity function, and lane changing actions at the merging section are modeled by a novel set of rules. We numerically derive the traffic volume of on-ramp bottleneck under different upstream arrival rates of mainline and ramp flows. It is found that the vehicles from the ramp strongly affect the pass of mainline vehicles and the merging ratio changes with the increasing of ramp vehicle, when the arrival rate of mainline flow is greater than a critical value. In addition, we clarify the dependence of the merging ratio of on-ramp bottleneck on the probability of lane changing and the length of the merging section, and some corresponding intelligent control strategies are proposed in actual traffic application.

  7. Application of dynamic traffic assignment to advanced managed lane modeling : [technical summary].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-11-01

    Transportation agencies realize that, often, adding : lanes is not a feasible or effective solution for : increases in traffic congestion. So, agencies have : applied advanced strategies to better use existing : capacity. One such strategy, managed l...

  8. Effects of congestion on drivers' speed choice: Assessing the mediating role of state aggressiveness based on taxi floating car data.

    PubMed

    Huang, Yizhe; Sun, Daniel Jian; Zhang, Li-Hui

    2018-08-01

    Inappropriate cruising speed, such as speeding, is one of the major contributors to the road safety, which increases both the quantitative number and severity of traffic accidents. Previous studies have indicated that traffic congestion is one of the primary causes of drivers' frustration and aggression, which may lead to inappropriate speed choice. In this study, the large taxi floating car data (FCD) was used to empirically evaluate how traffic congestion-related negative moods, defined as state aggressiveness, affected drivers' speed choice. The indirect effect of traffic delay on the cruising speed adjustment through the state aggressiveness was assessed through the mediation analysis. Furthermore, the moderated mediation analysis was performed to explore the effect of driver type, value of time, and working duration on the mediation role of state aggressiveness. The results proved that the state aggressiveness was the mediator of the relationship between travel delays and driving speed adjustment, and the mediation role was different across various driver types. As compared to the aggressive drivers, the normal drivers and the steady drivers tended to behave more aggressively after experiencing non-recurrent congestion during the early stage of the trips. When the value of time was high, steady drivers were more likely to adjust their speed choice although the effect was not statistically significant for other driver types. The validation results indicated that the speed model incorporating state aggressiveness could better predict the travel time than the traditional speed model that only considering the specific expected speed distribution. The prediction results for the manifest indicators of state aggressiveness, such as the maximum speed and the speed deviation, also demonstrated a reasonable reflection of the field data. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Integration of the incident command system (ICS) protocol for effective coordination of multi-agency response to traffic incidents : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-06-13

    In recent years, there has been an increased focus on Traffic Incident Management (TIM) and : incorporation of the Incident Command System (ICS) to reduce traffic congestion on the nation's : Interstates. In fact, studies show that for every minute a...

  10. Performance evaluation of roundabouts for traffic delay and crash reductions in Oxford, MS.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-06-30

    Due to increased traffic volume, congestion, and capacity limitations, two roundabouts have been constructed on South Lamar : Boulevard ramp intersections with MS Highway 6 in Oxford, MS. Roundabouts replaced the existing signalized intersection : on...

  11. Monitoring and Alerting Congestion at Airports and Sectors under Uncertainty in Traffic Demand Predictions.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-04-01

    Important functions of the Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) include prediction air traffic demand for National Air Space (NAS) elements (airports, fixes and enroute sectors) for several hours into the future, and using these predictions to alert...

  12. Agent-based traffic management and reinforcement learning in congested intersection network.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-08-01

    This study evaluates the performance of traffic control systems based on reinforcement learning (RL), also called approximate dynamic programming (ADP). Two algorithms have been selected for testing: 1) Q-learning and 2) approximate dynamic programmi...

  13. The use of weather data to predict non-recurring traffic congestion

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-08-01

    This project will demonstrate the quantitative relationship between weather patterns and surface traffic conditions. The aviation and maritime industries use weather measurements and predictions as a normal part of operations, and this can be extende...

  14. Detection of traffic incidents using nonlinear time series analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fragkou, A. D.; Karakasidis, T. E.; Nathanail, E.

    2018-06-01

    In this study, we present results of the application of nonlinear time series analysis on traffic data for incident detection. More specifically, we analyze daily volume records of Attica Tollway (Greece) collected from sensors located at various locations. The analysis was performed using the Recurrence Plot (RP) and Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) method of the volume data of the lane closest to the median. The results show that it is possible to identify, through the abrupt change of the dynamics of the system revealed by RPs and RQA, the occurrence of incidents on the freeway and differentiate from recurrent traffic congestion. The proposed methodology could be of interest for big data traffic analysis.

  15. Development of a real-time crash risk prediction model incorporating the various crash mechanisms across different traffic states.

    PubMed

    Xu, Chengcheng; Wang, Wei; Liu, Pan; Zhang, Fangwei

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to identify the traffic flow variables contributing to crash risks under different traffic states and to develop a real-time crash risk model incorporating the varying crash mechanisms across different traffic states. The crash, traffic, and geometric data were collected on the I-880N freeway in California in 2008 and 2009. This study considered 4 different traffic states in Wu's 4-phase traffic theory. They are free fluid traffic, bunched fluid traffic, bunched congested traffic, and standing congested traffic. Several different statistical methods were used to accomplish the research objective. The preliminary analysis showed that traffic states significantly affected crash likelihood, collision type, and injury severity. Nonlinear canonical correlation analysis (NLCCA) was conducted to identify the underlying phenomena that made certain traffic states more hazardous than others. The results suggested that different traffic states were associated with various collision types and injury severities. The matching of traffic flow characteristics and crash characteristics in NLCCA revealed how traffic states affected traffic safety. The logistic regression analyses showed that the factors contributing to crash risks were quite different across various traffic states. To incorporate the varying crash mechanisms across different traffic states, random parameters logistic regression was used to develop a real-time crash risk model. Bayesian inference based on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations was used for model estimation. The parameters of traffic flow variables in the model were allowed to vary across different traffic states. Compared with the standard logistic regression model, the proposed model significantly improved the goodness-of-fit and predictive performance. These results can promote a better understanding of the relationship between traffic flow characteristics and crash risks, which is valuable knowledge in the pursuit of improving

  16. Nonuniform traffic spots (NUTS) in multistage interconnection networks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lang, T.; Kurisaki, L.

    1990-09-01

    The performance of multistage interconnection networks for multiprocessors is degraded when the traffic pattern produces nonuniform congestion in the blocking switches, that is, when there exist nonuniform traffic spots. For some specific patterns the authors evaluate this degradation in performance and propose modifications to the network organization and operation to reduce the degradation. Successful modifications are the use of diverting switches and the extension of the network with additional links. The use of these modifications makes the network more effective for a larger variety of traffic patterns. The authors also consider the case in which the network carries the superpositionmore » of two types of traffic. One type is the high throughput data and instruction traffic, while the other consists of control and I/O packets which are of low throughput but have severe real-time constraints. The authors conclude that diverting switches and networks with additional links are also suitable for assuring low latency for the real-time traffic, especially when using the displacing mode.« less

  17. Quantifying incident-induced travel delays on freeways using traffic sensor data : phase II

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-12-01

    Traffic incidents cause approximately 50 percent of freeway congestion in metropolitan areas, resulting in extra travel time and fuel cost. Quantifying incident-induced delay (IID) will help people better understand the real costs of incidents, maxim...

  18. Simplified web-based decision support method for traffic management and work zone analysis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-01-01

    Traffic congestion mitigation is one of the key challenges that transportation planners and operations engineers face when planning for construction and maintenance activities. There is a wide variety of approaches and methods that address work zone ...

  19. Simplified web-based decision support method for traffic management and work zone analysis.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-06-01

    Traffic congestion mitigation is one of the key challenges that transportation planners and operations engineers face when : planning for construction and maintenance activities. There is a wide variety of approaches and methods that address work : z...

  20. Route Optimization for Offloading Congested Meter Fixes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Xue, Min; Zelinski, Shannon

    2016-01-01

    The Optimized Route Capability (ORC) concept proposed by the FAA facilitates traffic managers to identify and resolve arrival flight delays caused by bottlenecks formed at arrival meter fixes when there exists imbalance between arrival fixes and runways. ORC makes use of the prediction capability of existing automation tools, monitors the traffic delays based on these predictions, and searches the best reroutes upstream of the meter fixes based on the predictions and estimated arrival schedules when delays are over a predefined threshold. Initial implementation and evaluation of the ORC concept considered only reroutes available at the time arrival congestion was first predicted. This work extends previous work by introducing an additional dimension in reroute options such that ORC can find the best time to reroute and overcome the 'firstcome- first-reroute' phenomenon. To deal with the enlarged reroute solution space, a genetic algorithm was developed to solve this problem. Experiments were conducted using the same traffic scenario used in previous work, when an arrival rush was created for one of the four arrival meter fixes at George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport. Results showed the new approach further improved delay savings. The suggested route changes from the new approach were on average 30 minutes later than those using other approaches, and fewer numbers of reroutes were required. Fewer numbers of reroutes reduce operational complexity and later reroutes help decision makers deal with uncertain situations.

  1. Improving the roadside environment through integrating air quality and traffic-related data.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-12-01

    Urban arterial corridors are landscapes that give rise to short and long-term : exposures to transportation-related pollution. With high traffic volumes, congestion, and : a wide mix of road users and land uses at the road edge, urban arterial enviro...

  2. Study on the Reduced Traffic Congestion Method Based on Dynamic Guidance Information

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Shu-Bin; Wang, Guang-Min; Wang, Tao; Ren, Hua-Ling; Zhang, Lin

    2018-05-01

    This paper studies how to generate the reasonable information of travelers’ decision in real network. This problem is very complex because the travelers’ decision is constrained by different human behavior. The network conditions can be predicted by using the advanced dynamic OD (Origin-Destination, OD) estimation techniques. Based on the improved mesoscopic traffic model, the predictable dynamic traffic guidance information can be obtained accurately. A consistency algorithm is designed to investigate the travelers’ decision by simulating the dynamic response to guidance information. The simulation results show that the proposed method can provide the best guidance information. Further, a case study is conducted to verify the theoretical results and to draw managerial insights into the potential of dynamic guidance strategy in improving traffic performance. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 71471104, 71771019, 71571109, and 71471167; The University Science and Technology Program Funding Projects of Shandong Province under Grant No. J17KA211; The Project of Public Security Department of Shandong Province under Grant No. GATHT2015-236; The Major Social and Livelihood Special Project of Jinan under Grant No. 20150905

  3. Social dilemma structure hidden behind traffic flow with route selection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tanimoto, Jun; Nakamura, Kousuke

    2016-10-01

    Several traffic flows contain social dilemma structures. Herein, we explored a route-selection problem using a cellular automaton simulation dovetailed with evolutionary game theory. In our model, two classes of driver-agents coexist: D agents (defective strategy), which refer to traffic information for route selection to move fast, and C agents (cooperative strategy), which are insensitive to information and less inclined to move fast. Although no evidence suggests that the social dilemma structure in low density causes vehicles to move freely and that in high density causes traffic jams, we found a structure that corresponds to an n-person (multiplayer) Chicken (n-Chicken) game if the provided traffic information is inappropriate. If appropriate traffic information is given to the agents, the n-Chicken game can be solved. The information delivered to vehicles is crucial for easing the social dilemma due to urban traffic congestion when developing technologies to support the intelligent transportation system (ITS).

  4. Capacity-constrained traffic assignment in networks with residual queues

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lam, W.H.K.; Zhang, Y.

    2000-04-01

    This paper proposes a capacity-constrained traffic assignment model for strategic transport planning in which the steady-state user equilibrium principle is extended for road networks with residual queues. Therefore, the road-exit capacity and the queuing effects can be incorporated into the strategic transport model for traffic forecasting. The proposed model is applicable to the congested network particularly when the traffic demands exceeds the capacity of the network during the peak period. An efficient solution method is proposed for solving the steady-state traffic assignment problem with residual queues. Then a simple numerical example is employed to demonstrate the application of the proposedmore » model and solution method, while an example of a medium-sized arterial highway network in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is used to test the applicability of the proposed solution to real problems.« less

  5. Order and disorder in traffic and self-driven many-particle systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helbing, Dirk

    2002-07-01

    During the last decade, physicists have identified various spatio-temporal patterns of motion in vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Moreover, by applying and extending methods from statistical physics and non-linear dynamics, these have been successfully explained by means of self-driven many-particle models. Some of the questions now understood are the following: Why are vehicles sometimes stopped by so-called "phantom traffic jams," although they all like to drive fast? What are the mechanisms behind stop-and-go traffic? Why are there several different kinds of congestion, and how are they related? Why do most traffic jams occur considerably before the road capacity is reached? Can a temporary reduction of the traffic volume cause a lasting traffic jam? What is the origin of fluctuations in traffic systems and which consequences do they have? Why do pedestrians moving in opposite directions normally organize in lanes, while nervous crowds are "freezing by heating?" Why do panicking pedestrians produce dangerous deadlocks?

  6. U. S. -Mexico Border: Better Planning, coordination needed to Handle Growing Commercial Traffic

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-03-01

    Due to concern expressed by Congress that the United States-Mexico border area was shouldering a disproportionate share of the costs of increased trade activity between the two countries, and that congestion problems related to expanded traffic were ...

  7. Study of driving fatigue alleviation by transcutaneous acupoints electrical stimulations.

    PubMed

    Wang, Fuwang; Wang, Hong

    2014-01-01

    Driving fatigue is more likely to bring serious safety trouble to traffic. Therefore, accurately and rapidly detecting driving fatigue state and alleviating fatigue are particularly important. In the present work, the electrical stimulation method stimulating the Láogóng point (PC8) of human body is proposed, which is used to alleviate the mental fatigue of drivers. The wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) is used to extract θ, α, and β subbands of drivers' electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Performances of the two algorithms (θ + α)/(α + β) and θ/β are also assessed as possible indicators for fatigue detection. Finally, the differences between the drivers with electrical stimulation and normal driving are discussed. It is shown that stimulating the Láogóng point (PC8) using electrical stimulation method can alleviate driver fatigue effectively during longtime driving.

  8. Study of Driving Fatigue Alleviation by Transcutaneous Acupoints Electrical Stimulations

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Fuwang; Wang, Hong

    2014-01-01

    Driving fatigue is more likely to bring serious safety trouble to traffic. Therefore, accurately and rapidly detecting driving fatigue state and alleviating fatigue are particularly important. In the present work, the electrical stimulation method stimulating the Láogóng point (劳宫PC8) of human body is proposed, which is used to alleviate the mental fatigue of drivers. The wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) is used to extract θ, α, and β subbands of drivers' electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Performances of the two algorithms (θ + α)/(α + β) and θ/β are also assessed as possible indicators for fatigue detection. Finally, the differences between the drivers with electrical stimulation and normal driving are discussed. It is shown that stimulating the Láogóng point (劳宫PC8) using electrical stimulation method can alleviate driver fatigue effectively during longtime driving. PMID:25254242

  9. Phase transitions in traffic flow on multilane roads.

    PubMed

    Kerner, Boris S; Klenov, Sergey L

    2009-11-01

    Based on empirical and numerical analyses of vehicular traffic, the physics of spatiotemporal phase transitions in traffic flow on multilane roads is revealed. The complex dynamics of moving jams observed in single vehicle data measured by video cameras on American highways is explained by the nucleation-interruption effect in synchronized flow, i.e., the spontaneous nucleation of a narrow moving jam with the subsequent jam dissolution. We find that (i) lane changing, vehicle merging from on-ramps, and vehicle leaving to off-ramps result in different traffic phases-free flow, synchronized flow, and wide moving jams-occurring and coexisting in different road lanes as well as in diverse phase transitions between the traffic phases; (ii) in synchronized flow, the phase transitions are responsible for a non-regular moving jam dynamics that explains measured single vehicle data: moving jams emerge and dissolve randomly at various road locations in different lanes; (iii) the phase transitions result also in diverse expanded general congested patterns occurring at closely located bottlenecks.

  10. Implementation of the Algorithm for Congestion control in the Dynamic Circuit Network (DCN)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nalamwar, H. S.; Ivanov, M. A.; Buddhawar, G. U.

    2017-01-01

    Transport Control Protocol (TCP) incast congestion happens when a number of senders work in parallel with the same server where the high bandwidth and low latency network problem occurs. For many data center network applications such as a search engine, heavy traffic is present on such a server. Incast congestion degrades the entire performance as packets are lost at a server side due to buffer overflow, and as a result, the response time becomes longer. In this work, we focus on TCP throughput, round-trip time (RTT), receive window and retransmission. Our method is based on the proactive adjust of the TCP receive window before the packet loss occurs. We aim to avoid the wastage of the bandwidth by adjusting its size as per the number of packets. To avoid the packet loss, the ICTCP algorithm has been implemented in the data center network (ToR).

  11. Automatic Data Traffic Control on DSM Architecture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Frumkin, Michael; Jin, Hao-Qiang; Yan, Jerry; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    We study data traffic on distributed shared memory machines and conclude that data placement and grouping improve performance of scientific codes. We present several methods which user can employ to improve data traffic in his code. We report on implementation of a tool which detects the code fragments causing data congestions and advises user on improvements of data routing in these fragments. The capabilities of the tool include deduction of data alignment and affinity from the source code; detection of the code constructs having abnormally high cache or TLB misses; generation of data placement constructs. We demonstrate the capabilities of the tool on experiments with NAS parallel benchmarks and with a simple computational fluid dynamics application ARC3D.

  12. Memory effects in microscopic traffic models and wide scattering in flow-density data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Treiber, Martin; Helbing, Dirk

    2003-10-01

    By means of microscopic simulations we show that noninstantaneous adaptation of the driving behavior to the traffic situation together with the conventional method to measure flow-density data provides a possible explanation for the observed inverse-λ shape and the wide scattering of flow-density data in “synchronized” congested traffic. We model a memory effect in the response of drivers to the traffic situation for a wide class of car-following models by introducing an additional dynamical variable (the “subjective level of service”) describing the adaptation of drivers to the surrounding traffic situation during the past few minutes and couple this internal state to parameters of the underlying model that are related to the driving style. For illustration, we use the intelligent-driver model (IDM) as the underlying model, characterize the level of service solely by the velocity, and couple the internal variable to the IDM parameter “time gap” to model an increase of the time gap in congested traffic (“frustration effect”), which is supported by single-vehicle data. We simulate open systems with a bottleneck and obtain flow-density data by implementing “virtual detectors.” The shape, relative size, and apparent “stochasticity” of the region of the scattered data points agree nearly quantitatively with empirical data. Wide scattering is even observed for identical vehicles, although the proposed model is a time-continuous, deterministic, single-lane car-following model with a unique fundamental diagram.

  13. Congestion control and routing over satellite networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cao, Jinhua

    Satellite networks and transmissions find their application in fields of computer communications, telephone communications, television broadcasting, transportation, space situational awareness systems and so on. This thesis mainly focuses on two networking issues affecting satellite networking: network congestion control and network routing optimization. Congestion, which leads to long queueing delays, packet losses or both, is a networking problem that has drawn the attention of many researchers. The goal of congestion control mechanisms is to ensure high bandwidth utilization while avoiding network congestion by regulating the rate at which traffic sources inject packets into a network. In this thesis, we propose a stable congestion controller using data-driven, safe switching control theory to improve the dynamic performance of satellite Transmission Control Protocol/Active Queue Management (TCP/AQM) networks. First, the stable region of the Proportional-Integral (PI) parameters for a nominal model is explored. Then, a PI controller, whose parameters are adaptively tuned by switching among members of a given candidate set, using observed plant data, is presented and compared with some classical AQM policy examples, such as Random Early Detection (RED) and fixed PI control. A new cost detectable switching law with an interval cost function switching algorithm, which improves the performance and also saves the computational cost, is developed and compared with a law commonly used in the switching control literature. Finite-gain stability of the system is proved. A fuzzy logic PI controller is incorporated as a special candidate to achieve good performance at all nominal points with the available set of candidate controllers. Simulations are presented to validate the theory. An effocient routing algorithm plays a key role in optimizing network resources. In this thesis, we briefly analyze Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks, review the Cross Entropy (CE

  14. Urban emissions hotspots: Quantifying vehicle congestion and air pollution using mobile phone GPS data.

    PubMed

    Gately, Conor K; Hutyra, Lucy R; Peterson, Scott; Sue Wing, Ian

    2017-10-01

    On-road emissions vary widely on time scales as short as minutes and length scales as short as tens of meters. Detailed data on emissions at these scales are a prerequisite to accurately quantifying ambient pollution concentrations and identifying hotspots of human exposure within urban areas. We construct a highly resolved inventory of hourly fluxes of CO, NO 2 , NO x , PM 2.5 and CO 2 from road vehicles on 280,000 road segments in eastern Massachusetts for the year 2012. Our inventory integrates a large database of hourly vehicle speeds derived from mobile phone and vehicle GPS data with multiple regional datasets of vehicle flows, fleet characteristics, and local meteorology. We quantify the 'excess' emissions from traffic congestion, finding modest congestion enhancement (3-6%) at regional scales, but hundreds of local hotspots with highly elevated annual emissions (up to 75% for individual roadways in key corridors). Congestion-driven reductions in vehicle fuel economy necessitated 'excess' consumption of 113 million gallons of motor fuel, worth ∼ $415M, but this accounted for only 3.5% of the total fuel consumed in Massachusetts, as over 80% of vehicle travel occurs in uncongested conditions. Across our study domain, emissions are highly spatially concentrated, with 70% of pollution originating from only 10% of the roads. The 2011 EPA National Emissions Inventory (NEI) understates our aggregate emissions of NO x , PM 2.5 , and CO 2 by 46%, 38%, and 18%, respectively. However, CO emissions agree within 5% for the two inventories, suggesting that the large biases in NO x and PM 2.5 emissions arise from differences in estimates of diesel vehicle activity. By providing fine-scale information on local emission hotspots and regional emissions patterns, our inventory framework supports targeted traffic interventions, transparent benchmarking, and improvements in overall urban air quality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Feasibility study of transportation management strategies in the Poplar Corridor, Memphis, Tennessee

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Siniard, D.

    1990-02-01

    This report documents the development and implementation of various transportation management strategies aimed at alleviating traffic congestion problems in the Poplar Corridor, a major transportation corridor located in a rapidly growing suburban area of Memphis, Tennessee. The project provided the opportunity for local governments to work with the private sector in a joint venture to address traffic congestion problems and to promote more efficient use of the area's transportation network. The project was carried out by the staff of Memphis Area Rideshare, a joint city/county agency which provides transit information and free carpool/vanpool computer matching services to area commuters. Publicmore » sector participants in the planning process included transportation and land use planners from the Office of Planning and Development, city traffic engineers, and representatives from the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA). Private sector input came from major developers and employers in the Poplar Corridor and from officials of schools located in the area.« less

  16. Modeling mobile source emissions during traffic jams in a micro urban environment.

    PubMed

    Kondrashov, Valery V; Reshetin, Vladimir P; Regens, James L; Gunter, James T

    2002-01-01

    Urbanization typically involves a continuous increase in motor vehicle use, resulting in congestion known as traffic jams. Idling emissions due to traffic jams combine with the complex terrain created by buildings to concentrate atmospheric pollutants in localized areas. This research simulates emissions concentrations and distributions for a congested street in Minsk, Belarus. Ground-level (up to 50-meters above the street's surface) pollutant concentrations were calculated using STAR (version 3.10) with emission factors obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wind speed and direction, and building location and size. Relative emissions concentrations and distributions were simulated at 1-meter and 10-meters above street level. The findings demonstrate the importance of wind speed and direction, and building size and location on emissions concentrations and distributions, with the leeward sides of buildings retaining up to 99 percent of the emitted pollutants within 1-meter of street level, and up to 77 percent 10-meters above the street.

  17. Improving traffic flow at a 2-to-1 lane reduction with wirelessly connected, adaptive cruise control vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, L. C.

    2016-06-01

    Wirelessly connected vehicles that exchange information about traffic conditions can reduce delays caused by congestion. At a 2-to-1 lane reduction, the improvement in flow past a bottleneck due to traffic with a random mixture of 40% connected vehicles is found to be 52%. Control is based on connected-vehicle-reported velocities near the bottleneck. In response to indications of congestion the connected vehicles, which are also adaptive cruise control vehicles, reduce their speed in slowdown regions. Early lane changes of manually driven vehicles from the terminated lane to the continuous lane are induced by the slowing connected vehicles. Self-organized congestion at the bottleneck is thus delayed or eliminated, depending upon the incoming flow magnitude. For the large majority of vehicles, travel times past the bottleneck are substantially reduced. Control is responsible for delaying the onset of congestion as the incoming flow increases. Adaptive cruise control increases the flow out of the congested state at the bottleneck. The nature of the congested state, when it occurs, appears to be similar under a variety of conditions. Typically 80-100 vehicles are approximately equally distributed between the lanes in the 500 m region prior to the end of the terminated lane. Without the adaptive cruise control capability, connected vehicles can delay the onset of congestion but do not increase the asymptotic flow past the bottleneck. Calculations are done using the Kerner-Klenov three-phase theory, stochastic discrete-time model for manual vehicles. The dynamics of the connected vehicles is given by a conventional adaptive cruise control algorithm plus commanded deceleration. Because time in the model for manual vehicles is discrete (one-second intervals), it is assumed that the acceleration of any vehicle immediately in front of a connected vehicle is constant during the time interval, thereby preserving the computational simplicity and speed of a discrete-time model.

  18. Relationship between microscopic dynamics in traffic flow and complexity in networks.

    PubMed

    Li, Xin-Gang; Gao, Zi-You; Li, Ke-Ping; Zhao, Xiao-Mei

    2007-07-01

    Complex networks are constructed in the evolution process of traffic flow, and the states of traffic flow are represented by nodes in the network. The traffic dynamics can then be studied by investigating the statistical properties of those networks. According to Kerner's three-phase theory, there are two different phases in congested traffic, synchronized flow and wide moving jam. In the framework of this theory, we study different properties of synchronized flow and moving jam in relation to complex network. Scale-free network is constructed in stop-and-go traffic, i.e., a sequence of moving jams [Chin. Phys. Lett. 10, 2711 (2005)]. In this work, the networks generated in synchronized flow are investigated in detail. Simulation results show that the degree distribution of the networks constructed in synchronized flow has two power law regions, so the distinction in topological structure can really reflect the different dynamics in traffic flow. Furthermore, the real traffic data are investigated by this method, and the results are consistent with the simulations.

  19. Distributed Trajectory Flexibility Preservation for Traffic Complexity Mitigation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Idris, Husni; Wing, David; Delahaye, Daniel

    2009-01-01

    The growing demand for air travel is increasing the need for mitigation of air traffic congestion and complexity problems, which are already at high levels. At the same time new information and automation technologies are enabling the distribution of tasks and decisions from the service providers to the users of the air traffic system, with potential capacity and cost benefits. This distribution of tasks and decisions raises the concern that independent user actions will decrease the predictability and increase the complexity of the traffic system, hence inhibiting and possibly reversing any potential benefits. In answer to this concern, the authors propose the introduction of decision-making metrics for preserving user trajectory flexibility. The hypothesis is that such metrics will make user actions naturally mitigate traffic complexity. In this paper, the impact of using these metrics on traffic complexity is investigated. The scenarios analyzed include aircraft in en route airspace with each aircraft meeting a required time of arrival in a one-hour time horizon while mitigating the risk of loss of separation with the other aircraft, thus preserving its trajectory flexibility. The experiments showed promising results in that the individual trajectory flexibility preservation induced self-separation and self-organization effects in the overall traffic situation. The effects were quantified using traffic complexity metrics based on Lyapunov exponents and traffic proximity.

  20. Development of a traffic noise prediction model for an urban environment.

    PubMed

    Sharma, Asheesh; Bodhe, G L; Schimak, G

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this study is to develop a traffic noise model under diverse traffic conditions in metropolitan cities. The model has been developed to calculate equivalent traffic noise based on four input variables i.e. equivalent traffic flow (Q e ), equivalent vehicle speed (S e ) and distance (d) and honking (h). The traffic data is collected and statistically analyzed in three different cases for 15-min during morning and evening rush hours. Case I represents congested traffic where equivalent vehicle speed is <30 km/h while case II represents free-flowing traffic where equivalent vehicle speed is >30 km/h and case III represents calm traffic where no honking is recorded. The noise model showed better results than earlier developed noise model for Indian traffic conditions. A comparative assessment between present and earlier developed noise model has also been presented in the study. The model is validated with measured noise levels and the correlation coefficients between measured and predicted noise levels were found to be 0.75, 0.83 and 0.86 for case I, II and III respectively. The noise model performs reasonably well under different traffic conditions and could be implemented for traffic noise prediction at other region as well.

  1. A Space-Time Network-Based Modeling Framework for Dynamic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Routing in Traffic Incident Monitoring Applications

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Jisheng; Jia, Limin; Niu, Shuyun; Zhang, Fan; Tong, Lu; Zhou, Xuesong

    2015-01-01

    It is essential for transportation management centers to equip and manage a network of fixed and mobile sensors in order to quickly detect traffic incidents and further monitor the related impact areas, especially for high-impact accidents with dramatic traffic congestion propagation. As emerging small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) start to have a more flexible regulation environment, it is critically important to fully explore the potential for of using UAVs for monitoring recurring and non-recurring traffic conditions and special events on transportation networks. This paper presents a space-time network- based modeling framework for integrated fixed and mobile sensor networks, in order to provide a rapid and systematic road traffic monitoring mechanism. By constructing a discretized space-time network to characterize not only the speed for UAVs but also the time-sensitive impact areas of traffic congestion, we formulate the problem as a linear integer programming model to minimize the detection delay cost and operational cost, subject to feasible flying route constraints. A Lagrangian relaxation solution framework is developed to decompose the original complex problem into a series of computationally efficient time-dependent and least cost path finding sub-problems. Several examples are used to demonstrate the results of proposed models in UAVs’ route planning for small and medium-scale networks. PMID:26076404

  2. Link state relationships under incident conditions : using a CTM-based linear programming dynamic traffic assignment model.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-03-01

    Urban transportation networks, consisting of numerous links and nodes, experience traffic incidents such as accidents and road : maintenance work. A typical consequence of incidents is congestion which results in long queues and causes high travel ti...

  3. Link State Relationships Under Incident Conditions: Using a CTM-Based Linear Programming Dynamic Traffic Assignment Model

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-03-01

    Urban transportation networks, consisting of numerous links and nodes, experience traffic incidents such as accidents and road maintenance work. A typical consequence of incidents is congestion which results in long queues and causes high travel time...

  4. General phase transition models for vehicular traffic with point constraints on the flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dal Santo, E.; Rosini, M. D.; Dymski, N.; Benyahia, M.

    2017-12-01

    We generalize the phase transition model studied in [R. Colombo. Hyperbolic phase transition in traffic flow.\\ SIAM J.\\ Appl.\\ Math., 63(2):708-721, 2002], that describes the evolution of vehicular traffic along a one-lane road. Two different phases are taken into account, according to whether the traffic is low or heavy. The model is given by a scalar conservation law in the \\emph{free-flow} phase and by a system of two conservation laws in the \\emph{congested} phase. In particular, we study the resulting Riemann problems in the case a local point constraint on the flux of the solutions is enforced.

  5. Understanding characteristics in multivariate traffic flow time series from complex network structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Ying; Zhang, Shen; Tang, Jinjun; Wang, Xiaofei

    2017-07-01

    Discovering dynamic characteristics in traffic flow is the significant step to design effective traffic managing and controlling strategy for relieving traffic congestion in urban cities. A new method based on complex network theory is proposed to study multivariate traffic flow time series. The data were collected from loop detectors on freeway during a year. In order to construct complex network from original traffic flow, a weighted Froenius norm is adopt to estimate similarity between multivariate time series, and Principal Component Analysis is implemented to determine the weights. We discuss how to select optimal critical threshold for networks at different hour in term of cumulative probability distribution of degree. Furthermore, two statistical properties of networks: normalized network structure entropy and cumulative probability of degree, are utilized to explore hourly variation in traffic flow. The results demonstrate these two statistical quantities express similar pattern to traffic flow parameters with morning and evening peak hours. Accordingly, we detect three traffic states: trough, peak and transitional hours, according to the correlation between two aforementioned properties. The classifying results of states can actually represent hourly fluctuation in traffic flow by analyzing annual average hourly values of traffic volume, occupancy and speed in corresponding hours.

  6. Encapsulating urban traffic rhythms into road networks.

    PubMed

    Wang, Junjie; Wei, Dong; He, Kun; Gong, Hang; Wang, Pu

    2014-02-20

    Using road GIS (geographical information systems) data and travel demand data for two U.S. urban areas, the dynamical driver sources of each road segment were located. A method to target road clusters closely related to urban traffic congestion was then developed to improve road network efficiency. The targeted road clusters show different spatial distributions at different times of a day, indicating that our method can encapsulate dynamical travel demand information into the road networks. As a proof of concept, when we lowered the speed limit or increased the capacity of road segments in the targeted road clusters, we found that both the number of congested roads and extra travel time were effectively reduced. In addition, the proposed modeling framework provided new insights on the optimization of transport efficiency in any infrastructure network with a specific supply and demand distribution.

  7. Encapsulating Urban Traffic Rhythms into Road Networks

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Junjie; Wei, Dong; He, Kun; Gong, Hang; Wang, Pu

    2014-01-01

    Using road GIS (geographical information systems) data and travel demand data for two U.S. urban areas, the dynamical driver sources of each road segment were located. A method to target road clusters closely related to urban traffic congestion was then developed to improve road network efficiency. The targeted road clusters show different spatial distributions at different times of a day, indicating that our method can encapsulate dynamical travel demand information into the road networks. As a proof of concept, when we lowered the speed limit or increased the capacity of road segments in the targeted road clusters, we found that both the number of congested roads and extra travel time were effectively reduced. In addition, the proposed modeling framework provided new insights on the optimization of transport efficiency in any infrastructure network with a specific supply and demand distribution. PMID:24553203

  8. Traffic and related self-driven many-particle systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Helbing, Dirk

    2001-10-01

    Since the subject of traffic dynamics has captured the interest of physicists, many surprising effects have been revealed and explained. Some of the questions now understood are the following: Why are vehicles sometimes stopped by ``phantom traffic jams'' even though drivers all like to drive fast? What are the mechanisms behind stop-and-go traffic? Why are there several different kinds of congestion, and how are they related? Why do most traffic jams occur considerably before the road capacity is reached? Can a temporary reduction in the volume of traffic cause a lasting traffic jam? Under which conditions can speed limits speed up traffic? Why do pedestrians moving in opposite directions normally organize into lanes, while similar systems ``freeze by heating''? All of these questions have been answered by applying and extending methods from statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics to self-driven many-particle systems. This article considers the empirical data and then reviews the main approaches to modeling pedestrian and vehicle traffic. These include microscopic (particle-based), mesoscopic (gas-kinetic), and macroscopic (fluid-dynamic) models. Attention is also paid to the formulation of a micro-macro link, to aspects of universality, and to other unifying concepts, such as a general modeling framework for self-driven many-particle systems, including spin systems. While the primary focus is upon vehicle and pedestrian traffic, applications to biological or socio-economic systems such as bacterial colonies, flocks of birds, panics, and stock market dynamics are touched upon as well.

  9. Forearm vasodilatation following release of venous congestion

    PubMed Central

    Caro, C. G.; Foley, T. H.; Sudlow, M. F.

    1970-01-01

    1. The volume rate of forearm blood flow was measured with a mercury-in-rubber strain gauge, or with a water-filled plethysmograph, from 1 sec after termination of a 2-3 min period of venous congestion. 2. When congesting pressure had been less than 18 mm Hg, average post-congestion flow (five subjects) was constant during approx. 10 sec and not significantly different from resting flow. 3. When congesting pressure had been 30 mm Hg, average post-congestion flow (eight subjects) was 26% higher than resting, during 3-4 sec after release of congestion, but rose to 273% of resting during 4-6 sec after release of congestion. 4. In other studies forearm vascular resistance had been found normal or increased during such venous congestion, and theoretical studies here indicated that passive mechanical factors could not account for the delayed occurrence of high post-congestion flow. 5. It appears, therefore, that the forearm vascular bed dilates actively shortly after release of substantial venous congestion. It would seem more likely that a myogenic mechanism, rather than a metabolic one, is responsible. PMID:5532541

  10. Optimal signal timing design for urban street networks under user equilibrium based traffic conditions : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-09-20

    In the ever-growing travel demand, traffic congestion on freeways and expressways : recurs more frequently at a higher number of locations and for longer durations with : added severity. This becomes especially true in large metropolitan areas. Parti...

  11. The design of traffic signal coordinated control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Xueting; Sun, Hongsheng; Wang, Xifu

    2017-05-01

    Traffic as the tertiary industry is an important pillar industry to support the normal development of the economy. But now China's road traffic development and economic development has shown a great imbalance and fault phenomenon, which greatly inhibited the normal development of China's economy. Now in many large and medium-sized cities in China are implementing green belt construction. The so-called green band is when the road conditions to meet the conditions for the establishment of the green band, the sections of the intersection of several planning to a traffic coordination control system, so that when the driver at a specific speed can be achieved without stopping the continuous Through the intersection. Green belt can effectively reduce the delay and queuing length of vehicle driving, the normal function of urban roads and reduce the economic losses caused by traffic congestion is a great help. In this paper, the theoretical basis of the design of the coordinated control system is described. Secondly, the green time offset is calculated by the analytic method and the green band is established. And then the VISSIM software is used to simulate the traffic system before and after the improvement. Finally, the results of the two simulations are compared.

  12. Exhaust Emissions Measured Under Real Traffic Conditions from Vehicles Fitted with Spark Ignition and Compression Ignition Engines

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Merkisz, Jerzy; Lijewski, Piotr; Fuć, Paweł

    2011-06-01

    The tests performed under real traffic conditions provide invaluable information on the relations between the engine parameters, vehicle parameters and traffic conditions (traffic congestion) on one side and the exhaust emissions on the other. The paper presents the result of road tests obtained in an urban and extra-urban cycles for vehicles fitted with different engines, spark ignition engine and compression ignition engine. For the tests a portable emission analyzer SEMTECH DS. by SENSORS was used. This analyzer provides online measurement of the concentrations of exhaust emission components on a vehicle in motion under real traffic conditions. The tests were performed in city traffic. A comparative analysis has been presented of the obtained results for vehicles with individual powertrains.

  13. Congestion Prediction Modeling for Quality of Service Improvement in Wireless Sensor Networks

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Ga-Won; Lee, Sung-Young; Huh, Eui-Nam

    2014-01-01

    Information technology (IT) is pushing ahead with drastic reforms of modern life for improvement of human welfare. Objects constitute “Information Networks” through smart, self-regulated information gathering that also recognizes and controls current information states in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Information observed from sensor networks in real-time is used to increase quality of life (QoL) in various industries and daily life. One of the key challenges of the WSNs is how to achieve lossless data transmission. Although nowadays sensor nodes have enhanced capacities, it is hard to assure lossless and reliable end-to-end data transmission in WSNs due to the unstable wireless links and low hard ware resources to satisfy high quality of service (QoS) requirements. We propose a node and path traffic prediction model to predict and minimize the congestion. This solution includes prediction of packet generation due to network congestion from both periodic and event data generation. Simulation using NS-2 and Matlab is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution. PMID:24784035

  14. Expanding the Use of Time-Based Metering: Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Landry, Steven J.; Farley, Todd; Hoang, Ty

    2005-01-01

    Time-based metering is an efficient air traffic management alternative to the more common practice of distance-based metering (or "miles-in-trail spacing"). Despite having demonstrated significant operational benefit to airspace users and service providers, time-based metering is used in the United States for arrivals to just nine airports and is not used at all for non-arrival traffic flows. The Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor promises to bring time-based metering into the mainstream of air traffic management techniques. Not constrained to operate solely on arrival traffic, Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor is flexible enough to work in highly congested or heavily partitioned airspace for any and all traffic flows in a region. This broader and more general application of time-based metering is expected to bring the operational benefits of time-based metering to a much wider pool of beneficiaries than is possible with existing technology. It also promises to facilitate more collaborative traffic management on a regional basis. This paper focuses on the operational concept of the Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor, touching also on its system architecture, field test results, and prospects for near-term deployment to the United States National Airspace System.

  15. A cellular automaton model for ship traffic flow in waterways

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qi, Le; Zheng, Zhongyi; Gang, Longhui

    2017-04-01

    With the development of marine traffic, waterways become congested and more complicated traffic phenomena in ship traffic flow are observed. It is important and necessary to build a ship traffic flow model based on cellular automata (CAs) to study the phenomena and improve marine transportation efficiency and safety. Spatial discretization rules for waterways and update rules for ship movement are two important issues that are very different from vehicle traffic. To solve these issues, a CA model for ship traffic flow, called a spatial-logical mapping (SLM) model, is presented. In this model, the spatial discretization rules are improved by adding a mapping rule. And the dynamic ship domain model is considered in the update rules to describe ships' interaction more exactly. Take the ship traffic flow in the Singapore Strait for example, some simulations were carried out and compared. The simulations show that the SLM model could avoid ship pseudo lane-change efficiently, which is caused by traditional spatial discretization rules. The ship velocity change in the SLM model is consistent with the measured data. At finally, from the fundamental diagram, the relationship between traffic ability and the lengths of ships is explored. The number of ships in the waterway declines when the proportion of large ships increases.

  16. Estimation of the full marginal costs of port related truck traffic.

    PubMed

    Berechman, Joseph

    2009-11-01

    NY region is expected to grow by additional 1 million people by 2020, which translates into roughly 70 million more tons of goods to be delivered annually. Due to lack of rail capacity, mainly trucks will haul this volume of freight, challenging an already much constrained highway network. What are the total costs associated with this additional traffic, in particular, congestion, safety and emission? Since a major source of this expected flow is the Port of New York-New Jersey, this paper focuses on the estimation of the full marginal costs of truck traffic resulting from the further expansion of the port's activities.

  17. An extended car-following model considering the acceleration derivative in some typical traffic environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Tong; Chen, Dong; Liu, Weining

    2018-03-01

    Based on the full velocity difference and acceleration car-following model, an extended car-following model is proposed by considering the vehicle’s acceleration derivative. The stability condition is given by applying the control theory. Considering some typical traffic environments, the results of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation show the extended model has a more actual acceleration of string vehicles than that of the previous models in starting process, stopping process and sudden brake. Meanwhile, the traffic jams more easily occur when the coefficient of vehicle’s acceleration derivative increases, which is presented by space-time evolution. The results confirm that the vehicle’s acceleration derivative plays an important role in the traffic jamming transition and the evolution of traffic congestion.

  18. Signalling and obfuscation for congestion control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mareček, Jakub; Shorten, Robert; Yu, Jia Yuan

    2015-10-01

    We aim to reduce the social cost of congestion in many smart city applications. In our model of congestion, agents interact over limited resources after receiving signals from a central agent that observes the state of congestion in real time. Under natural models of agent populations, we develop new signalling schemes and show that by introducing a non-trivial amount of uncertainty in the signals, we reduce the social cost of congestion, i.e., improve social welfare. The signalling schemes are efficient in terms of both communication and computation, and are consistent with past observations of the congestion. Moreover, the resulting population dynamics converge under reasonable assumptions.

  19. Performance Evaluation of FAST TCP Traffic-Flows in Multihomed MANETs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mudassir, Mumajjed Ul; Akram, Adeel

    In Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) an efficient communication protocol is required at the transport layer. Mobile nodes moving around will have temporary and rather short-lived connectivity with each other and the Internet, thus requiring efficient utilization of network resources. Moreover the problems arising due to high mobility, collision and congestion must also be considered. Multihoming allows higher reliability and enhancement of network throughput. FAST TCP is a new promising transport layer protocol developed for high-speed high-latency networks. In this paper, we have analyzed the performance of FAST TCP traffic flows in multihomed MANETs and compared it with standard TCP (TCP Reno) traffic flows in non-multihomed MANETs.

  20. Estimates of CO2 traffic emissions from mobile concentration measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maness, H. L.; Thurlow, M. E.; McDonald, B. C.; Harley, R. A.

    2015-03-01

    We present data from a new mobile system intended to aid in the design of upcoming urban CO2-monitoring networks. Our collected data include GPS probe data, video-derived traffic density, and accurate CO2 concentration measurements. The method described here is economical, scalable, and self-contained, allowing for potential future deployment in locations without existing traffic infrastructure or vehicle fleet information. Using a test data set collected on California Highway 24 over a 2 week period, we observe that on-road CO2 concentrations are elevated by a factor of 2 in congestion compared to free-flow conditions. This result is found to be consistent with a model including vehicle-induced turbulence and standard engine physics. In contrast to surface concentrations, surface emissions are found to be relatively insensitive to congestion. We next use our model for CO2 concentration together with our data to independently derive vehicle emission rate parameters. Parameters scaling the leading four emission rate terms are found to be within 25% of those expected for a typical passenger car fleet, enabling us to derive instantaneous emission rates directly from our data that compare generally favorably to predictive models presented in the literature. The present results highlight the importance of high spatial and temporal resolution traffic data for interpreting on- and near-road concentration measurements. Future work will focus on transport and the integration of mobile platforms into existing stationary network designs.

  1. Road Environments: Impact of Metals on Human Health in Heavily Congested Cities of Poland

    PubMed Central

    Adamiec, Ewa

    2017-01-01

    Road dust as a by-product of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions can be a major cause of systemic oxidative stress and multiple disorders. Substantial amounts of road dust are repeatedly resuspended, in particular at traffic lights and junctions where more braking is involved, causing potential threat to pedestrians, especially children. In order to determine the degree of contamination in the heavily traffic-congested cities of Poland, a total of 148 samples of road dust (RD), sludge from storm drains (SL) and roadside soil (RS) were collected. Sixteen metals were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in all samples. Chemical evaluation followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that road environments have been severely contaminated with traffic-related elements. Concentration of copper in all road-environment samples is even higher, exceeding even up to 15 times its average concentrations established for the surrounding soils. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment revealed that the hazard index (HI) for children in all road-environment samples exceeds the safe level of 1. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to potential health risks caused by the ingestion of traffic-related particles during outdoor activities. PMID:28661464

  2. Road Environments: Impact of Metals on Human Health in Heavily Congested Cities of Poland.

    PubMed

    Adamiec, Ewa

    2017-06-29

    Road dust as a by-product of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions can be a major cause of systemic oxidative stress and multiple disorders. Substantial amounts of road dust are repeatedly resuspended, in particular at traffic lights and junctions where more braking is involved, causing potential threat to pedestrians, especially children. In order to determine the degree of contamination in the heavily traffic-congested cities of Poland, a total of 148 samples of road dust (RD), sludge from storm drains (SL) and roadside soil (RS) were collected. Sixteen metals were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) in all samples. Chemical evaluation followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed that road environments have been severely contaminated with traffic-related elements. Concentration of copper in all road-environment samples is even higher, exceeding even up to 15 times its average concentrations established for the surrounding soils. Non-carcinogenic health risk assessment revealed that the hazard index (HI) for children in all road-environment samples exceeds the safe level of 1. Therefore, greater attention should be paid to potential health risks caused by the ingestion of traffic-related particles during outdoor activities.

  3. Impact of traffic composition on accessibility as indicator of transport sustainability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nahdalina; Hadiwardoyo, S. P.; Nahry

    2017-05-01

    Sustainable transport is closely related to quality of life in the community at present and in the future. Some indicators of transport sustainability are accessibility measurement of origin/destination, the operating costs of transport (vehicle operating cost or VOC) and external transportation costs (emission cost). The indicators could be combined into accessibility measurement model. In other case, almost traffic congestion occurred on the condition of mixed traffic. This paper aimed to analyse the indicator of transport sustainability through simulation under condition of various traffic composition. Various composition of truck to total traffic flow are 0%, 10% and 20%. Speed and V/C are calculated from traffic flow to estimate the VOC and emission cost. 5 VOC components and 3 types of emission cost (CO2, CH4 and N2O) are counted to be a travel cost. Accessibility measurement was calculated using travel cost and gravity model approaches. Result of the research shows that the total traffic flow has indirect impact on accessibility measurement if using travel cost approach. Meanwhile, the composition of traffic flow has an affect on accessibility measurement if using gravity model approach.

  4. Analysis of Random Drop for Gateway Congestion Control

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-11-01

    effective congest)on control policies. Currently No Gateway Policy is used to relieve and signal congestion, which leads to unfair service to the...early application of the policy removes the pressure of congestion relief and allows more accurate signaling of congestion. ’ To be used effectively ...prompted the need for more effective congestion control policies. Currently No Gateway Policy is used to relieve and signal congestion, which leads to

  5. CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PHYSICS AND RELATED AREAS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: A Realistic Cellular Automaton Model for Synchronized Traffic Flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Bo-Han; Hu, Mao-Bin; Jiang, Rui; Wu, Qing-Song

    2009-11-01

    A cellular automaton model is proposed to consider the anticipation effect in drivers' behavior. It is shown that the anticipation effect can be one of the origins of synchronized traffic flow. With anticipation effect, the congested traffic flow simulated by the model exhibits the features of synchronized flow. The spatiotemporal patterns induced by an on-ramp are also consistent with the three-phase traffic theory. Since the origin of synchronized flow is still controversial, our work can shed some light on the mechanism of synchronized flow.

  6. Simulation of three lanes one-way freeway in low visibility weather by possible traffic accidents

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pang, Ming-bao; Zheng, Sha-sha; Cai, Zhang-hui

    2015-09-01

    The aim of this work is to investigate the traffic impact of low visibility weather on a freeway including the fraction of real vehicle rear-end accidents and road traffic capacity. Based on symmetric two-lane Nagel-Schreckenberg (STNS) model, a cellular automaton model of three-lane freeway mainline with the real occurrence of rear-end accidents in low visibility weather, which considers delayed reaction time and deceleration restriction, was established with access to real-time traffic information of intelligent transportation system (ITS). The characteristics of traffic flow in different visibility weather were discussed via the simulation experiments. The results indicate that incoming flow control (decreasing upstream traffic volume) and inputting variable speed limits (VSL) signal are effective in accident reducing and road actual traffic volume's enhancing. According to different visibility and traffic demand the appropriate control strategies should be adopted in order to not only decrease the probability of vehicle accidents but also avoid congestion.

  7. Delay Banking for Managing Air Traffic

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Green, Steve

    2008-01-01

    Delay banking has been invented to enhance air-traffic management in a way that would increase the degree of fairness in assigning arrival, departure, and en-route delays and trajectory deviations to aircraft impacted by congestion in the national airspace system. In delay banking, an aircraft operator (airline, military, general aviation, etc.) would be assigned a numerical credit when any of their flights are delayed because of an air-traffic flow restriction. The operator could subsequently bid against other operators competing for access to congested airspace to utilize part or all of its accumulated credit. Operators utilize credits to obtain higher priority for the same flight, or other flights operating at the same time, or later, in the same airspace, or elsewhere. Operators could also trade delay credits, according to market rules that would be determined by stakeholders in the national airspace system. Delay banking would be administered by an independent third party who would use delay banking automation to continually monitor flights, allocate delay credits, maintain accounts of delay credits for participating airlines, mediate bidding and the consumption of credits of winning bidders, analyze potential transfers of credits within and between operators, implement accepted transfers, and ensure fair treatment of all participating operators. A flow restriction can manifest itself in the form of a delay in assigned takeoff time, a reduction in assigned airspeed, a change in the position for the aircraft in a queue of all aircraft in a common stream of traffic (e.g., similar route), a change in the planned altitude profile for an aircraft, or change in the planned route for the aircraft. Flow restrictions are typically imposed to mitigate traffic congestion at an airport or in a region of airspace, particularly congestion due to inclement weather, or the unavailability of a runway or region of airspace. A delay credit would be allocated to an operator of a

  8. Auction Mechanism to Allocate Air Traffic Control Slots

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Raffarin, Marianne

    2003-01-01

    This article deals with an auction mechanism for airspace slots, as a means of solving the European airspace congestion problem. A disequilibrium, between Air Traffic Control (ATC) services supply and ATC services demand are at the origin of almost one fourth of delays in the air transport industry in Europe. In order to tackle this congestion problem, we suggest modifying both pricing and allocation of ATC services, by setting up an auction mechanism. Objects of the auction will be the right for airlines to cross a part of the airspace, and then to benefit from ATC services over a period corresponding to the necessary time for the crossing. Allocation and payment rules have to be defined according to the objectives of this auction. The auctioneer is the public authority in charge of ATC services, whose aim is to obtain an efficient allocation. Therefore, the social value will be maximized. Another objective is to internalize congestion costs. To that end, we apply the principle of Clarke-Groves mechanism auction: each winner has to pay the externalities imposed on other bidders. The complex context of ATC leads to a specific design for this auction.

  9. Criticism of generally accepted fundamentals and methodologies of traffic and transportation theory

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kerner, Boris S.

    It is explained why the set of the fundamental empirical features of traffic breakdown (a transition from free flow to congested traffic) should be the empirical basis for any traffic and transportation theory that can be reliable used for control and optimization in traffic networks. It is shown that generally accepted fundamentals and methodologies of traffic and transportation theory are not consistent with the set of the fundamental empirical features of traffic breakdown at a highway bottleneck. To these fundamentals and methodologies of traffic and transportation theory belong (i) Lighthill-Whitham-Richards (LWR) theory, (ii) the General Motors (GM) model class (formore » example, Herman, Gazis et al. GM model, Gipps’s model, Payne’s model, Newell’s optimal velocity (OV) model, Wiedemann’s model, Bando et al. OV model, Treiber’s IDM, Krauß’s model), (iii) the understanding of highway capacity as a particular stochastic value, and (iv) principles for traffic and transportation network optimization and control (for example, Wardrop’s user equilibrium (UE) and system optimum (SO) principles). Alternatively to these generally accepted fundamentals and methodologies of traffic and transportation theory, we discuss three-phase traffic theory as the basis for traffic flow modeling as well as briefly consider the network breakdown minimization (BM) principle for the optimization of traffic and transportation networks with road bottlenecks.« less

  10. Cellular automata model for traffic flow at intersections in internet of vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Han-Tao; Liu, Xin-Ru; Chen, Xiao-Xu; Lu, Jian-Cheng

    2018-03-01

    Considering the effect of the front vehicle's speed, the influence of the brake light and the conflict of the traffic flow, we established a cellular automata model called CE-NS for traffic flow at the intersection in the non-vehicle networking environment. According to the information interaction of Internet of Vehicles (IoV), introducing parameters describing the congestion and the accurate speed of the front vehicle into the CE-NS model, we improved the rules of acceleration, deceleration and conflict, and finally established a cellular automata model for traffic flow at intersections of IoV. The relationship between traffic parameters such as vehicle speed, flow and average travel time is obtained by numerical simulation of two models. Based on this, we compared the traffic situation of the non-vehicle networking environment with conditions of IoV environment, and analyzed the influence of the different degree of IoV on the traffic flow. The results show that the traffic speed is increased, the travel time is reduced, the flux of intersections is increased and the traffic flow is more smoothly under IoV environment. After the vehicle which achieves IoV reaches a certain proportion, the operation effect of the traffic flow begins to improve obviously.

  11. Living on the Edge of Stagnant Water: An Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Construction-Phase Drainage Congestion Along Dhaka City Flood Control Embankment, Bangladesh

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rasid, Harun; Mallsk, Azim U.

    1996-01-01

    Environmental impacts of the construction-phase drainage congestion along the Dhaka City Flood Control Embankment were assessed by a pilot questionnaire survey (in 1991) among the target population adjacent to the embankment. The results of the survey indicated that, despite significant alleviation of river flooding, the majority of the respondents experienced a new type of flood problem in the form of stagnant water inside the embankment, immediately following its construction. Not only had this stagnant water flooded and damaged their property, it had exposed them to a number of other environmental problems, such as accumulation of municipal sewage, foul odors, mosquitoes, and growth of water hyacinth. The study found that the respondents’ assessments of these environmental problems differed significantly according to the magnitude of the impact of stagnant water upon two subgroups within the target population. A postsurvey follow-up in 1994 indicated that this problem of drainage congestion had largely been alleviated by completing the construction of a number of drainage regulators. The study concludes by stressing the importance of synchronizing the construction of drainage structures with that of the embankment systems and by underlining policy implications for flood-vulnerable land use adjacent to embankments.

  12. The impact of traffic-flow patterns on air quality in urban street canyons.

    PubMed

    Thaker, Prashant; Gokhale, Sharad

    2016-01-01

    We investigated the effect of different urban traffic-flow patterns on pollutant dispersion in different winds in a real asymmetric street canyon. Free-flow traffic causes more turbulence in the canyon facilitating more dispersion and a reduction in pedestrian level concentration. The comparison of with and without a vehicle-induced-turbulence revealed that when winds were perpendicular, the free-flow traffic reduced the concentration by 73% on the windward side with a minor increase of 17% on the leeward side, whereas for parallel winds, it reduced the concentration by 51% and 29%. The congested-flow traffic increased the concentrations on the leeward side by 47% when winds were perpendicular posing a higher risk to health, whereas reduced it by 17-42% for parallel winds. The urban air quality and public health can, therefore, be improved by improving the traffic-flow patterns in street canyons as vehicle-induced turbulence has been shown to contribute significantly to dispersion. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Price of anarchy on heterogeneous traffic-flow networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rose, A.; O'Dea, R.; Hopcraft, K. I.

    2016-09-01

    The efficiency of routing traffic through a network, comprising nodes connected by links whose cost of traversal is either fixed or varies in proportion to volume of usage, can be measured by the "price of anarchy." This is the ratio of the cost incurred by agents who act to minimize their individual expenditure to the optimal cost borne by the entire system. As the total traffic load and the network variability—parameterized by the proportion of variable-cost links in the network—changes, the behaviors that the system presents can be understood with the introduction of a network of simpler structure. This is constructed from classes of nonoverlapping paths connecting source to destination nodes that are characterized by the number of variable-cost edges they contain. It is shown that localized peaks in the price of anarchy occur at critical traffic volumes at which it becomes beneficial to exploit ostensibly more expensive paths as the network becomes more congested. Simulation results verifying these findings are presented for the variation of the price of anarchy with the network's size, aspect ratio, variability, and traffic load.

  14. Price of anarchy on heterogeneous traffic-flow networks.

    PubMed

    Rose, A; O'Dea, R; Hopcraft, K I

    2016-09-01

    The efficiency of routing traffic through a network, comprising nodes connected by links whose cost of traversal is either fixed or varies in proportion to volume of usage, can be measured by the "price of anarchy." This is the ratio of the cost incurred by agents who act to minimize their individual expenditure to the optimal cost borne by the entire system. As the total traffic load and the network variability-parameterized by the proportion of variable-cost links in the network-changes, the behaviors that the system presents can be understood with the introduction of a network of simpler structure. This is constructed from classes of nonoverlapping paths connecting source to destination nodes that are characterized by the number of variable-cost edges they contain. It is shown that localized peaks in the price of anarchy occur at critical traffic volumes at which it becomes beneficial to exploit ostensibly more expensive paths as the network becomes more congested. Simulation results verifying these findings are presented for the variation of the price of anarchy with the network's size, aspect ratio, variability, and traffic load.

  15. Congestion pricing : a primer : overview

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-10-01

    This Overview primer was produced to explain the concept of congestion pricing and its benefits, to present examples of congestion-pricing approaches implemented in the United States and abroad, and to briefly discuss federal-aid policy and programs ...

  16. Optimized Structure of the Traffic Flow Forecasting Model With a Deep Learning Approach.

    PubMed

    Yang, Hao-Fan; Dillon, Tharam S; Chen, Yi-Ping Phoebe

    2017-10-01

    Forecasting accuracy is an important issue for successful intelligent traffic management, especially in the domain of traffic efficiency and congestion reduction. The dawning of the big data era brings opportunities to greatly improve prediction accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel model, stacked autoencoder Levenberg-Marquardt model, which is a type of deep architecture of neural network approach aiming to improve forecasting accuracy. The proposed model is designed using the Taguchi method to develop an optimized structure and to learn traffic flow features through layer-by-layer feature granulation with a greedy layerwise unsupervised learning algorithm. It is applied to real-world data collected from the M6 freeway in the U.K. and is compared with three existing traffic predictors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an optimized structure of the traffic flow forecasting model with a deep learning approach is presented. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed model with an optimized structure has superior performance in traffic flow forecasting.

  17. Mobile Crowd Sensing for Traffic Prediction in Internet of Vehicles.

    PubMed

    Wan, Jiafu; Liu, Jianqi; Shao, Zehui; Vasilakos, Athanasios V; Imran, Muhammad; Zhou, Keliang

    2016-01-11

    The advances in wireless communication techniques, mobile cloud computing, automotive and intelligent terminal technology are driving the evolution of vehicle ad hoc networks into the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) paradigm. This leads to a change in the vehicle routing problem from a calculation based on static data towards real-time traffic prediction. In this paper, we first address the taxonomy of cloud-assisted IoV from the viewpoint of the service relationship between cloud computing and IoV. Then, we review the traditional traffic prediction approached used by both Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications. On this basis, we propose a mobile crowd sensing technology to support the creation of dynamic route choices for drivers wishing to avoid congestion. Experiments were carried out to verify the proposed approaches. Finally, we discuss the outlook of reliable traffic prediction.

  18. Mobile Crowd Sensing for Traffic Prediction in Internet of Vehicles

    PubMed Central

    Wan, Jiafu; Liu, Jianqi; Shao, Zehui; Vasilakos, Athanasios V.; Imran, Muhammad; Zhou, Keliang

    2016-01-01

    The advances in wireless communication techniques, mobile cloud computing, automotive and intelligent terminal technology are driving the evolution of vehicle ad hoc networks into the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) paradigm. This leads to a change in the vehicle routing problem from a calculation based on static data towards real-time traffic prediction. In this paper, we first address the taxonomy of cloud-assisted IoV from the viewpoint of the service relationship between cloud computing and IoV. Then, we review the traditional traffic prediction approached used by both Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications. On this basis, we propose a mobile crowd sensing technology to support the creation of dynamic route choices for drivers wishing to avoid congestion. Experiments were carried out to verify the proposed approaches. Finally, we discuss the outlook of reliable traffic prediction. PMID:26761013

  19. A systematic evaluation of the impacts of traffic condition information on the reduction of on-road mobile emissions : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-07-01

    Current Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) allow travelers to change their route, mode, departure time, route choice or destination to avoid delays and congestions, which results in improved traffic flow. This means higher vehicle speed, lo...

  20. Collective benefits in traffic during mega events via the use of information technologies

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Yanyan; González, Marta C.

    2017-01-01

    Information technologies today can inform each of us about the route with the shortest time, but they do not contain incentives to manage travellers such that we all get collective benefits in travel times. To that end we need travel demand estimates and target strategies to reduce the traffic volume from the congested roads during peak hours in a feasible way. During large events, the traffic inconveniences in large cities are unusually high, yet temporary, and the entire population may be more willing to adopt collective recommendations for collective benefits in traffic. In this paper, we integrate, for the first time, big data resources to estimate the impact of events on traffic and propose target strategies for collective good at the urban scale. In the context of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, we first predict the expected increase in traffic. To that end, we integrate data from mobile phones, Airbnb, Waze and transit information, with game schedules and expected attendance in each venue. Next, we evaluate different route choice scenarios for drivers during the peak hours. Finally, we gather information on the trips that contribute the most to the global congestion which could be redirected from vehicles to transit. Interestingly, we show that (i) following new route alternatives during the event with individual shortest times can save more collective travel time than keeping the routine routes used before the event, uncovering the positive value of information technologies during events; (ii) with only a small proportion of people selected from specific areas switching from driving to public transport, the collective travel time can be reduced to a great extent. Results are presented online for evaluation by the public and policymakers (www.flows-rio2016.com (last accessed 3 September 2017)). PMID:28404868

  1. Collective benefits in traffic during mega events via the use of information technologies.

    PubMed

    Xu, Yanyan; González, Marta C

    2017-04-01

    Information technologies today can inform each of us about the route with the shortest time, but they do not contain incentives to manage travellers such that we all get collective benefits in travel times. To that end we need travel demand estimates and target strategies to reduce the traffic volume from the congested roads during peak hours in a feasible way. During large events, the traffic inconveniences in large cities are unusually high, yet temporary, and the entire population may be more willing to adopt collective recommendations for collective benefits in traffic. In this paper, we integrate, for the first time, big data resources to estimate the impact of events on traffic and propose target strategies for collective good at the urban scale. In the context of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, we first predict the expected increase in traffic. To that end, we integrate data from mobile phones, Airbnb, Waze and transit information, with game schedules and expected attendance in each venue. Next, we evaluate different route choice scenarios for drivers during the peak hours. Finally, we gather information on the trips that contribute the most to the global congestion which could be redirected from vehicles to transit. Interestingly, we show that (i) following new route alternatives during the event with individual shortest times can save more collective travel time than keeping the routine routes used before the event, uncovering the positive value of information technologies during events; (ii) with only a small proportion of people selected from specific areas switching from driving to public transport, the collective travel time can be reduced to a great extent. Results are presented online for evaluation by the public and policymakers (www.flows-rio2016.com (last accessed 3 September 2017)). © 2017 The Author(s).

  2. Reducing transit bus emissions: Alternative fuels or traffic operations?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alam, Ahsan; Hatzopoulou, Marianne

    2014-06-01

    In this study, we simulated the operations and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of transit buses along a busy corridor and quantified the effects of two different fuels (conventional diesel and compressed natural gas) as well as a set of driving conditions on emissions. Results indicate that compressed natural gas (CNG) reduces GHG emissions by 8-12% compared to conventional diesel, this reduction could increase to 16% with high levels of traffic congestion. However, the benefits of switching from conventional diesel to CNG are less apparent when the road network is uncongested. We also investigated the effects of bus operations on emissions by applying several strategies such as transit signal priority (TSP), queue jumper lanes, and relocation of bus stops. Results show that in congested conditions, TSP alone can reduce GHG emissions by 14% and when combined with improved technology; a reduction of 23% is achieved. The reduction benefits are even more apparent when other transit operational improvements are combined with TSP. Finally a sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the effect of operational improvements on emissions under varying levels of network congestion. We observe that under “extreme congestion”, the benefits of TSP decrease.

  3. Development of simulation techniques suitable for the analysis of air traffic control situations and instrumentation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1972-01-01

    A terminal area simulation is described which permits analysis and synthesis of current and advanced air traffic management system configurations including ground and airborne instrumentation and new and modified aircraft characteristics. Ground elements in the simulation include navigation aids, surveillance radars, communication links, air-route structuring, ATC procedures, airport geometries and runway handling constraints. Airborne elements include traffic samples with individual aircraft performance and operating characteristics and aircraft navigation equipment. The simulation also contains algorithms for conflict detection, conflict resolution, sequencing and pilot-controller data links. The simulation model is used to determine the sensitivities of terminal area traffic flow, safety and congestion to aircraft performance characteristics, avionics systems, and other ATC elements.

  4. A novel fair active queue management algorithm based on traffic delay jitter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Xue-Shun; Yu, Shao-Hua; Dai, Jin-You; Luo, Ting

    2009-11-01

    In order to guarantee the quantity of data traffic delivered in the network, congestion control strategy is adopted. According to the study of many active queue management (AQM) algorithms, this paper proposes a novel active queue management algorithm named JFED. JFED can stabilize queue length at a desirable level by adjusting output traffic rate and adopting a reasonable calculation of packet drop probability based on buffer queue length and traffic jitter; and it support burst packet traffic through the packet delay jitter, so that it can traffic flow medium data. JFED impose effective punishment upon non-responsible flow with a full stateless method. To verify the performance of JFED, it is implemented in NS2 and is compared with RED and CHOKe with respect to different performance metrics. Simulation results show that the proposed JFED algorithm outperforms RED and CHOKe in stabilizing instantaneous queue length and in fairness. It is also shown that JFED enables the link capacity to be fully utilized by stabilizing the queue length at a desirable level, while not incurring excessive packet loss ratio.

  5. Analysis of Trajectory Flexibility Preservation Impact on Traffic Complexity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Idris, Husni; El-Wakil, Tarek; Wing, David J.

    2009-01-01

    The growing demand for air travel is increasing the need for mitigation of air traffic congestion and complexity problems, which are already at high levels. At the same time new information and automation technologies are enabling the distribution of tasks and decisions from the service providers to the users of the air traffic system, with potential capacity and cost benefits. This distribution of tasks and decisions raises the concern that independent user actions will decrease the predictability and increase the complexity of the traffic system, hence inhibiting and possibly reversing any potential benefits. In answer to this concern, the authors proposed the introduction of decision-making metrics for preserving user trajectory flexibility. The hypothesis is that such metrics will make user actions naturally mitigate traffic complexity. In this paper, the impact of using these metrics on traffic complexity is investigated. The scenarios analyzed include aircraft in en route airspace with each aircraft meeting a required time of arrival in a one-hour time horizon while mitigating the risk of loss of separation with the other aircraft, thus preserving its trajectory flexibility. The experiments showed promising results in that the individual trajectory flexibility preservation induced self-separation and self-organization effects in the overall traffic situation. The effects were quantified using traffic complexity metrics, namely dynamic density indicators, which indicated that using the flexibility metrics reduced aircraft density and the potential of loss of separation.

  6. Delivering Faster Congestion Feedback with the Mark-Front Strategy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liu, Chunlei; Jain, Raj

    2001-01-01

    Computer networks use congestion feedback from the routers and destinations to control the transmission load. Delivering timely congestion feedback is essential to the performance of networks. Reaction to the congestion can be more effective if faster feedback is provided. Current TCP/IP networks use timeout, duplicate Acknowledgement Packets (ACKs) and explicit congestion notification (ECN) to deliver the congestion feedback, each provides a faster feedback than the previous method. In this paper, we propose a markfront strategy that delivers an even faster congestion feedback. With analytical and simulation results, we show that mark-front strategy reduces buffer size requirement, improves link efficiency and provides better fairness among users. Keywords: Explicit Congestion Notification, mark-front, congestion control, buffer size requirement, fairness.

  7. Autonomous Congestion Control in Delay-Tolerant Networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burleigh, Scott; Jennings, Esther; Schoolcraft, Joshua

    2006-01-01

    Congestion control is an important feature that directly affects network performance. Network congestion may cause loss of data or long delays. Although this problem has been studied extensively in the Internet, the solutions for Internet congestion control do not apply readily to challenged network environments such as Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) where end-to-end connectivity may not exist continuously and latency can be high. In DTN, end-to-end rate control is not feasible. This calls for congestion control mechanisms where the decisions can be made autonomously with local information only. We use an economic pricing model and propose a rule-based congestion control mechanism where each router can autonomously decide on whether to accept a bundle (data) based on local information such as available storage and the value and risk of accepting the bundle (derived from historical statistics). Preliminary experimental results show that this congestion control mechanism can protect routers from resource depletion without loss of data.

  8. Description of Various Factors Contributing to Traffic Accidents in Youth and Measures Proposed to Alleviate Recurrence.

    PubMed

    Gicquel, Ludovic; Ordonneau, Pauline; Blot, Emilie; Toillon, Charlotte; Ingrand, Pierre; Romo, Lucia

    2017-01-01

    Traffic accidents are the leading cause of hospitalization in adolescence, with the 18-24-year-old age group accounting for 23% of deaths by traffic accidents. Recurrence rate is also high. One in four teenagers will have a relapse within the year following the first accident. Cognitive impairments known in adolescence could cause risky behaviors, defined as repetitive engagement in dangerous situations such as road accidents. Two categories of factors seem to be associated with traffic accidents: (1) factors specific to the traffic environment and (2) "human" factors, which seem to be the most influential. Moreover, the establishment of a stronger relation to high speed driving increases traffic accident risks and can also be intensified by sensation seeking. Other factors such as substance use (alcohol, drugs, and "binge drinking") are also identified as risk factors. Furthermore, cell phone use while driving and attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity also seem to be important risk factors for car accidents. The family environment strongly influences a young person's driving behavior. Some interventional driving strategies and preventive measures have reduced the risk of traffic accidents among young people, such as the graduated driver licensing program and advertising campaigns. So far, few therapeutic approaches have been implemented. Reason why, we decided to set up an innovative strategy consisting of a therapeutic postaccident group intervention, entitled the ECARR2 protocol, to prevent recurrence among adolescents and young adults identified at risk, taking into account the multiple risk factors.

  9. Constraints of nonresponding flows based on cross layers in the networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Zhi-Chao; Xiao, Yang; Wang, Dong

    2016-02-01

    In the active queue management (AQM) scheme, core routers cannot manage and constrain user datagram protocol (UDP) data flows by the sliding window control mechanism in the transport layer due to the nonresponsive nature of such traffic flows. However, the UDP traffics occupy a large part of the network service nowadays which brings a great challenge to the stability of the more and more complex networks. To solve the uncontrollable problem, this paper proposes a cross layers random early detection (CLRED) scheme, which can control the nonresponding UDP-like flows rate effectively when congestion occurs in the access point (AP). The CLRED makes use of the MAC frame acknowledgement (ACK) transmitting congestion information to the sources nodes and utilizes the back-off windows of the MAC layer throttling data rate. Consequently, the UDP-like flows data rate can be restrained timely by the sources nodes in order to alleviate congestion in the complex networks. The proposed CLRED can constrain the nonresponsive flows availably and make the communication expedite, so that the network can sustain stable. The simulation results of network simulator-2 (NS2) verify the proposed CLRED scheme.

  10. A Hidden Markov Model for Urban-Scale Traffic Estimation Using Floating Car Data.

    PubMed

    Wang, Xiaomeng; Peng, Ling; Chi, Tianhe; Li, Mengzhu; Yao, Xiaojing; Shao, Jing

    2015-01-01

    Urban-scale traffic monitoring plays a vital role in reducing traffic congestion. Owing to its low cost and wide coverage, floating car data (FCD) serves as a novel approach to collecting traffic data. However, sparse probe data represents the vast majority of the data available on arterial roads in most urban environments. In order to overcome the problem of data sparseness, this paper proposes a hidden Markov model (HMM)-based traffic estimation model, in which the traffic condition on a road segment is considered as a hidden state that can be estimated according to the conditions of road segments having similar traffic characteristics. An algorithm based on clustering and pattern mining rather than on adjacency relationships is proposed to find clusters with road segments having similar traffic characteristics. A multi-clustering strategy is adopted to achieve a trade-off between clustering accuracy and coverage. Finally, the proposed model is designed and implemented on the basis of a real-time algorithm. Results of experiments based on real FCD confirm the applicability, accuracy, and efficiency of the model. In addition, the results indicate that the model is practicable for traffic estimation on urban arterials and works well even when more than 70% of the probe data are missing.

  11. Description of Various Factors Contributing to Traffic Accidents in Youth and Measures Proposed to Alleviate Recurrence

    PubMed Central

    Gicquel, Ludovic; Ordonneau, Pauline; Blot, Emilie; Toillon, Charlotte; Ingrand, Pierre; Romo, Lucia

    2017-01-01

    Traffic accidents are the leading cause of hospitalization in adolescence, with the 18–24-year-old age group accounting for 23% of deaths by traffic accidents. Recurrence rate is also high. One in four teenagers will have a relapse within the year following the first accident. Cognitive impairments known in adolescence could cause risky behaviors, defined as repetitive engagement in dangerous situations such as road accidents. Two categories of factors seem to be associated with traffic accidents: (1) factors specific to the traffic environment and (2) “human” factors, which seem to be the most influential. Moreover, the establishment of a stronger relation to high speed driving increases traffic accident risks and can also be intensified by sensation seeking. Other factors such as substance use (alcohol, drugs, and “binge drinking”) are also identified as risk factors. Furthermore, cell phone use while driving and attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity also seem to be important risk factors for car accidents. The family environment strongly influences a young person’s driving behavior. Some interventional driving strategies and preventive measures have reduced the risk of traffic accidents among young people, such as the graduated driver licensing program and advertising campaigns. So far, few therapeutic approaches have been implemented. Reason why, we decided to set up an innovative strategy consisting of a therapeutic postaccident group intervention, entitled the ECARR2 protocol, to prevent recurrence among adolescents and young adults identified at risk, taking into account the multiple risk factors. PMID:28620324

  12. Environmentally Reformed Travel Habits During the 2006 Congestion Charge Trial in Stockholm—A Qualitative Study

    PubMed Central

    Henriksson, Greger; Hagman, Olle; Andréasson, Håkan

    2011-01-01

    Policy measures that reduce or replace road traffic can improve environmental conditions in most large cities. In Stockholm a congestion charge was introduced during a test period in 2006. This was a full-scale trial that proved to meet its targets by reducing traffic crossing the inner city segment during rush hours by 20%. Emissions of carbon dioxide and particles were also substantially reduced. This study, based on in-depth interviews with 40 inhabitants, analyses how and why new travel habits emerged. The results show that particular, sometimes unexpected, features of everyday life (habits, resources, opportunities, values, etc.) were crucial for adjustment of travel behaviour in relation to the policy instrument. One example was that those accustomed to mixing different modes of transport on a daily basis more easily adapted their travel in the targeted way. On a more general level, the results revealed that the policy measure could actually tip the scales for the individual towards trying out a new behaviour. PMID:21909301

  13. Autonomous Congestion Control in Delay-Tolerant Networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burleigh, Scott C.; Jennings, Esther H.

    2005-01-01

    Congestion control is an important feature that directly affects network performance. Network congestion may cause loss of data or long delays. Although this problem has been studied extensively in the Internet, the solutions for Internet congestion control do not apply readily to challenged network environments such as Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) where end-to-end connectivity may not exist continuously and latency can be high. In DTN, end-to-end rate control is not feasible. This calls for congestion control mechanisms where the decisions can be made autonomously with local information only. We use an economic pricing model and propose a rule-based congestion control mechanism where each router can autonomously decide on whether to accept a bundle (data) based on local information such as available storage and the value and risk of accepting the bundle (derived from historical statistics).

  14. An integrated methodology to assess the benefits of urban green space.

    PubMed

    De Ridder, K; Adamec, V; Bañuelos, A; Bruse, M; Bürger, M; Damsgaard, O; Dufek, J; Hirsch, J; Lefebre, F; Pérez-Lacorzana, J M; Thierry, A; Weber, C

    2004-12-01

    The interrelated issues of urban sprawl, traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution are major socioeconomic problems faced by most European cities. A methodology is currently being developed for evaluating the role of green space and urban form in alleviating the adverse effects of urbanisation, mainly focusing on the environment but also accounting for socioeconomic aspects. The objectives and structure of the methodology are briefly outlined and illustrated with preliminary results obtained from case studies performed on several European cities.

  15. The Improvement on the Xinjiekou Subway Transfer Channel of Nanjing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, X. D.; Zheng, C. J.

    The subway, which is an effective way to alleviate the traffic congestion, has gradually been constructed in many cities. With the completion of the construction, the transfer station will become the factor that affects the efficiency of the whole transport network. Based on investigation and analysis of the present situation of the passenger flow, the essay will make a prediction with the multiple linear regression and put forward two kinds of transfer channel improvement schemes for xinjiekou transfer station.

  16. Delay-based virtual congestion control in multi-tenant datacenters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Yuxin; Zhu, Danhong; Zhang, Dong

    2018-03-01

    With the evolution of cloud computing and virtualization, the congestion control of virtual datacenters has become the basic issue for multi-tenant datacenters transmission. Regarding to the friendly conflict of heterogeneous congestion control among multi-tenant, this paper proposes a delay-based virtual congestion control, which translates the multi-tenant heterogeneous congestion control into delay-based feedback uniformly by setting the hypervisor translation layer, modifying three-way handshake of explicit feedback and packet loss feedback and throttling receive window. The simulation results show that the delay-based virtual congestion control can effectively solve the unfairness of heterogeneous feedback congestion control algorithms.

  17. Demonstration of alternative traffic information collection and management technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Knee, Helmut E.; Smith, Cy; Black, George; Petrolino, Joe

    2004-03-01

    Many of the components associated with the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to support a traffic management center (TMC) such as remote control cameras, traffic speed detectors, and variable message signs, have been available for many years. Their deployment, however, has been expensive and applied primarily to freeways and interstates, and have been deployed principally in the major metropolitan areas in the US; not smaller cities. The Knoxville (Tennessee) Transportation Planning Organization is sponsoring a project that will test the integration of several technologies to estimate near-real time traffic information data and information that could eventually be used by travelers to make better and more informed decisions related to their travel needs. The uniqueness of this demonstration is that it will seek to predict traffic conditions based on cellular phone signals already being collected by cellular communications companies. Information about the average speed on various portions of local arterials and incident identification (incident location) will be collected and compared to similar data generated by "probe vehicles". Successful validation of the speed information generated from cell phone data will allow traffic data to be generated much more economically and utilize technologies that are minimally infrastructure invasive. Furthermore, when validated, traffic information could be provided to the traveling public allowing then to make better decisions about trips. More efficient trip planning and execution can reduce congestion and associated vehicle emissions. This paper will discuss the technologies, the demonstration project, the project details, and future directions.

  18. Phase-plane analysis to an “anisotropic” higher-order traffic flow model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Chun-Xiu

    2018-04-01

    The qualitative theory of differential equations is applied to investigate the traveling wave solution to an “anisotropic” higher-order viscous traffic flow model under the Lagrange coordinate system. The types and stabilities of the equilibrium points are discussed in the phase plane. Through the numerical simulation, the overall distribution structures of trajectories are drawn to analyze the relation between the phase diagram and the selected conservative solution variables, and the influences of the parameters on the system are studied. The limit-circle, limit circle-spiral point, saddle-spiral point and saddle-nodal point solutions are obtained. These steady-state solutions provide good explanation for the phenomena of the oscillatory and homogeneous congestions in real-world traffic.

  19. Alternative performance measures for evaluating congestion.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2004-04-01

    This report summarizes the results of the work performed under the project Alternative Performance Measures for Evaluating : Congestion. The study first outlines existing approaches to looking at congestion. It then builds on the previous work in the...

  20. Characterization of Visual Scanning Patterns in Air Traffic Control

    PubMed Central

    McClung, Sarah N.; Kang, Ziho

    2016-01-01

    Characterization of air traffic controllers' (ATCs') visual scanning strategies is a challenging issue due to the dynamic movement of multiple aircraft and increasing complexity of scanpaths (order of eye fixations and saccades) over time. Additionally, terminologies and methods are lacking to accurately characterize the eye tracking data into simplified visual scanning strategies linguistically expressed by ATCs. As an intermediate step to automate the characterization classification process, we (1) defined and developed new concepts to systematically filter complex visual scanpaths into simpler and more manageable forms and (2) developed procedures to map visual scanpaths with linguistic inputs to reduce the human judgement bias during interrater agreement. The developed concepts and procedures were applied to investigating the visual scanpaths of expert ATCs using scenarios with different aircraft congestion levels. Furthermore, oculomotor trends were analyzed to identify the influence of aircraft congestion on scan time and number of comparisons among aircraft. The findings show that (1) the scanpaths filtered at the highest intensity led to more consistent mapping with the ATCs' linguistic inputs, (2) the pattern classification occurrences differed between scenarios, and (3) increasing aircraft congestion caused increased scan times and aircraft pairwise comparisons. The results provide a foundation for better characterizing complex scanpaths in a dynamic task and automating the analysis process. PMID:27239190

  1. Characterization of Visual Scanning Patterns in Air Traffic Control.

    PubMed

    McClung, Sarah N; Kang, Ziho

    2016-01-01

    Characterization of air traffic controllers' (ATCs') visual scanning strategies is a challenging issue due to the dynamic movement of multiple aircraft and increasing complexity of scanpaths (order of eye fixations and saccades) over time. Additionally, terminologies and methods are lacking to accurately characterize the eye tracking data into simplified visual scanning strategies linguistically expressed by ATCs. As an intermediate step to automate the characterization classification process, we (1) defined and developed new concepts to systematically filter complex visual scanpaths into simpler and more manageable forms and (2) developed procedures to map visual scanpaths with linguistic inputs to reduce the human judgement bias during interrater agreement. The developed concepts and procedures were applied to investigating the visual scanpaths of expert ATCs using scenarios with different aircraft congestion levels. Furthermore, oculomotor trends were analyzed to identify the influence of aircraft congestion on scan time and number of comparisons among aircraft. The findings show that (1) the scanpaths filtered at the highest intensity led to more consistent mapping with the ATCs' linguistic inputs, (2) the pattern classification occurrences differed between scenarios, and (3) increasing aircraft congestion caused increased scan times and aircraft pairwise comparisons. The results provide a foundation for better characterizing complex scanpaths in a dynamic task and automating the analysis process.

  2. Characteristics of traffic flow at nonsignalized T-shaped intersection with U-turn movements.

    PubMed

    Fan, Hong-Qiang; Jia, Bin; Li, Xin-Gang; Tian, Jun-Fang; Yan, Xue-Dong

    2013-01-01

    Most nonsignalized T-shaped intersections permit U-turn movements, which make the traffic conditions of intersection complex. In this paper, a new cellular automaton (CA) model is proposed to characterize the traffic flow at the intersection of this type. In present CA model, new rules are designed to avoid the conflicts among different directional vehicles and eliminate the gridlock. Two kinds of performance measures (i.e., flux and average control delay) for intersection are compared. The impacts of U-turn movements are analyzed under different initial conditions. Simulation results demonstrate that (i) the average control delay is more practical than flux in measuring the performance of intersection, (ii) U-turn movements increase the range and degree of high congestion, and (iii) U-turn movements on the different direction of main road have asymmetrical influences on the traffic conditions of intersection.

  3. Effects of the amount of feedback information on urban traffic with advanced traveler information system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Jie; Li, Ming; Jiang, Rui; Hu, Mao-Bin

    2017-09-01

    In a real traffic system, information feedback has already been proven to be a good way to alleviate traffic jams. However, due to the massive traffic information of real system, the procedure is often difficult in practice. In this paper, we study the effects of the amount of feedback information based on a cellular automaton model of urban traffic. What we found most interesting is that when providing the traffic information of a part of a road to travelers, the performance of the system will be better than that providing the road's full traffic information. From this basis, we can provide more effective routing strategy with less information. We demonstrate that only providing the traffic information of about first half road from upstream to downstream can maximize the traffic capacity of the system. We also give an explanation for these phenomena by studying the distribution pattern of vehicles and the detailed turning environment at the intersections. The effects of the traffic light period are also provided.

  4. Interaction of Airspace Partitions and Traffic Flow Management Delay with Weather

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, Hak-Tae; Chatterji, Gano B.; Palopo, Kee

    2011-01-01

    The interaction of partitioning the airspace and delaying flights in the presence of convective weather is explored to study how re-partitioning the airspace can help reduce congestion and delay. Three approaches with varying complexities are employed to compute the ground delays.In the first approach, an airspace partition of 335 high-altitude sectors that is based on clear weather day traffic is used. Routes are then created to avoid regions of convective weather. With traffic flow management, this approach establishes the baseline with per-flight delay of 8.4 minutes. In the second approach, traffic flow management is used to select routes and assign departure delays such that only the airport capacity constraints are met. This results in 6.7 minutes of average departure delay. The airspace is then partitioned with a specific capacity. It is shown that airspace-capacity-induced delay can be reduced to zero ata cost of 20percent more sectors for the examined scenario.

  5. Energy conservation in ad hoc multimedia networks using traffic-shaping mechanisms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chandra, Surendar

    2003-12-01

    In this work, we explore network traffic shaping mechanisms that deliver packets at pre-determined intervals; allowing the network interface to transition to a lower power consuming sleep state. We focus our efforts on commodity devices, IEEE 802.11b ad hoc mode and popular streaming formats. We argue that factors such as the lack of scheduling clock phase synchronization among the participants and scheduling delays introduced by back ground tasks affect the potential energy savings. Increasing the periodic transmission delays to transmit data infrequently can offset some of these effects at the expense of flooding the wireless channel for longer periods of time; potentially increasing the time to acquire the channel for non-multimedia traffic. Buffering mechanisms built into media browsers can mitigate the effects of these added delays from being mis-interpreted as network congestion. We show that practical implementations of such traffic shaping mechanisms can offer significant energy savings.

  6. A two-lane cellular automaton traffic flow model with the influence of driver, vehicle and road

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Han-Tao; Nie, Cen; Li, Jing-Ru; Wei, Yu-Ao

    2016-07-01

    On the basis of one-lane comfortable driving model, this paper established a two-lane traffic cellular automata model, which improves the slow randomization effected by brake light. Considering the driver psychological characteristics and mixed traffic, we studied the lateral influence between vehicles on adjacent lanes. Through computer simulation, the space-time diagram and the fundamental figure under different conditions are obtained. The study found that aggressive driver makes a slight congestion in low-density traffic and improves the capacity of high-density traffic, when the density exceeds 20pcu/km the more aggressive drivers the greater the flow, when the density below 40pcu/km driver character makes an effect, the more cautious driver, the lower the flow. The ratio of big cars has the same effect as the ratio of aggressive drivers. Brake lights have the greatest impact on traffic flow and when the density exceeds 10pcu/km the traffic flow fluctuates. Under periodic boundary conditions, the disturbance of road length on traffic is minimal. The lateral influence only play a limited role in the medium-density conditions, and only affect the average speed of traffic at low density.

  7. Analysis of energy consumption and emission of the heterogeneous traffic flow consisting of traditional vehicles and electric vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xiao, Hong; Huang, Hai-Jun; Tang, Tie-Qiao

    2017-12-01

    Electric vehicle (EV) has become a potential traffic tool, which has attracted researchers to explore various traffic phenomena caused by EV (e.g. congestion, electricity consumption, etc.). In this paper, we study the energy consumption (including the fuel consumption and the electricity consumption) and emissions of heterogeneous traffic flow (that consists of the traditional vehicle (TV) and EV) under three traffic situations (i.e. uniform flow, shock and rarefaction waves, and a small perturbation) from the perspective of macro traffic flow. The numerical results show that the proportion of electric vehicular flow has great effects on the TV’s fuel consumption and emissions and the EV’s electricity consumption, i.e. the fuel consumption and emissions decrease while the electricity consumption increases with the increase of the proportion of electric vehicular flow. The results can help us better understand the energy consumption and emissions of the heterogeneous traffic flow consisting of TV and EV.

  8. Transportation network policy modeling for congestion and pollution control: A variational inequality approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramanujam, Padma

    1999-08-01

    Public concern over the state of the environment has grown over the past decade. All indications are that this concern will continue to influence policy making into the foreseeable future. Road transport is seen as the major contributor to environmental degradation. Transportation planners around the world face the question: cleaner air and/or faster commutes? While individual vehicles can be made more environmentally friendly, the sheer scale of growth in world-wide vehicle numbers is projected to cause significant environmental degradation in the longer run, and in the absence of newer and stricter polices. It is a challenge for governments to find policies that ensure congestion-free metropolitan areas while guaranteeing both critical environmental quality levels and a sufficient infrastructure access to all groups involved. The objective of the dissertation is to provide a mathematical framework to study transportation policy models for the purpose of controlling congestion and pollution. Towards this objective. a series of transportation policy models are developed to study travel behavior and to quantity the reductions in congestion and automobile emissions. The dissertation begins with a brief historical overview of some of the pioneering works in urban transportation economics and later presents the theoretical foundation for the transportation policy models developed. The dissertation introduces single modal and multimodal transportation network policy models that accomplish road pricing with the imposition of goal targets on link loads. as well as, integrated traffic equilibrium models with marketable mobile emission permits. Furthermore, equilibrium conditions are derived for each model, and both qualitative analysis and computational procedures are studied. Finally, the dissertation concludes with a comparative study of the relationship between regulatory pricing models and marketable emission permit transportation models and a discussion on key factors

  9. Traffic control at crossroad that cut railroad based on friendly environment: Case : Crossroads at Prof. M. Yamin road with Gaharu road in Medan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hutauruk, Sindak

    2017-09-01

    The frequent congestion causes accumulation of vehicles at the intersection of roads cutting off railroads, reducing the functionality of highway services, the loss of vehicle functions as a means of transportation, waste of fuel energy, and CO2 increase in intersections. The occurrence of congestion caused by the absence of integration of traffic light controls by opening and closing the railway barrier, therefore need to be done integrated control especially during and after a while train crossing the highway. The case raised in this study is the crossroads Prof. H.M. Jalan Yamin with Gaharu road in Medan. Researchers tried to solve the problem by designing and creating a tool that would coordinate and regulate traffic lights with railroad doors, thus reducing congestion for 23 minutes, reducing fuel by as much as 60,340 liters per day, thereby reducing CO2 exhaust gases in the area. This tool uses microcontroller as its control center. This design is done with a miniature simulation, meaning it is not done in the actual situation, but the field conditions can be represented in the simulation in the form of miniature.

  10. Contemporary approaches to congestion pricing : lessons learned from the national evaluation of congestion pricing strategies at six sites.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-08-01

    This document represents the final report of the national evaluation of congestion reduction strategies at six sites that received federal funding under the Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) and Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) programs. The ...

  11. Development of a dynamic traffic assignment and simulation model for incident and emergency management applications in the Birmingham region : aim 3, emergency dispatchers' survey.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-09-01

    Traffic congestion is a primary concern during major incident and evacuation scenarios and can create difficulties for emergency vehicles attempting to enter and exit affected areas; however, many of the dispatchers who would be responsible for direc...

  12. Mobile Traffic Alert and Tourist Route Guidance System Design Using Geospatial Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bhattacharya, D.; Painho, M.; Mishra, S.; Gupta, A.

    2017-09-01

    The present study describes an integrated system for traffic data collection and alert warning. Geographical information based decision making related to traffic destinations and routes is proposed through the design. The system includes a geospatial database having profile relating to a user of a mobile device. The processing and understanding of scanned maps, other digital data input leads to route guidance. The system includes a server configured to receive traffic information relating to a route and location information relating to the mobile device. Server is configured to send a traffic alert to the mobile device when the traffic information and the location information indicate that the mobile device is traveling toward traffic congestion. Proposed system has geospatial and mobile data sets pertaining to Bangalore city in India. It is envisaged to be helpful for touristic purposes as a route guidance and alert relaying information system to tourists for proximity to sites worth seeing in a city they have entered into. The system is modular in architecture and the novelty lies in integration of different modules carrying different technologies for a complete traffic information system. Generic information processing and delivery system has been tested to be functional and speedy under test geospatial domains. In a restricted prototype model with geo-referenced route data required information has been delivered correctly over sustained trials to designated cell numbers, with average time frame of 27.5 seconds, maximum 50 and minimum 5 seconds. Traffic geo-data set trials testing is underway.

  13. Improving Explicit Congestion Notification with the Mark-Front Strategy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liu, Chunlei; Jain, Raj

    2001-01-01

    Delivering congestion signals is essential to the performance of networks. Current TCP/IP networks use packet losses to signal congestion. Packet losses not only reduces TCP performance, but also adds large delay. Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) delivers a faster indication of congestion and has better performance. However, current ECN implementations mark the packet from the tail of the queue. In this paper, we propose the mark-front strategy to send an even faster congestion signal. We show that mark-front strategy reduces buffer size requirement, improves link efficiency and provides better fairness among users. Simulation results that verify our analysis are also presented.

  14. Solutions to Improve Road Circulation in the Pitesti City Based on Analysis-Diagnostics of Road Traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vîlcan, A.; Neagu, E.; Badarau Suster, H.; Boroiu, A. A.

    2017-10-01

    Road traffic congestion has become a daily phenomenon in the central area of Pitesti in the peak traffic periods. In order to achieve the mobility plan of Pitesti, an important stage is the diagnostic analysis of the road traffic. For this purpose, the urban road network was formalized through a graph containing the most important 40 intersections and traffic measurements were made at all these intersections and on the main roads connecting the peri-urban area. The data obtained by traffic macrosimulation confirmed the overloading of the street network during peak traffic hours and the analyzes made for various road traffic organization scenarios have shown that there are sustainable solutions for urban mobility only if the road network is fundamentally reconfigured (a belt outside the city and a median ring). Thus, the necessity of realizing the road passage in the Prundu neighbourhood and the finishing of the city belt by realizing the “detour West” of the city is argued. The importance of the work is that it brings scientific arguments for the realization of these road infrastructure projects, integrated in the urban mobility plan, which will base the development strategy of the Pitesti municipality.

  15. Coordinated traffic incident management using the I-Net embedded sensor architecture

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dudziak, Martin J.

    1999-01-01

    The I-Net intelligent embedded sensor architecture enables the reconfigurable construction of wide-area remote sensing and data collection networks employing diverse processing and data acquisition modules communicating over thin- server/thin-client protocols. Adaptive initially for operation using mobile remotely-piloted vehicle platforms such as small helicopter robots such as the Hornet and Ascend-I, the I-Net architecture lends itself to a critical problem in the management of both spontaneous and planned traffic congestion and rerouting over major interstate thoroughfares such as the I-95 Corridor. Pre-programmed flight plans and ad hoc operator-assisted navigation of the lightweight helicopter, using an auto-pilot and gyroscopic stabilization augmentation units, allows daytime or nighttime over-the-horizon flights of the unit to collect and transmit real-time video imagery that may be stored or transmitted to other locations. With on-board GPS and ground-based pattern recognition capabilities to augment the standard video collection process, this approach enables traffic management and emergency response teams to plan and assist real-time in the adjustment of traffic flows in high- density or congested areas or during dangerous road conditions such as during ice, snow, and hurricane storms. The I-Net architecture allows for integration of land-based and roadside sensors within a comprehensive automated traffic management system with communications to and form an airborne or other platform to devices in the network other than human-operated desktop computers, thereby allowing more rapid assimilation and response for critical data. Experiments have been conducted using several modified platforms and standard video and still photographic equipment. Current research and development is focused upon modification of the modular instrumentation units in order to accommodate faster loading and reloading of equipment onto the RPV, extension of the I-Net architecture to

  16. Rhode Island congestion management plan : executive summary

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-09-01

    This document provides an overview of the Rhode Island Congestion Management System (CMS) program consisting of the following: Congestion Management System Plan; Incident Management Plan; and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Early Deployment P...

  17. Technologies that enable congestion pricing : a primer

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-10-01

    This volume explores transportation technologies that enable congestion pricing. This document considers the following: the functional processes for tolling and congestion pricing; what technologies there are to consider; how the technologies are app...

  18. A research of the community’s opening to the outside world

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Lan; Liu, Xiangzhuo

    2017-03-01

    Closed residential areas, called community, the traffic network and result in various degrees of traffic congestion such as amputating, dead ends and T-shaped roads. In order to reveal the mechanism of the congestion, establish an effective evaluation index system and finally provide theoretical basis for the study of traffic congestion, we have done researches on factors for traffic congestion and have established a scientific evaluation index system combining experiences home and abroad, based on domestic congestion status. Firstly, we analyse the traffic network as the entry point, and then establish the evaluation model of road capacity with the method of AHP index system. Secondly, we divide the condition of urban congestion into 5 levels from congestion to smoothness. Besides, with VISSIM software, simulations about traffic capacity before and after community opening are carried out. Finally, we provide forward reasonable suggestions upon the combination of models and reality.

  19. Income-based equity impacts of congestion pricing

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-12-01

    This equity primer was produced to examine the impacts of congestion pricing on low-income groups, public opinion as expressed by various income groups, and ways to mitigate the equity impacts of congestion pricing

  20. Income-based equity impacts of congestion pricing.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-12-01

    This equity primer was produced to examine the impacts of congestion pricing on low-income groups, public opinion as expressed by various income groups, and ways to mitigate the equity impacts of congestion pricing.

  1. Technologies that complement congestion pricing : a primer.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2008-10-01

    The purpose of this volume is to consider the technology options that are available to complement congestion-pricing approaches. This primer explores how technology broadens the success for congestion pricing by supporting the traveler's decision to ...

  2. Atlanta congestion reduction demonstration : national evaluation report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-03-01

    This document presents the final report on the national evaluation of the Atlanta Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) CRD Program. The Atlanta CRD projects focus on reducing congest...

  3. UAB UTC domain 2 : development of a dynamic traffic assignment and simulation model for incident and emergency management applications in the Birmingham Region (Aim 3a).

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-09-01

    Traffic congestion is a primary concern during major incident and evacuation scenarios and can create difficulties for emergency vehicles attempting to enter and exit affected areas; however, many of the dispatchers who would be responsible for direc...

  4. Investigating the effect of freeway congestion thresholds on decision-making inputs.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-05-01

    Congestion threshold is embedded in the congestion definition. Two basic approaches exist in : current practice for setting the congestion threshold. One common approach uses the free-flow or : unimpeded conditions as the congestion threshold. ...

  5. Network congestion control algorithm based on Actor-Critic reinforcement learning model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Tao; Gong, Lina; Zhang, Wei; Li, Xuhong; Wang, Xia; Pan, Wenwen

    2018-04-01

    Aiming at the network congestion control problem, a congestion control algorithm based on Actor-Critic reinforcement learning model is designed. Through the genetic algorithm in the congestion control strategy, the network congestion problems can be better found and prevented. According to Actor-Critic reinforcement learning, the simulation experiment of network congestion control algorithm is designed. The simulation experiments verify that the AQM controller can predict the dynamic characteristics of the network system. Moreover, the learning strategy is adopted to optimize the network performance, and the dropping probability of packets is adaptively adjusted so as to improve the network performance and avoid congestion. Based on the above finding, it is concluded that the network congestion control algorithm based on Actor-Critic reinforcement learning model can effectively avoid the occurrence of TCP network congestion.

  6. A Cooperative Human-Adaptive Traffic Simulation (CHATS)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Phillips, Charles T.; Ballin, Mark G.

    1999-01-01

    NASA is considering the development of a Cooperative Human-Adaptive Traffic Simulation (CHATS), to examine and evaluate performance of the National Airspace System (NAS) as the aviation community moves toward free flight. CHATS will be specifically oriented toward simulating strategic decision-making by airspace users and by the service provider s traffic management personnel, within the context of different airspace and rules assumptions. It will use human teams to represent these interests and make decisions, and will rely on computer modeling and simulation to calculate the impacts of these decisions. The simulation objectives will be to examine: 1. evolution of airspace users and the service provider s strategies, through adaptation to new operational environments; 2. air carriers competitive and cooperative behavior; 3. expected benefits to airspace users and the service provider as compared to the current NAS; 4. operational limitations of free flight concepts due to congestion and safety concerns. This paper describes an operational concept for CHATS, and presents a high-level functional design which would utilize a combination of existing and new models and simulation capabilities.

  7. Traffic flow behavior at a single-lane urban roundabout

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lakouari, N.; Oubram, O.; Ez-Zahraouy, H.; Cisneros-Villalobos, L.; Velásquez-Aguilar, J. G.

    In this paper, we propose a stochastic cellular automata model to study the traffic behavior at a single-lane roundabout. Vehicles can enter the interior lane or exit from it via N intersecting lane, the boundary conditions are stochastic. The traffic is controlled by a self-organized scheme. It has turned out that depending on the rules of insertion to the roundabout, five distinct traffic phases can appear, namely, free flow, congestion, maximum current, jammed and gridlock. The transition between the free flow and the gridlock is forbidden. The density profiles are used to study the traffic pattern at the interior lane of the roundabout. In order to quantify the interactions between vehicles in the interior lane of the roundabout, the velocity correlation coefficient (VCC) is also studied. Besides, the spatiotemporal diagrams corresponding to the entry/exit lanes are derived numerically. Furthermore, we have investigated the effect of displaying signal (PIn), as the PIn decreases, the maximum current increases at the expense of the free flow and the jamming phase. Finally, we have investigated the effect of the braking probability P on the interior lane of the roundabout. We have found that the increase of P raises the spontaneous jam formation on the ring. Thus, enlarges the maximum current and the jamming phase while the free flow phase decreases.

  8. An evolutionary outlook of air traffic flow management techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kistan, Trevor; Gardi, Alessandro; Sabatini, Roberto; Ramasamy, Subramanian; Batuwangala, Eranga

    2017-01-01

    In recent years Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) has become pertinent even in regions without sustained overload conditions caused by dense traffic operations. Increasing traffic volumes in the face of constrained resources has created peak congestion at specific locations and times in many areas of the world. Increased environmental awareness and economic drivers have combined to create a resurgent interest in ATFM as evidenced by a spate of recent ATFM conferences and workshops mediated by official bodies such as ICAO, IATA, CANSO the FAA and Eurocontrol. Significant ATFM acquisitions in the last 5 years include South Africa, Australia and India. Singapore, Thailand and Korea are all expected to procure ATFM systems within a year while China is expected to develop a bespoke system. Asia-Pacific nations are particularly pro-active given the traffic growth projections for the region (by 2050 half of all air traffic will be to, from or within the Asia-Pacific region). National authorities now have access to recently published international standards to guide the development of national and regional operational concepts for ATFM, geared to Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management and Avionics (CNS+A) evolutions. This paper critically reviews the field to determine which ATFM research and development efforts hold the best promise for practical technological implementations, offering clear benefits both in terms of enhanced safety and efficiency in times of growing air traffic. An evolutionary approach is adopted starting from an ontology of current ATFM techniques and proceeding to identify the technological and regulatory evolutions required in the future CNS+A context, as the aviation industry moves forward with a clearer understanding of emerging operational needs, the geo-political realities of regional collaboration and the impending needs of global harmonisation.

  9. Spatial Analysis of Traffic and Routing Path Methods for Tsunami Evacuation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fakhrurrozi, A.; Sari, A. M.

    2018-02-01

    Tsunami disaster occurred relatively very fast. Thus, it has a very large-scale impact on both non-material and material aspects. Community evacuation caused mass panic, crowds, and traffic congestion. A further research in spatial based modelling, traffic engineering and splitting zone evacuation simulation is very crucial as an effort to reduce higher losses. This topic covers some information from the previous research. Complex parameters include route selection, destination selection, the spontaneous timing of both the departure of the source and the arrival time to destination and other aspects of the result parameter in various methods. The simulation process and its results, traffic modelling, and routing analysis emphasized discussion which is the closest to real conditions in the tsunami evacuation process. The method that we should highlight is Clearance Time Estimate based on Location Priority in which the computation result is superior to others despite many drawbacks. The study is expected to have input to improve and invent a new method that will be a part of decision support systems for disaster risk reduction of tsunamis disaster.

  10. Understanding how roadside concentrations of NOx are influenced by the background levels, traffic density, and meteorological conditions using Boosted Regression Trees

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sayegh, Arwa; Tate, James E.; Ropkins, Karl

    2016-02-01

    Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) is a major component of photochemical smog and its constituents are considered principal traffic-related pollutants affecting human health. This study investigates the influence of background concentrations of NOx, traffic density, and prevailing meteorological conditions on roadside concentrations of NOx at UK urban, open motorway, and motorway tunnel sites using the statistical approach Boosted Regression Trees (BRT). BRT models have been fitted using hourly concentration, traffic, and meteorological data for each site. The models predict, rank, and visualise the relationship between model variables and roadside NOx concentrations. A strong relationship between roadside NOx and monitored local background concentrations is demonstrated. Relationships between roadside NOx and other model variables have been shown to be strongly influenced by the quality and resolution of background concentrations of NOx, i.e. if it were based on monitored data or modelled prediction. The paper proposes a direct method of using site-specific fundamental diagrams for splitting traffic data into four traffic states: free-flow, busy-flow, congested, and severely congested. Using BRT models, the density of traffic (vehicles per kilometre) was observed to have a proportional influence on the concentrations of roadside NOx, with different fitted regression line slopes for the different traffic states. When other influences are conditioned out, the relationship between roadside concentrations and ambient air temperature suggests NOx concentrations reach a minimum at around 22 °C with high concentrations at low ambient air temperatures which could be associated to restricted atmospheric dispersion and/or to changes in road traffic exhaust emission characteristics at low ambient air temperatures. This paper uses BRT models to study how different critical factors, and their relative importance, influence the variation of roadside NOx concentrations. The paper

  11. Fuzzy Traffic Control with Vehicle-to-Everything Communication.

    PubMed

    Salman, Muntaser A; Ozdemir, Suat; Celebi, Fatih V

    2018-01-27

    Traffic signal control (TSC) with vehicle-to everything (V2X) communication can be a very efficient solution to traffic congestion problem. Ratio of vehicles equipped with V2X communication capability in the traffic to the total number of vehicles (called penetration rate PR) is still low, thus V2X based TSC systems need to be supported by some other mechanisms. PR is the major factor that affects the quality of TSC process along with the evaluation interval. Quality of the TSC in each direction is a function of overall TSC quality of an intersection. Hence, quality evaluation of each direction should follow the evaluation of the overall intersection. Computational intelligence, more specifically swarm algorithm, has been recently used in this field in a European Framework Program FP7 supported project called COLOMBO. In this paper, using COLOMBO framework, further investigations have been done and two new methodologies using simple and fuzzy logic have been proposed. To evaluate the performance of our proposed methods, a comparison with COLOMBOs approach has been realized. The results reveal that TSC problem can be solved as a logical problem rather than an optimization problem. Performance of the proposed approaches is good enough to be suggested for future work under realistic scenarios even under low PR.

  12. Fuzzy Traffic Control with Vehicle-to-Everything Communication

    PubMed Central

    Ozdemir, Suat; Celebi, Fatih V.

    2018-01-01

    Traffic signal control (TSC) with vehicle-to everything (V2X) communication can be a very efficient solution to traffic congestion problem. Ratio of vehicles equipped with V2X communication capability in the traffic to the total number of vehicles (called penetration rate PR) is still low, thus V2X based TSC systems need to be supported by some other mechanisms. PR is the major factor that affects the quality of TSC process along with the evaluation interval. Quality of the TSC in each direction is a function of overall TSC quality of an intersection. Hence, quality evaluation of each direction should follow the evaluation of the overall intersection. Computational intelligence, more specifically swarm algorithm, has been recently used in this field in a European Framework Program FP7 supported project called COLOMBO. In this paper, using COLOMBO framework, further investigations have been done and two new methodologies using simple and fuzzy logic have been proposed. To evaluate the performance of our proposed methods, a comparison with COLOMBOs approach has been realized. The results reveal that TSC problem can be solved as a logical problem rather than an optimization problem. Performance of the proposed approaches is good enough to be suggested for future work under realistic scenarios even under low PR. PMID:29382053

  13. Network-constrained spatio-temporal clustering analysis of traffic collisions in Jianghan District of Wuhan, China

    PubMed Central

    Fan, Yaxin; Zhu, Xinyan; Guo, Wei; Guo, Tao

    2018-01-01

    The analysis of traffic collisions is essential for urban safety and the sustainable development of the urban environment. Reducing the road traffic injuries and the financial losses caused by collisions is the most important goal of traffic management. In addition, traffic collisions are a major cause of traffic congestion, which is a serious issue that affects everyone in the society. Therefore, traffic collision analysis is essential for all parties, including drivers, pedestrians, and traffic officers, to understand the road risks at a finer spatio-temporal scale. However, traffic collisions in the urban context are dynamic and complex. Thus, it is important to detect how the collision hotspots evolve over time through spatio-temporal clustering analysis. In addition, traffic collisions are not isolated events in space. The characteristics of the traffic collisions and their surrounding locations also present an influence of the clusters. This work tries to explore the spatio-temporal clustering patterns of traffic collisions by combining a set of network-constrained methods. These methods were tested using the traffic collision data in Jianghan District of Wuhan, China. The results demonstrated that these methods offer different perspectives of the spatio-temporal clustering patterns. The weighted network kernel density estimation provides an intuitive way to incorporate attribute information. The network cross K-function shows that there are varying clustering tendencies between traffic collisions and different types of POIs. The proposed network differential Local Moran’s I and network local indicators of mobility association provide straightforward and quantitative measures of the hotspot changes. This case study shows that these methods could help researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers to better understand the spatio-temporal clustering patterns of traffic collisions. PMID:29672551

  14. 76 FR 34848 - Drawbridge Operation Regulation; Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW), Elizabeth River, Southern...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-15

    ... until December 20, 2013, relieving vehicular traffic congestion during the weekday and weekend daytime... final temporary could result in additional vehicular traffic congestion without providing any additional... anticipates continued vehicular traffic congestion over the Gilmerton Highway Bridge due to the reduction of...

  15. 2012 urban congestion trends, operations : the key to reliable travel.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-04-01

    Congestion levels remained relatively unchanged : from 2011 to 2012 in the 19 urban areas in the United States monitored : in this report. : Congestion levels across all of the congestion measures are still generally : below the levels experienced in...

  16. 75 FR 69906 - Drawbridge Operation Regulation; Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW), Elizabeth River, Southern...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-16

    ... opening periods for the bridge during the day, relieving vehicular traffic congestion during the weekday... the rush hour periods and on the weekends, we anticipate a decrease in vehicular traffic congestion... vehicular traffic congestion over the Gilmerton Highway Bridge due to the reduction of highway lanes and...

  17. Heavy metal pollution in Nanchang City and its health implication on traffic policemen.

    PubMed

    Liu, Xiaozhen; Liang, Yue; Guo, Jiangmei

    2017-09-27

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the health effect of heavy metal pollution in air pollutants on traffic policemen. This study will facilitate the scientific evaluation of health status of traffic policemen. PM 10 samples were collected from industrial area, congested traffic area and residential area respectively in Nanchang City, and the concentrations of heavy metals were analyzed. The traffic policemen were examined through chest X-rays. The total of 637 urine samples and 142 blood samples have been collected, and the concentrations of Pb in samples were detected. Vehicle flux data of Nanchang City were collected from the Department of Transport's Traffic Management. Statistic analyses were carried out by statistics software of Excel 2003 and SPSS20.0, and the health effect of heavy metal pollution of PM 10 on the traffic policemen was evaluated. The discharge of pollutants from enterprises is an important reason for the high content of heavy metals in urban air pollution. With the rapid growth of urban traffic flow, Bayi Bridge becomes an important transportation hinge in Nanchang City, and the bidirectional traffic flow rate through the bridge at peak hours reached 99 vehicles per minute. The latent hazard of occupational harm on the traffic policemen caused by automobile exhaust is increasing. The concentration of Pb in the urine and blood samples from traffic policemen working in Nanchang City was 268.310 ± 177.031 and 22.873 ± 21.137 μg/L, respectively. Both results (2.04% of Pb in urine and 18.31% of Pb in blood) exceeded the highest limit of observed occupationally outdoor workers. This study provides an initial contribution for the assessment of city air pollution, esp. the health effect of heavy metal (Pb) pollution on traffic policemen.

  18. Diagnostic strategies in nasal congestion

    PubMed Central

    Krouse, John; Lund, Valerie; Fokkens, Wytske; Meltzer, Eli O

    2010-01-01

    Nasal congestion is a major symptom of upper respiratory tract disorders, and its characterization an important part of the diagnosis of these illnesses. Patient history and assessment of nasal symptoms are essential components of diagnosis, providing an initial evaluation that may be adequate to rule out serious conditions. However, current congestion medications are not always fully effective. Thus, if symptoms do not respond adequately to therapy, or symptoms suggestive of more serious conditions are present, specialized assessments may be needed. Various techniques are available for diagnosing patients, including those used chiefly by primary care clinicians and those requiring the expertise of otolaryngologists, allergists, and other specialists. Endoscopy remains a mainstay for evaluating nasal blockage and its causes, while modalities such as peak nasal inspiratory flow and acoustic rhinometry are evolving to provide easy-to-use, noninvasive procedures that are sensitive enough to measure small but clinically important abnormalities and therapeutic changes. Several imaging modalities are available to the specialist for severe or unusual cases, as are specialized diagnostic procedures that measure adjunctive features of congestion, such as impaired mucociliary function. PMID:20463824

  19. 23 CFR 971.214 - Federal lands congestion management system (CMS).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... congestion management strategies; (v) Determine methods to monitor and evaluate the performance of the multi... Federal lands congestion management system (CMS). (a) For purposes of this section, congestion means the... for the transportation systems providing access to and within National Forests, as appropriate, that...

  20. 23 CFR 970.214 - Federal lands congestion management system (CMS).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Federal lands congestion management system (CMS). 970... LANDS HIGHWAYS NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS National Park Service Management Systems § 970.214 Federal lands congestion management system (CMS). (a) For purposes of this section, congestion...

  1. Impact of Distracted Driving on Safety and Traffic Flow

    PubMed Central

    Stavrinos, Despina; Jones, Jennifer L.; Garner, Annie A.; Griffin, Russell; Franklin, Crystal A.; Ball, David; Welburn, Sharon C.; Ball, Karlene K.; Sisiopiku, Virginia P.; Fine, Philip R.

    2015-01-01

    Studies have documented a link between distracted driving and diminished safety; however, an association between distracted driving and traffic congestion has not been investigated in depth. The present study examined the behavior of teens and young adults operating a driving simulator while engaged in various distractions (i.e., cell phone, texting, and undistracted) and driving conditions (i.e., free flow, stable flow, and oversaturation). Seventy five participants 16 to 25 years of age (split into 2 groups: novice drivers and young adults) drove a STISIM simulator three times, each time with one of three randomly presented distractions. Each drive was designed to represent daytime scenery on a 4 lane divided roadway and included three equal roadway portions representing Levels of Service (LOS) A, C, and E as defined in the 2000 Highway Capacity Manual. Participants also completed questionnaires documenting demographics and driving history. Both safety and traffic flow related driving outcomes were considered. A Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance was employed to analyze continuous outcome variables and a Generalized Estimate Equation (GEE) poisson model was used to analyze count variables. Results revealed that, in general more lane deviations and crashes occurred during texting. Distraction (in most cases, text messaging) had a significantly negative impact on traffic flow, such that participants exhibited greater fluctuation in speed, changed lanes significantly fewer times, and took longer to complete the scenario. In turn, more simulated vehicles passed the participant drivers while they were texting or talking on a cell phone than while undistracted. The results indicate that distracted driving, particularly texting, may lead to reduced safety and traffic flow, thus having a negative impact on traffic operations. No significant differences were detected between age groups, suggesting that all drivers, regardless of age, may drive in a manner

  2. Impact of distracted driving on safety and traffic flow.

    PubMed

    Stavrinos, Despina; Jones, Jennifer L; Garner, Annie A; Griffin, Russell; Franklin, Crystal A; Ball, David; Welburn, Sharon C; Ball, Karlene K; Sisiopiku, Virginia P; Fine, Philip R

    2013-12-01

    Studies have documented a link between distracted driving and diminished safety; however, an association between distracted driving and traffic congestion has not been investigated in depth. The present study examined the behavior of teens and young adults operating a driving simulator while engaged in various distractions (i.e., cell phone, texting, and undistracted) and driving conditions (i.e., free flow, stable flow, and oversaturation). Seventy five participants 16-25 years of age (split into 2 groups: novice drivers and young adults) drove a STISIM simulator three times, each time with one of three randomly presented distractions. Each drive was designed to represent daytime scenery on a 4 lane divided roadway and included three equal roadway portions representing Levels of Service (LOS) A, C, and E as defined in the 2000 Highway Capacity Manual. Participants also completed questionnaires documenting demographics and driving history. Both safety and traffic flow related driving outcomes were considered. A Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance was employed to analyze continuous outcome variables and a Generalized Estimate Equation (GEE) Poisson model was used to analyze count variables. Results revealed that, in general more lane deviations and crashes occurred during texting. Distraction (in most cases, text messaging) had a significantly negative impact on traffic flow, such that participants exhibited greater fluctuation in speed, changed lanes significantly fewer times, and took longer to complete the scenario. In turn, more simulated vehicles passed the participant drivers while they were texting or talking on a cell phone than while undistracted. The results indicate that distracted driving, particularly texting, may lead to reduced safety and traffic flow, thus having a negative impact on traffic operations. No significant differences were detected between age groups, suggesting that all drivers, regardless of age, may drive in a manner

  3. Carbon emissions tax policy of urban road traffic and its application in Panjin, China

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Longhai; Fang, Lin

    2018-01-01

    How to effectively solve traffic congestion and transportation pollution in urban development is a main research emphasis for transportation management agencies. A carbon emissions tax can affect travelers’ generalized costs and will lead to changes in passenger demand, mode choice and traffic flow equilibrium in road networks, which are of significance in green travel and low-carbon transportation management. This paper first established a mesoscopic model to calculate the carbon emissions tax and determined the value of this charge in China, which was based on road traffic flow, vehicle speed, and carbon emissions. Referring to existing research results to calibrate the value of time, this paper modified the traveler’s generalized cost function, including the carbon emissions tax, fuel surcharge and travel time cost, which can be used in the travel impedance model with the consideration of the carbon emissions tax. Then, a method for analyzing urban road network traffic flow distribution was put forward, and a joint traffic distribution model was established, which considered the relationship between private cars and taxis. Finally, this paper took the city of Panjin as an example to analyze the road traffic carbon emissions tax’s impact. The results illustrated that the carbon emissions tax has a positive effect on road network flow equilibrium and carbon emission reduction. This paper will have good reference value and practical significance for the calculation and implementation of urban traffic carbon emissions taxes in China. PMID:29738580

  4. Carbon emissions tax policy of urban road traffic and its application in Panjin, China.

    PubMed

    Yang, Longhai; Hu, Xiaowei; Fang, Lin

    2018-01-01

    How to effectively solve traffic congestion and transportation pollution in urban development is a main research emphasis for transportation management agencies. A carbon emissions tax can affect travelers' generalized costs and will lead to changes in passenger demand, mode choice and traffic flow equilibrium in road networks, which are of significance in green travel and low-carbon transportation management. This paper first established a mesoscopic model to calculate the carbon emissions tax and determined the value of this charge in China, which was based on road traffic flow, vehicle speed, and carbon emissions. Referring to existing research results to calibrate the value of time, this paper modified the traveler's generalized cost function, including the carbon emissions tax, fuel surcharge and travel time cost, which can be used in the travel impedance model with the consideration of the carbon emissions tax. Then, a method for analyzing urban road network traffic flow distribution was put forward, and a joint traffic distribution model was established, which considered the relationship between private cars and taxis. Finally, this paper took the city of Panjin as an example to analyze the road traffic carbon emissions tax's impact. The results illustrated that the carbon emissions tax has a positive effect on road network flow equilibrium and carbon emission reduction. This paper will have good reference value and practical significance for the calculation and implementation of urban traffic carbon emissions taxes in China.

  5. Aeronautical Communications Research and Development Needs for Future Air Traffic Management Applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kerczewski, Robert J.

    2002-01-01

    Continuing growth in regional and global air travel has resulted in increasing traffic congestion in the air and on the ground. In spite of occasional temporary downturns due to economic recessions and catastrophic events, average growth rates of air travel have remained high since the 1960s. The resulting congestion, which constrains expansion of the air transportation industry, inflicts schedule delays and decreases overall system efficiency, creating a pressing need to develop more efficient methods of air traffic management (ATM). New ATM techniques, procedures, air space automation methods, and decision support tools are being researched and developed for deployment in time frames stretching from the next few years to the year 2020 and beyond. As these methods become more advanced and increase in complexity, the requirements for information generation, sharing and transfer among the relevant entities in the ATM system increase dramatically. However, current aeronautical communications systems will be inadequate to meet the future information transfer demands created by these advanced ATM systems. Therefore, the NASA Glenn Research Center is undertaking research programs to develop communication, methods and key technologies that can meet these future requirements. As part of this process, studies, workshops, testing and experimentation, and research and analysis have established a number of research and technology development needs. The purpose of this paper is to outline the critical research and technology needs that have been identified in these activities, and explain how these needs have been determined.

  6. An Experimental Study of the Noise Due to Traffic in a Congested Urban Area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sangeetha, M.; Sankar, P.

    2016-03-01

    Noise pollution in an urban environment is an issue of serious concern in the major cities of India. There are various factors that contribute to the increase of noise levels in urban areas. The intensity of traffic is one of the factors which contributes to a drastic increase in environmental noise. The management of noise pollution has to be considered in the decision making process. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the existing noise level due to the traffic in Velachery which is declared as a sensitive area by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). The noise level data is collected using the MS6710 digital sound meter. The Custic simulation software version 3.2 is used for finding the propagation of noise. The spatial patterns of measurement were also calculated, in the sub-urban area of Velachery, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. A means of transmitting this data to vehicles moving in the area, through a wireless medium is simulated using NCTUns 6.0 (network simulator), to enable drivers to understand the environmental conditions. A hardware was also designed which can be used to transmit and receive the noise data using the Zigbee module. A noise transmitting station is placed at a junction, so that it can transmit this noise data to the receivers which are fitted inside the vehicles.

  7. Diagnosis and management of nasal congestion: the role of intranasal corticosteroids.

    PubMed

    Benninger, Michael

    2009-01-01

    Nasal congestion is considered the most bothersome of allergic rhinitis (AR) symptoms and can significantly impair ability to function at work, home, and school. Effective management of AR-related nasal congestion depends on accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Many individuals with AR and AR-related congestion remain undiagnosed and do not receive prescription medication. However, new tools intended to improve the diagnosis of nasal congestion have been developed and validated. Intranasal corticosteroids (INSs) are recommended as first-line therapy for patients with moderate-to-severe AR and also when nasal congestion is a prominent symptom. Double blind, randomized clinical trials have demonstrated greater efficacy of INSs versus placebo, antihistamines, or montelukast for relief of all nasal symptoms, especially congestion. Patient adherence to treatment also affects outcomes, and this may be influenced by patient preferences for the sensory attributes of an individual drug. Increased awareness of the effects of AR-related nasal congestion, the efficacy and safety of available pharmacotherapies, and barriers to adherence may improve clinical outcomes.

  8. Development of congestion performance measures using ITS information.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-01-01

    The objectives of this study were to define a performance measure(s) that could be used to show congestion levels on critical corridors throughout Virginia and to develop a method to select and calculate performance measures to quantify congestion in...

  9. Effects on respiratory health of a reduction in air pollution from vehicle exhaust emissions

    PubMed Central

    Burr, M; Karani, G; Davies, B; Holmes, B; Williams, K

    2004-01-01

    Aims: To determine whether residents of congested streets have a higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms than residents of nearby uncongested streets, and whether their respiratory health improves following a reduction in exposure to traffic related air pollutants. Methods: An area was identified where certain streets were subject to air pollution from heavy road traffic, which was likely to improve following the construction of a by-pass. A respiratory survey was conducted among the residents, together with the residents of nearby uncongested streets, at baseline and again a year after the by-pass opened. Measurements were made of air pollutant concentrations in both areas on both occasions. Results: Initial concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 were substantially higher in the congested than in the uncongested streets. When the by-pass opened, the volume of heavy goods traffic fell by nearly 50%. PM10 decreased by 23% (8.0 µg/m3) in the congested streets and by 29% (3.4 µg/m3) in the uncongested streets, with similar proportionate falls in PM2.5. There were no clear or consistent differences between the residents of the two areas initially in terms of symptoms or peak flow variability. Repeat questionnaires were obtained from 165 and 283 subjects in the congested and uncongested areas respectively, and showed a tendency for most symptoms to improve in both areas. For chest symptoms, the improvement tended to be greater in the uncongested area, although the difference between the areas was not statistically significant. Rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis tended to improve to a greater extent in the congested streets; the difference between the areas was significant for the degree to which rhinitis interfered with daily activities. Peak flow variability tended to improve in the uncongested area. Conclusions: The by-pass reduced pollutant levels to a degree that probably alleviates rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis but has little effect on lower respiratory symptoms

  10. Congestion road tax and physical activity.

    PubMed

    Bergman, Patrick; Grjibovski, Andrej M; Hagströmer, Maria; Patterson, Emma; Sjöström, Michael

    2010-02-01

    Large-scale policy and environmental changes, such as congestion road taxes, may be a way to promote active transportation. This study aimed to examine the potential effect of a congestion road tax on physical activity. Baseline data were collected during October-November 2003, follow-up data in May 2006, and analysis was performed in September 2008. The short self-administered version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess physical activity. Data from those with access to motorized vehicles in the Stockholm region (n=165), where the tax was in place, were compared with those from the Göteborg/Malmö regions (n=138). Within each region before and during the road tax implementation, the data were analyzed for differences in time spent at different intensity levels of physical activity, in addition to sitting, as well as for changes in reported time in overall (weighted) physical activity. There were no significant differences in the magnitude of the changes of the intensity levels of physical activity, weighted overall physical activity, or sitting, between Stockholm and Göteborg/Malmö. Among those exposed to the congestion road tax and with access to motorized vehicles, an increase in moderate physical activity (p=0.036); overall physical activity (p=0.015); and a reduction in time spent sitting (p=0.009) was observed. No differences were observed among those unexposed. The results from this study on the influence of a congestion road tax on levels of physical activity, though inconclusive, suggest that policy changes such as a congestion road tax might promote improvements in physical activity levels in individuals with motorized vehicles. Copyright 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Analysis of random drop for gateway congestion control. M.S. Thesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hashem, Emam Salaheddin

    1989-01-01

    Lately, the growing demand on the Internet has prompted the need for more effective congestion control policies. Currently No Gateway Policy is used to relieve and signal congestion, which leads to unfair service to the individual users and a degradation of overall network performance. Network simulation was used to illustrate the character of Internet congestion and its causes. A newly proposed gateway congestion control policy, called Random Drop, was considered as a promising solution to the pressing problem. Random Drop relieves resource congestion upon buffer overflow by choosing a random packet from the service queue to be dropped. The random choice should result in a drop distribution proportional to the bandwidth distribution among all contending TCP connections, thus applying the necessary fairness. Nonetheless, the simulation experiments demonstrate several shortcomings with this policy. Because Random Drop is a congestion control policy, which is not applied until congestion has already occurred, it usually results in a high drop rate that hurts too many connections including well-behaved ones. Even though the number of packets dropped is different from one connection to another depending on the buffer utilization upon overflow, the TCP recovery overhead is high enough to neutralize these differences, causing unfair congestion penalties. Besides, the drop distribution itself is an inaccurate representation of the average bandwidth distribution, missing much important information about the bandwidth utilization between buffer overflow events. A modification of Random Drop to do congestion avoidance by applying the policy early was also proposed. Early Random Drop has the advantage of avoiding the high drop rate of buffer overflow. The early application of the policy removes the pressure of congestion relief and allows more accurate signaling of congestion. To be used effectively, algorithms for the dynamic adjustment of the parameters of Early Random Drop

  12. Variable speed limit strategies analysis with link transmission model on urban expressway

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Shubin; Cao, Danni

    2018-02-01

    The variable speed limit (VSL) is a kind of active traffic management method. Most of the strategies are used in the expressway traffic flow control in order to ensure traffic safety. However, the urban expressway system is the main artery, carrying most traffic pressure. It has similar traffic characteristics with the expressways between cities. In this paper, the improved link transmission model (LTM) combined with VSL strategies is proposed, based on the urban expressway network. The model can simulate the movement of the vehicles and the shock wave, and well balance the relationship between the amount of calculation and accuracy. Furthermore, the optimal VSL strategy can be proposed based on the simulation method. It can provide management strategies for managers. Finally, a simple example is given to illustrate the model and method. The selected indexes are the average density, the average speed and the average flow on the traffic network in the simulation. The simulation results show that the proposed model and method are feasible. The VSL strategy can effectively alleviate traffic congestion in some cases, and greatly promote the efficiency of the transportation system.

  13. Congestion information surveillance system

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1992-10-14

    This document advances a proposal to implement a Congestion Information Surveillance System (CISS)for the Albuquerque metropolitan area. The CISS will offer agencies in the region responsible for transportation and air quality management a new capabi...

  14. Fixed-rate layered multicast congestion control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bing, Zhang; Bing, Yuan; Zengji, Liu

    2006-10-01

    A new fixed-rate layered multicast congestion control algorithm called FLMCC is proposed. The sender of a multicast session transmits data packets at a fixed rate on each layer, while receivers each obtain different throughput by cumulatively subscribing to deferent number of layers based on their expected rates. In order to provide TCP-friendliness and estimate the expected rate accurately, a window-based mechanism implemented at receivers is presented. To achieve this, each receiver maintains a congestion window, adjusts it based on the GAIMD algorithm, and from the congestion window an expected rate is calculated. To measure RTT, a new method is presented which combines an accurate measurement with a rough estimation. A feedback suppression based on a random timer mechanism is given to avoid feedback implosion in the accurate measurement. The protocol is simple in its implementation. Simulations indicate that FLMCC shows good TCP-friendliness, responsiveness as well as intra-protocol fairness, and provides high link utilization.

  15. Temporal variation of traffic on highways and the development of accurate temporal allocation factors for air pollution analyses

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Batterman, Stuart; Cook, Richard; Justin, Thomas

    2015-04-01

    Traffic activity encompasses the number, mix, speed and acceleration of vehicles on roadways. The temporal pattern and variation of traffic activity reflects vehicle use, congestion and safety issues, and it represents a major influence on emissions and concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants. Accurate characterization of vehicle flows is critical in analyzing and modeling urban and local-scale pollutants, especially in near-road environments and traffic corridors. This study describes methods to improve the characterization of temporal variation of traffic activity. Annual, monthly, daily and hourly temporal allocation factors (TAFs), which describe the expected temporal variation in traffic activity, were developed using four years of hourly traffic activity data recorded at 14 continuous counting stations across the Detroit, Michigan, U.S. region. Five sites also provided vehicle classification. TAF-based models provide a simple means to apportion annual average estimates of traffic volume to hourly estimates. The analysis shows the need to separate TAFs for total and commercial vehicles, and weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays and observed holidays. Using either site-specific or urban-wide TAFs, nearly all of the variation in historical traffic activity at the street scale could be explained; unexplained variation was attributed to adverse weather, traffic accidents and construction. The methods and results presented in this paper can improve air quality dispersion modeling of mobile sources, and can be used to evaluate and model temporal variation in ambient air quality monitoring data and exposure estimates.

  16. Temporal variation of traffic on highways and the development of accurate temporal allocation factors for air pollution analyses

    PubMed Central

    Batterman, Stuart; Cook, Richard; Justin, Thomas

    2015-01-01

    Traffic activity encompasses the number, mix, speed and acceleration of vehicles on roadways. The temporal pattern and variation of traffic activity reflects vehicle use, congestion and safety issues, and it represents a major influence on emissions and concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants. Accurate characterization of vehicle flows is critical in analyzing and modeling urban and local-scale pollutants, especially in near-road environments and traffic corridors. This study describes methods to improve the characterization of temporal variation of traffic activity. Annual, monthly, daily and hourly temporal allocation factors (TAFs), which describe the expected temporal variation in traffic activity, were developed using four years of hourly traffic activity data recorded at 14 continuous counting stations across the Detroit, Michigan, U.S. region. Five sites also provided vehicle classification. TAF-based models provide a simple means to apportion annual average estimates of traffic volume to hourly estimates. The analysis shows the need to separate TAFs for total and commercial vehicles, and weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays and observed holidays. Using either site-specific or urban-wide TAFs, nearly all of the variation in historical traffic activity at the street scale could be explained; unexplained variation was attributed to adverse weather, traffic accidents and construction. The methods and results presented in this paper can improve air quality dispersion modeling of mobile sources, and can be used to evaluate and model temporal variation in ambient air quality monitoring data and exposure estimates. PMID:25844042

  17. The influence of heavy vehicles on traffic dynamics around on-ramp system: Cellular automata approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kong, Dewen; Guo, Xiucheng; Wu, Dingxin

    Although the on-ramp system has been widely studied, the influence of heavy vehicles is unknown because researchers only investigate the traffic dynamics around on-ramp system under homogeneous traffic conditions, which is different in real-world settings. This paper uses an improved cellular automaton model to study the heterogeneous traffic around on-ramp system. The forward motion rules are improved by considering the differences of driving behavior in different vehicle combinations. The lane change rules are improved by reflecting the aggressive behavior in mandatory lane changes. The phase diagram, traffic flow, capacity and spatial-temporal diagram are analyzed under the influences of heavy vehicles. The results show that by increasing the percentage of heavy vehicles, there will be more severe traffic congestion around on-ramp system, lower saturated flow and capacity. Also, the interactions between main road and on-ramp have been investigated. Increasing the percentage of heavy vehicles at the upstream of the conflict area on the main road or restricting heavy vehicles on the outside lane of the main road will deteriorate the performance of on-ramp. While the main road will have better performance as the percentage of heavy vehicles on the on-ramp increases when the on-ramp inflow rate is not low.

  18. Comprehensive Software Eases Air Traffic Management

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2007-01-01

    To help air traffic control centers improve the safety and the efficiency of the National Airspace System, Ames Research Center developed the Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) software, which won NASA's 2006 "Software of the Year" competition. In 2005, Ames licensed FACET to Flight Explorer Inc., for integration into its Flight Explorer (version 6.0) software. The primary FACET features incorporated in the Flight Explorer software system alert airspace users to forecasted demand and capacity imbalances. Advance access to this information helps dispatchers anticipate congested sectors (airspace) and delays at airports, and decide if they need to reroute flights. FACET is now a fully integrated feature in the Flight Explorer Professional Edition (version 7.0). Flight Explorer Professional offers end-users other benefits, including ease of operation; automatic alerts to inform users of important events such as weather conditions and potential airport delays; and international, real-time flight coverage over Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and sections of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Flight Explorer Inc. recently broadened coverage by partnering with Honeywell International Inc.'s Global Data Center, Blue Sky Network, Sky Connect LLC, SITA, ARINC Incorporated, Latitude Technologies Corporation, and Wingspeed Corporation, to track their aircraft anywhere in the world.

  19. Mobility and the costs of congestion in New Jersey : 2001 update

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-07-01

    The objective of the Mobility and the Costs of Congestion study is to measure quantifiable and qualitative impacts of roadway congestion in New Jersey. The study addresses the impacts of congestion on an average traveler or affected person, as well a...

  20. Snoring and Nasal Congestion

    MedlinePlus

    ... treat the various causes of nasal congestion include: Topical nasal steroid spray Topical nasal antihistamine spray Oral antibiotic (in case of ... include more than just the decrease in oxygen levels at night during the apnea episodes. They also ...

  1. Statewide GIS mapping of recurring congestion corridors : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-07-01

    Recurring congestion occurs when travel demand reaches or exceeds the available roadway : capacity. This project developed an interactive geographic information system (GIS) map of the : recurring congestion corridors (labeled herein as hotspots) in ...

  2. Interaction between worsening renal function and persistent congestion in acute decompensated heart failure.

    PubMed

    Wattad, Malak; Darawsha, Wisam; Solomonica, Amir; Hijazi, Maher; Kaplan, Marielle; Makhoul, Badira F; Abassi, Zaid A; Azzam, Zaher S; Aronson, Doron

    2015-04-01

    Worsening renal function (WRF) and congestion are inextricably related pathophysiologically, suggesting that WRF occurring in conjunction with persistent congestion would be associated with worse clinical outcome. We studied the interdependence between WRF and persistent congestion in 762 patients with acute decompensated heart failure (HF). WRF was defined as ≥0.3 mg/dl increase in serum creatinine above baseline at any time during hospitalization and persistent congestion as ≥1 sign of congestion at discharge. The primary end point was all-cause mortality with mean follow-up of 15 ± 9 months. Readmission for HF was a secondary end point. Persistent congestion was more common in patients with WRF than in patients with stable renal function (51.0% vs 26.6%, p <0.0001). Both persistent congestion and persistent WRF were significantly associated with mortality (both p <0.0001). There was a strong interaction (p = 0.003) between persistent WRF and congestion, such that the increased risk for mortality occurred predominantly with both WRF and persistent congestion. The adjusted hazard ratio for mortality in patients with persistent congestion as compared with those without was 4.16 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.20 to 7.86) in patients with WRF and 1.50 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.93) in patients without WRF. In conclusion, persisted congestion is frequently associated with WRF. We have identified a substantial interaction between persistent congestion and WRF such that congestion portends increased mortality particularly when associated with WRF. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Routing optimization in networks based on traffic gravitational field model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Longgeng; Luo, Guangchun

    2017-04-01

    For research on the gravitational field routing mechanism on complex networks, we further analyze the gravitational effect of paths. In this study, we introduce the concept of path confidence degree to evaluate the unblocked reliability of paths that it takes the traffic state of all nodes on the path into account from the overall. On the basis of this, we propose an improved gravitational field routing protocol considering all the nodes’ gravities on the path and the path confidence degree. In order to evaluate the transmission performance of the routing strategy, an order parameter is introduced to measure the network throughput by the critical value of phase transition from a free-flow phase to a jammed phase, and the betweenness centrality is used to evaluate the transmission performance and traffic congestion of the network. Simulation results show that compared with the shortest-path routing strategy and the previous gravitational field routing strategy, the proposed algorithm improves the network throughput considerably and effectively balances the traffic load within the network, and all nodes in the network are utilized high efficiently. As long as γ ≥ α, the transmission performance can reach the maximum and remains unchanged for different α and γ, which ensures that the proposed routing protocol is high efficient and stable.

  4. Integrated risk/cost planning models for the US Air Traffic system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mulvey, J. M.; Zenios, S. A.

    1985-01-01

    A prototype network planning model for the U.S. Air Traffic control system is described. The model encompasses the dual objectives of managing collision risks and transportation costs where traffic flows can be related to these objectives. The underlying structure is a network graph with nonseparable convex costs; the model is solved efficiently by capitalizing on its intrinsic characteristics. Two specialized algorithms for solving the resulting problems are described: (1) truncated Newton, and (2) simplicial decomposition. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated using data collected from a control center in the Midwest. Computational results with different computer systems are presented, including a vector supercomputer (CRAY-XMP). The risk/cost model has two primary uses: (1) as a strategic planning tool using aggregate flight information, and (2) as an integrated operational system for forecasting congestion and monitoring (controlling) flow throughout the U.S. In the latter case, access to a supercomputer is required due to the model's enormous size.

  5. Determining queue and congestion in highway work zone bottlenecks.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-03-11

    Construction zones, though required for infrastructure maintenance, have become congestion choke points on most highway systems in the US. The congestion may create potentially unsafe driving conditions for approaching motorists that do not expect qu...

  6. Determining Queue and Congestion in Highway Work Zone Bottlenecks

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-03-11

    Construction zones, though required for infrastructure maintenance, have become congestion choke points on most highway systems in the US. The congestion may create potentially unsafe driving conditions for approaching motorists that do not expect qu...

  7. Cyber-Threat Assessment for the Air Traffic Management System: A Network Controls Approach

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Roy, Sandip; Sridhar, Banavar

    2016-01-01

    Air transportation networks are being disrupted with increasing frequency by failures in their cyber- (computing, communication, control) systems. Whether these cyber- failures arise due to deliberate attacks or incidental errors, they can have far-reaching impact on the performance of the air traffic control and management systems. For instance, a computer failure in the Washington DC Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC) on August 15, 2015, caused nearly complete closure of the Centers airspace for several hours. This closure had a propagative impact across the United States National Airspace System, causing changed congestion patterns and requiring placement of a suite of traffic management initiatives to address the capacity reduction and congestion. A snapshot of traffic on that day clearly shows the closure of the ZDC airspace and the resulting congestion at its boundary, which required augmented traffic management at multiple locations. Cyber- events also have important ramifications for private stakeholders, particularly the airlines. During the last few months, computer-system issues have caused several airlines fleets to be grounded for significant periods of time: these include United Airlines (twice), LOT Polish Airlines, and American Airlines. Delays and regional stoppages due to cyber- events are even more common, and may have myriad causes (e.g., failure of the Department of Homeland Security systems needed for security check of passengers, see [3]). The growing frequency of cyber- disruptions in the air transportation system reflects a much broader trend in the modern society: cyber- failures and threats are becoming increasingly pervasive, varied, and impactful. In consequence, an intense effort is underway to develop secure and resilient cyber- systems that can protect against, detect, and remove threats, see e.g. and its many citations. The outcomes of this wide effort on cyber- security are applicable to the air transportation infrastructure

  8. 23 CFR 450.320 - Congestion management process in transportation management areas.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Congestion management process in transportation... Programming § 450.320 Congestion management process in transportation management areas. (a) The transportation planning process in a TMA shall address congestion management through a process that provides for safe and...

  9. 23 CFR 450.320 - Congestion management process in transportation management areas.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Congestion management process in transportation... Programming § 450.320 Congestion management process in transportation management areas. (a) The transportation planning process in a TMA shall address congestion management through a process that provides for safe and...

  10. 23 CFR 450.320 - Congestion management process in transportation management areas.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Congestion management process in transportation... Programming § 450.320 Congestion management process in transportation management areas. (a) The transportation planning process in a TMA shall address congestion management through a process that provides for safe and...

  11. Long-Range Emergency Preemption of Traffic Lights

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bachelder, Aaron

    2005-01-01

    A forwarding system could prove beneficial as an addition to an electronic communication-and-control system that automatically modifies the switching of traffic lights to give priority to emergency vehicles. A system to which the forwarding system could be added could be any of a variety of emergency traffic-signal-preemption systems: these include systems now used in some municipalities as well as advanced developmental systems described in several NASA Tech Briefs articles in recent years. Because of a variety of physical and design limitations, emergency traffic-signal- preemption systems now in use are often limited in range to only one intersection at a time: in a typical system, only the next, closest intersection is preempted for an emergency vehicle. Simulations of gridlock have shown that such systems offer minimal advantages and can even cause additional delays. In analogy to what happens in fluid dynamics, the forwarding system insures that flow at a given location is sustained by guaranteeing downstream flow along the predicted route (typically a main artery) and intersecting routes (typically, side streets). In simplest terms, the forwarding system starts by taking note of any preemption issued by the preemption system to which it has been added. The forwarding system predicts which other intersections could be encountered by the emergency vehicle downstream of the newly preempted intersection. The system then forwards preemption triggers to those intersections. Beyond affording a right of way for the emergency vehicle at every intersection that lies ahead along any likely route from the current position of the vehicle, the forwarding system also affords the benefit of clearing congested roads far ahead of the vehicle. In a metropolitan environment with heavy road traffic, forwarding of preemption triggers could greatly enhance the performance of a pre-existing preemption system.

  12. An extended car-following model to describe connected traffic dynamics under cyberattacks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Pengcheng; Yu, Guizhen; Wu, Xinkai; Qin, Hongmao; Wang, Yunpeng

    2018-04-01

    In this paper, the impacts of the potential cyberattacks on vehicles are modeled through an extended car-following model. To better understand the mechanism of traffic disturbance under cyberattacks, the linear and nonlinear stability analysis are conducted respectively. Particularly, linear stability analysis is performed to obtain different neutral stability conditions with various parameters; and nonlinear stability analysis is carried out by using reductive perturbation method to derive the soliton solution of the modified Korteweg de Vries equation (mKdV) near the critical point, which is used to draw coexisting stability lines. Furthermore, by applying linear and nonlinear stability analysis, traffic flow state can be divided into three states, i.e., stable, metastable and unstable states which are useful to describe shockwave dynamics and driving behaviors under cyberattacks. The theoretical results show that the proposed car-following model is capable of successfully describing the car-following behavior of connected vehicles with cyberattacks. Finally, numerical simulation using real values has confirmed the validity of theoretical analysis. The results further demonstrate our model can be used to help avoid collisions and relieve traffic congestion with cybersecurity threats.

  13. SENTINEL-1/2 Data for Ship Traffic Monitoring on the Danube River

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Negula, I. Dana; Poenaru, V. D.; Olteanu, V. G.; Badea, A.

    2016-06-01

    After a long period of drought, the water level of the Danube River has significantly dropped especially on the Romanian sector, in July-August 2015. Danube reached the lowest water level recorded in the last 12 years, causing the blockage of the ships in the sector located close to Zimnicea Harbour. The rising sand banks in the navigable channel congested the commercial traffic for a few days with more than 100 ships involved. The monitoring of the decreasing water level and the traffic jam was performed based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 free data provided by the European Space Agency and the European Commission within the Copernicus Programme. Specific processing methods (calibration, speckle filtering, geocoding, change detection, image classification, principal component analysis, etc.) were applied in order to generate useful products that the responsible authorities could benefit from. The Sentinel data yielded good results for water mask extraction and ships detection. The analysis continued after the closure of the crisis situation when the water reached the nominal level again. The results indicate that Sentinel data can be successfully used for ship traffic monitoring, building the foundation of future endeavours for a durable monitoring of the Danube River.

  14. Design mechanic generator under speed bumper to support electricity recourse for urban traffic light

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sabri, M.; Lauzuardy, Jason; Syam, Bustami

    2018-03-01

    The electrical energy needs for the traffic lights in some cities of developing countries cannot be achieved continuously due to limited capacity and interruption of electricity distribution, the main power plant. This issues can lead to congestion at the crossroads. To overcome the problem of street chaos due to power failure, we can cultivate to provide electrical energy from other sources such as using the bumper to generate kinetic energy, which can be converted into electrical energy. This study designed a generator mechanic that will be mounted on the bumper construction to generate electricity for the purposes of traffic lights at the crossroads. The Mechanical generator is composed of springs, levers, sprockets, chains, flywheel and customize power generator. Through the rotation of the flywheel, we can earned 9 Volt DC voltage and electrical current of 5.89 Ampere. This achievement can be used to charge the accumulator which can be used to power the traffic lights, and to charge the accumulator capacity of 6 Ah, the generator works in the charging time for 1.01 hours.

  15. Analysis of Factors for Incorporating User Preferences in Air Traffic Management: A system Perspective

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sheth, Kapil S.; Gutierrez-Nolasco, Sebastian

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis of factors that impact user flight schedules during air traffic congestion. In pre-departure flight planning, users file one route per flight, which often leads to increased delays, inefficient airspace utilization, and exclusion of user flight preferences. In this paper, first the idea of filing alternate routes and providing priorities on each of those routes is introduced. Then, the impact of varying planning interval and system imposed departure delay increment is discussed. The metrics of total delay and equity are used for analyzing the impact of these factors on increased traffic and on different users. The results are shown for four cases, with and without the optional routes and priority assignments. Results demonstrate that adding priorities to optional routes further improves system performance compared to filing one route per flight and using first-come first-served scheme. It was also observed that a two-hour planning interval with a five-minute system imposed departure delay increment results in highest delay reduction. The trend holds for a scenario with increased traffic.

  16. Mobility and the Costs of Congestion in New Jersey

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-02-01

    This study measured quantifiable and qualitative impacts of congestion in New Jersey on mobility, the cost of transportation, and economic productivity. It addressed the impacts of congestion on both an individual level (impacts on an average travele...

  17. Dynamic origin-to-destination routing of wirelessly connected, autonomous vehicles on a congested network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Davis, L. C.

    2017-07-01

    Up-to-date information wirelessly communicated among vehicles can be used to select the optimal route between a given origin and destination. To elucidate how to make use of such information, simulations are performed for autonomous vehicles traveling on a square lattice of roads. All the possible routes between the origin and the destination (without backtracking) are of the same length. Congestion is the only determinant of delay. At each intersection, right-of-way is given to the closest vehicle. There are no traffic lights. Trip times of a subject vehicle are recorded for various initial conditions using different routing algorithms. Surprisingly, the simplest algorithm, which is based on the total number of vehicles on a route, is as good as one based on computing travel times from the average velocity of vehicles on each road segment.

  18. Guidance concepts for time-based flight operations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vicroy, Dan D.

    1990-01-01

    Airport congestion and the associated delays are severe in today's airspace system and are expected to increase. NASA and the FAA is investigating various methods of alleviating this problem through new technology and operational procedures. One concept for improving airspace productivity is time-based control of aircraft. Research to date has focused primarily on the development of time-based flight management systems and Air Traffic Control operational procedures. Flight operations may, however, require special onboard guidance in order to satisfy the Air Traffic Control imposed time constraints. The results are presented of a simulation study aimed at evaluating several time-based guidance concepts in terms of tracking performance, pilot workload, and subjective preference. The guidance concepts tested varied in complexity from simple digital time-error feedback to an advanced time-referenced-energy guidance scheme.

  19. A link-adding strategy for transport efficiency of complex networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ma, Jinlong; Han, Weizhan; Guo, Qing; Wang, Zhenyong; Zhang, Shuai

    2016-12-01

    The transport efficiency is one of the critical parameters to evaluate the performance of a network. In this paper, we propose an improved efficient (IE) strategy to enhance the network transport efficiency of complex networks by adding a fraction of links to an existing network based on the node’s local degree centrality and the shortest path length. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can bring better traffic capacity and shorter average shortest path length than the low-degree-first (LDF) strategy under the shortest path routing protocol. It is found that the proposed strategy is beneficial to the improvement of overall traffic handling and delivering ability of the network. This study can alleviate the congestion in networks, and is helpful to design and optimize realistic networks.

  20. Oxymetazoline plus dexpanthenol in nasal congestion.

    PubMed

    Jagade, Mohan V; Langade, Deepak G; Pophale, Rupesh R; Prabhu, Arun

    2008-12-01

    To compare the efficacy and tolerability of Oxymetazoline 0.05 % plus Dexpanthanol 5% versus Xylometazoline 0.1 % nasal drops in patients with nasal congestion due to allergic rhinitis and following nasal surgery. An investigator-blind, randomized, controlled, phase IV clinical trial conducted in 100 patients with acute allergic rhinitis or patients post-nasal surgery. Patients received either Oxymetazoline 0.05% with Dexpanthanol 5% (OD) or Xylometazoline 0.1% (XO) nasal drops. Relief from nasal congestion was significantly better in the OD group then in the XO group (mean nasal scores 1.24 vs 1.86). Significantly more improvement in sneezing and decrease in nasal discharge was seen in the OD group than the XO group. Nasal irritation in the OD group was significantly less as compared to XO group (0.38 v/s 1.12 on second day and 0.10 vs 0.36 on the fourth day). The recovery time for OD group was 1.08 hours, which was significantly (46 min) lesser than that of the XO group. Rebound congestion was significantly less in OD as compared to XO group (6.25% vs 82.98%). 93.75% of the physicians in the OD group and 51.28% in XO group reported response to therapy as good to excellent. 95.83% patients in the OD group and only 52.91% patients in the XO group rated tolerability to therapy as good to excellent. Oxymetazoline and dexpanthenol combination has a better efficacy, shorter recovery time, causes lesser rebound congestion and has better tolerability than xylometazoline.

  1. Linear stability and nonlinear analyses of traffic waves for the general nonlinear car-following model with multi-time delays

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Dihua; Chen, Dong; Zhao, Min; Liu, Weining; Zheng, Linjiang

    2018-07-01

    In this paper, the general nonlinear car-following model with multi-time delays is investigated in order to describe the reactions of vehicle to driving behavior. Platoon stability and string stability criteria are obtained for the general nonlinear car-following model. Burgers equation and Korteweg de Vries (KdV) equation and their solitary wave solutions are derived adopting the reductive perturbation method. We investigate the properties of typical optimal velocity model using both analytic and numerical methods, which estimates the impact of delays about the evolution of traffic congestion. The numerical results show that time delays in sensing relative movement is more sensitive to the stability of traffic flow than time delays in sensing host motion.

  2. Pedestrian traffic injuries among school children in Kawempe, Uganda.

    PubMed

    Nakitto, Mable T; Mutto, Milton; Howard, Andrew; Lett, Ronald

    2008-09-01

    Traffic injuries are an important problem in low income countries. In Uganda road traffic is the largest single cause of injury in Kampala; pedestrians, and children are most affected. Pedestrian injury affects school children in Uganda. To determine the overall risk of pedestrian traffic injury among school children in Kawempe, Uganda. A cohort was assembled at 35 primary schools and followed for 3 terms. Ten of the schools had participated in previous injury programs, others were systematically selected. Injuries were recorded by teachers using a questionnaire. Data collected included ID, school, age, grade, gender, incident date, vehicle type, and injury outcome. Demographic characteristics are described and cumulative incidences calculated. The cohort included 8,165 children (49% male) from 35 primary schools. The mean age was 9 years (Sd=2.78). Of the 35 schools, 92% were day; the others mixed day and boarding. 53 children (27 girls) were involved in a traffic incident. 25% of the injuries reported were serious and warranted care in a health facility. No deaths occurred. Forty % of incidents involved commercial motorcycles, 41% bicycles, 9% cars, 8% taxis, and 2% trucks. The cumulative incidence was 0.168% each term. Over the 3 terms of the year the cumulative incidence was 0.5 +/- 0.02. There were no gender differences in the cumulative incidence. Each school year about 1/2 % of Kawempe school children are involved in a traffic incident. Interventions are necessary to reduce the unacceptably high incidents of pedestrian traffic. Interventions to alleviate this situation including safer routes, teaching skills of road crossing to children as well as better regulation and road safety education to two wheelers could reduce the unacceptably high incidents of pedestrian traffic injury.

  3. Fixture congestion modulates post-match recovery kinetics in professional soccer players.

    PubMed

    Lundberg, Tommy R; Weckström, Kristoffer

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the influence of fixture congestion on physical performance and biochemical variables in professional male footballers. After 3 competitive matches within a week (3M cycle), 16 players underwent blood sampling and field testing 72 h after the last match. The same tests were performed after a regular 1 match-week cycle (1M cycle). The 1M vs. 3M change scores were compared between Congested (high match exposure) and non-selected Control players. The change score in muscle soreness was greater (effect size 1.0; CI 0.0-1.9) in the Congested players than Controls, indicating a possible negative effect of fixture congestion. There were no effects on sprint and jump performance. The change in plasma (P)-Urea was greater in Congested players than controls (effect size 1.3; CI 0.3-2.2). The effects on other blood variables were either non-existing/trivial, or unclear. Altogether, physical fitness and immune function were not compromised by match congestion, yet some indices of physiological stress and muscle damage were still evident.

  4. A Harmonized Perspective on Transportation Management in Smart Cities: The Novel IoT-Driven Environment for Road Traffic Modeling.

    PubMed

    Masek, Pavel; Masek, Jan; Frantik, Petr; Fujdiak, Radek; Ometov, Aleksandr; Hosek, Jiri; Andreev, Sergey; Mlynek, Petr; Misurec, Jiri

    2016-11-08

    The unprecedented growth of today's cities together with increased population mobility are fueling the avalanche in the numbers of vehicles on the roads. This development led to the new challenges for the traffic management, including the mitigation of road congestion, accidents, and air pollution. Over the last decade, researchers have been focusing their efforts on leveraging the recent advances in sensing, communications, and dynamic adaptive technologies to prepare the deployed road traffic management systems (TMS) for resolving these important challenges in future smart cities. However, the existing solutions may still be insufficient to construct a reliable and secure TMS that is capable of handling the anticipated influx of the population and vehicles in urban areas. Along these lines, this work systematically outlines a perspective on a novel modular environment for traffic modeling, which allows to recreate the examined road networks in their full resemblance. Our developed solution is targeted to incorporate the progress in the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, where low-power, embedded devices integrate as part of a next-generation TMS. To mimic the real traffic conditions, we recreated and evaluated a practical traffic scenario built after a complex road intersection within a large European city.

  5. Fair and efficient network congestion control based on minority game

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Zuxi; Wang, Wen; Hu, Hanping; Deng, Zhaozhang

    2011-12-01

    Low link utility, RTT unfairness and unfairness of Multi-Bottleneck network are the existing problems in the present network congestion control algorithms at large. Through the analogy of network congestion control with the "El Farol Bar" problem, we establish a congestion control model based on minority game(MG), and then present a novel network congestion control algorithm based on the model. The result of simulations indicates that the proposed algorithm can make the achievements of link utility closing to 100%, zero packet lose rate, and small of queue size. Besides, the RTT unfairness and the unfairness of Multi-Bottleneck network can be solved, to achieve the max-min fairness in Multi-Bottleneck network, while efficiently weaken the "ping-pong" oscillation caused by the overall synchronization.

  6. Involvement of systemic venous congestion in heart failure.

    PubMed

    Rubio Gracia, J; Sánchez Marteles, M; Pérez Calvo, J I

    2017-04-01

    Systemic venous congestion has gained significant importance in the interpretation of the pathophysiology of acute heart failure, especially in the development of renal function impairment during exacerbations. In this study, we review the concept, clinical characterisation and identification of venous congestion. We update current knowledge on its importance in the pathophysiology of acute heart failure and its involvement in the prognosis. We pay special attention to the relationship between abdominal congestion, the pulmonary interstitium as filtering membrane, inflammatory phenomena and renal function impairment in acute heart failure. Lastly, we review decongestion as a new therapeutic objective and the measures available for its assessment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI). All rights reserved.

  7. Effects of packet retransmission with finite packet lifetime on traffic capacity in scale-free networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiang, Zhong-Yuan; Ma, Jian-Feng

    Existing routing strategies such as the global dynamic routing [X. Ling, M. B. Hu, R. Jiang and Q. S. Wu, Phys. Rev. E 81, 016113 (2010)] can achieve very high traffic capacity at the cost of extremely long packet traveling delay. In many real complex networks, especially for real-time applications such as the instant communication software, extremely long packet traveling time is unacceptable. In this work, we propose to assign a finite Time-to-Live (TTL) parameter for each packet. To guarantee every packet to arrive at its destination within its TTL, we assume that a packet is retransmitted by its source once its TTL expires. We employ source routing mechanisms in the traffic model to avoid the routing-flaps induced by the global dynamic routing. We compose extensive simulations to verify our proposed mechanisms. With small TTL, the effects of packet retransmission on network traffic capacity are obvious, and the phase transition from flow free state to congested state occurs. For the purpose of reducing the computation frequency of the routing table, we employ a computing cycle Tc within which the routing table is recomputed once. The simulation results show that the traffic capacity decreases with increasing Tc. Our work provides a good insight into the understanding of effects of packet retransmission with finite packet lifetime on traffic capacity in scale-free networks.

  8. Lifetime Maximization via Hole Alleviation in IoT Enabling Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks.

    PubMed

    Wadud, Zahid; Javaid, Nadeem; Khan, Muhammad Awais; Alrajeh, Nabil; Alabed, Mohamad Souheil; Guizani, Nadra

    2017-07-21

    In Internet of Things (IoT) enabled Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), there are two major factors which degrade the performance of the network. One is the void hole which occurs in a particular region due to unavailability of forwarder nodes. The other is the presence of energy hole which occurs due to imbalanced data traffic load on intermediate nodes. Therefore, an optimum transmission strategy is required to maximize the network lifespan via hole alleviation. In this regard, we propose a heterogeneous network solution that is capable to balance energy dissipation among network nodes. In addition, the divide and conquer approach is exploited to evenly distribute number of transmissions over various network areas. An efficient forwarder node selection is performed to alleviate coverage and energy holes. Linear optimization is performed to validate the effectiveness of our proposed work in term of energy minimization. Furthermore, simulations are conducted to show that our claims are well grounded. Results show the superiority of our work as compared to the baseline scheme in terms of energy consumption and network lifetime.

  9. Lifetime Maximization via Hole Alleviation in IoT Enabling Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

    PubMed Central

    Wadud, Zahid; Khan, Muhammad Awais; Alrajeh, Nabil; Alabed, Mohamad Souheil; Guizani, Nadra

    2017-01-01

    In Internet of Things (IoT) enabled Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), there are two major factors which degrade the performance of the network. One is the void hole which occurs in a particular region due to unavailability of forwarder nodes. The other is the presence of energy hole which occurs due to imbalanced data traffic load on intermediate nodes. Therefore, an optimum transmission strategy is required to maximize the network lifespan via hole alleviation. In this regard, we propose a heterogeneous network solution that is capable to balance energy dissipation among network nodes. In addition, the divide and conquer approach is exploited to evenly distribute number of transmissions over various network areas. An efficient forwarder node selection is performed to alleviate coverage and energy holes. Linear optimization is performed to validate the effectiveness of our proposed work in term of energy minimization. Furthermore, simulations are conducted to show that our claims are well grounded. Results show the superiority of our work as compared to the baseline scheme in terms of energy consumption and network lifetime. PMID:28753990

  10. On-board closed-loop congestion control for satellite based packet switching networks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chu, Pong P.; Ivancic, William D.; Kim, Heechul

    1993-01-01

    NASA LeRC is currently investigating a satellite architecture that incorporates on-board packet switching capability. Because of the statistical nature of packet switching, arrival traffic may fluctuate and thus it is necessary to integrate congestion control mechanism as part of the on-board processing unit. This study focuses on the closed-loop reactive control. We investigate the impact of the long propagation delay on the performance and propose a scheme to overcome the problem. The scheme uses a global feedback signal to regulate the packet arrival rate of ground stations. In this scheme, the satellite continuously broadcasts the status of its output buffer and the ground stations respond by selectively discarding packets or by tagging the excessive packets as low-priority. The two schemes are evaluated by theoretical queuing analysis and simulation. The former is used to analyze the simplified model and to determine the basic trends and bounds, and the later is used to assess the performance of a more realistic system and to evaluate the effectiveness of more sophisticated control schemes. The results show that the long propagation delay makes the closed-loop congestion control less responsive. The broadcasted information can only be used to extract statistical information. The discarding scheme needs carefully-chosen status information and reduction function, and normally requires a significant amount of ground discarding to reduce the on-board packet loss probability. The tagging scheme is more effective since it tolerates more uncertainties and allows a larger margin of error in status information. It can protect the high-priority packets from excessive loss and fully utilize the downlink bandwidth at the same time.

  11. An economic way of reducing health, environmental, and other pressures of urban traffic: a decision analysis on trip aggregation

    PubMed Central

    Tuomisto, Jouni T; Tainio, Marko

    2005-01-01

    Background Traffic congestion is rapidly becoming the most important obstacle to urban development. In addition, traffic creates major health, environmental, and economical problems. Nonetheless, automobiles are crucial for the functions of the modern society. Most proposals for sustainable traffic solutions face major political opposition, economical consequences, or technical problems. Methods We performed a decision analysis in a poorly studied area, trip aggregation, and studied decisions from the perspective of two different stakeholders, the passenger and society. We modelled the impact and potential of composite traffic, a hypothetical large-scale demand-responsive public transport system for the Helsinki metropolitan area, where a centralised system would collect the information on all trip demands online, would merge the trips with the same origin and destination into public vehicles with eight or four seats, and then would transmit the trip instructions to the passengers' mobile phones. Results We show here that in an urban area with one million inhabitants, trip aggregation could reduce the health, environmental, and other detrimental impacts of car traffic typically by 50–70%, and if implemented could attract about half of the car passengers, and within a broad operational range would require no public subsidies. Conclusion Composite traffic provides new degrees of freedom in urban decision-making in identifying novel solutions to the problems of urban traffic. PMID:16309549

  12. 76 FR 75875 - Plan for Conduct of 2012 Electric Transmission Congestion Study

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-05

    ... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Plan for Conduct of 2012 Electric Transmission Congestion Study AGENCY... preparation of a study of electric transmission congestion pursuant to section 216(a)(1) of the Federal Power...-register at this Web site: http://energy.gov/oe/congestion-study-2012 . [[Page 75876

  13. Characterizing Longitude-Dependent Orbital Debris Congestion in the Geosynchronous Orbit Regime

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderson, Paul V.

    The geosynchronous orbit (GEO) is a unique commodity of the satellite industry that is becoming increasingly contaminated with orbital debris, but is heavily populated with high-value assets from the civil, commercial, and defense sectors. The GEO arena is home to hundreds of communications, data transmission, and intelligence satellites collectively insured for an estimated 18.3 billion USD. As the lack of natural cleansing mechanisms at the GEO altitude renders the lifetimes of GEO debris essentially infinite, conjunction and risk assessment must be performed to safeguard operational assets from debris collisions. In this thesis, longitude-dependent debris congestion is characterized by predicting the number of near-miss events per day for every longitude slot at GEO, using custom debris propagation tools and a torus intersection metric. Near-miss events with the present-day debris population are assigned risk levels based on GEO-relative position and speed, and this risk information is used to prioritize the population for debris removal target selection. Long-term projections of debris growth under nominal launch traffic, mitigation practices, and fragmentation events are also discussed, and latitudinal synchronization of the GEO debris population is explained via node variations arising from luni-solar gravity. In addition to characterizing localized debris congestion in the GEO ring, this thesis further investigates the conjunction risk to operational satellites or debris removal systems applying low-thrust propulsion to raise orbit altitude at end-of-life to a super-synchronous disposal orbit. Conjunction risks as a function of thrust level, miss distance, longitude, and semi-major axis are evaluated, and a guidance method for evading conjuncting debris with continuous thrust by means of a thrust heading change via single-shooting is developed.

  14. Mean field games with congestion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Achdou, Yves; Porretta, Alessio

    2018-03-01

    We consider a class of systems of time dependent partial differential equations which arise in mean field type models with congestion. The systems couple a backward viscous Hamilton-Jacobi equation and a forward Kolmogorov equation both posed in $(0,T)\\times (\\mathbb{R}^N /\\mathbb{Z}^N)$. Because of congestion and by contrast with simpler cases, the latter system can never be seen as the optimality conditions of an optimal control problem driven by a partial differential equation. The Hamiltonian vanishes as the density tends to $+\\infty$ and may not even be defined in the regions where the density is zero. After giving a suitable definition of weak solutions, we prove the existence and uniqueness results of the latter under rather general assumptions. No restriction is made on the horizon $T$.

  15. Modeling the effect of accessibility and congestion in location choice.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-12-01

    This study explores the relationship between accessibility and congestion, and their impacts on property values. Three research questions are addressed: (1) What is the relation between accessibility and congestion both regional and neighborhood leve...

  16. Congestion Management System Process Report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-03-01

    In January 1995, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization with the help of an interagency Study Review Committee began the process of developing a Congestion Management System (CMS) Plan resulting in this report. This report documents the ...

  17. The effects of velocity difference changes with memory on the dynamics characteristics and fuel economy of traffic flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Shaowei; Zhao, Xiangmo; Xu, Zhigang; Zhang, Licheng

    2016-11-01

    To evaluate the effects of velocity difference changes with memory in the intelligent transportation environment on the dynamics and fuel consumptions of traffic flow, we first investigate the linkage between velocity difference changes with memory and car-following behaviors with the measured data in cities, and then propose an improved cooperative car-following model considering multiple velocity difference changes with memory in the cooperative adaptive cruise control strategy, finally carry out several numerical simulations under the periodic boundary condition and at signalized intersections to explore how velocity difference changes with memory affect car's velocity, velocity fluctuation, acceleration and fuel consumptions in the intelligent transportation environment. The results show that velocity difference changes with memory have obvious effects on car-following behaviors, that the improved cooperative car-following model can describe the phase transition of traffic flow and estimate the evolution of traffic congestion, that the stability and fuel economy of traffic flow simulated by the improved car-following model with velocity difference changes with memory is obviously superior to those without velocity difference changes, and that taking velocity difference changes with memory into account in designing the advanced adaptive cruise control strategy can significantly improve the stability and fuel economy of traffic flow.

  18. Planning and design of PGIS in Shanghai sub-civic center

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Baoyu; Tao, Yan; Gao, Fei

    2011-10-01

    To alleviate the road congestion caused by parking in urban CBD, Parking Guidance and Information System (PGIS) is paid more attention to many cities in China. It can provide effective parking information (such as the location and utilization of parking lots, the routes, the traffic situation around the parking lots) to drivers through many ways, so as to guide them to park successfully. In the paper, PGIS constructing in Shanghai Xujiahui area is taken as the background, methods and models about urban PGIS planning and design are discussed from the angle of traffic function. Fuzzy AHP is used to select parking lots which can be brought into PGIS. The principle and method of zoning guidance service range are established, the principle of information classification and guidance method of three levels are introduced. Finally, the detailed content of PGI signs is given.

  19. Enhanced intelligent driver model to access the impact of driving strategies on traffic capacity.

    PubMed

    Kesting, Arne; Treiber, Martin; Helbing, Dirk

    2010-10-13

    With an increasing number of vehicles equipped with adaptive cruise control (ACC), the impact of such vehicles on the collective dynamics of traffic flow becomes relevant. By means of simulation, we investigate the influence of variable percentages of ACC vehicles on traffic flow characteristics. For simulating the ACC vehicles, we propose a new car-following model that also serves as the basis of an ACC implementation in real cars. The model is based on the intelligent driver model (IDM) and inherits its intuitive behavioural parameters: desired velocity, acceleration, comfortable deceleration and desired minimum time headway. It eliminates, however, the sometimes unrealistic behaviour of the IDM in cut-in situations with ensuing small gaps that regularly are caused by lane changes of other vehicles in dense or congested traffic. We simulate the influence of different ACC strategies on the maximum capacity before breakdown and the (dynamic) bottleneck capacity after breakdown. With a suitable strategy, we find sensitivities of the order of 0.3, i.e. 1 per cent more ACC vehicles will lead to an increase in the capacities by about 0.3 per cent. This sensitivity multiplies when considering travel times at actual breakdowns.

  20. Coordinated pre-preemption of traffic signals to enhance railroad grade crossing safety in urban areas and estimation of train impacts to arterial travel time delay.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-01-01

    This research project investigated the potential for using advanced features of traffic signal system software platforms : (ATMS.now), prevalent in Florida, to alleviate safety and mobility problems at highway-railroad at-grade crossings and : adjace...

  1. Congestion Pricing for Aircraft Pushback Slot Allocation.

    PubMed

    Liu, Lihua; Zhang, Yaping; Liu, Lan; Xing, Zhiwei

    2017-01-01

    In order to optimize aircraft pushback management during rush hour, aircraft pushback slot allocation based on congestion pricing is explored while considering monetary compensation based on the quality of the surface operations. First, the concept of the "external cost of surface congestion" is proposed, and a quantitative study on the external cost is performed. Then, an aircraft pushback slot allocation model for minimizing the total surface cost is established. An improved discrete differential evolution algorithm is also designed. Finally, a simulation is performed on Xinzheng International Airport using the proposed model. By comparing the pushback slot control strategy based on congestion pricing with other strategies, the advantages of the proposed model and algorithm are highlighted. In addition to reducing delays and optimizing the delay distribution, the model and algorithm are better suited for use for actual aircraft pushback management during rush hour. Further, it is also observed they do not result in significant increases in the surface cost. These results confirm the effectiveness and suitability of the proposed model and algorithm.

  2. Advancing interconnect density for spiking neural network hardware implementations using traffic-aware adaptive network-on-chip routers.

    PubMed

    Carrillo, Snaider; Harkin, Jim; McDaid, Liam; Pande, Sandeep; Cawley, Seamus; McGinley, Brian; Morgan, Fearghal

    2012-09-01

    The brain is highly efficient in how it processes information and tolerates faults. Arguably, the basic processing units are neurons and synapses that are interconnected in a complex pattern. Computer scientists and engineers aim to harness this efficiency and build artificial neural systems that can emulate the key information processing principles of the brain. However, existing approaches cannot provide the dense interconnect for the billions of neurons and synapses that are required. Recently a reconfigurable and biologically inspired paradigm based on network-on-chip (NoC) and spiking neural networks (SNNs) has been proposed as a new method of realising an efficient, robust computing platform. However, the use of the NoC as an interconnection fabric for large-scale SNNs demands a good trade-off between scalability, throughput, neuron/synapse ratio and power consumption. This paper presents a novel traffic-aware, adaptive NoC router, which forms part of a proposed embedded mixed-signal SNN architecture called EMBRACE (EMulating Biologically-inspiRed ArChitectures in hardwarE). The proposed adaptive NoC router provides the inter-neuron connectivity for EMBRACE, maintaining router communication and avoiding dropped router packets by adapting to router traffic congestion. Results are presented on throughput, power and area performance analysis of the adaptive router using a 90 nm CMOS technology which outperforms existing NoCs in this domain. The adaptive behaviour of the router is also verified on a Stratix II FPGA implementation of a 4 × 2 router array with real-time traffic congestion. The presented results demonstrate the feasibility of using the proposed adaptive NoC router within the EMBRACE architecture to realise large-scale SNNs on embedded hardware. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Relationship Between Carbon Dioxide Levels and Reported Congestion and Headaches on the International Space Station

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cole, Robert; Wear, Mary; Young, Millennia; Cobel, Christopher; Mason, Sara

    2017-01-01

    Congestion is commonly reported during spaceflight, and most crewmembers have reported using medications for congestion during International Space Station (ISS) missions. Although congestion has been attributed to fluid shifts during spaceflight, fluid status reaches equilibrium during the first week after launch while congestion continues to be reported throughout long duration missions. Congestion complaints have anecdotally been reported in relation to ISS CO2 levels; this evaluation was undertaken to determine whether or not an association exists. METHODS: Reported headaches, congestion symptoms, and CO2 levels were obtained for ISS expeditions 2-31, and time-weighted means and single-point maxima were determined for 24-hour (24hr) and 7-day (7d) periods prior to each weekly private medical conference. Multiple imputation addressed missing data, and logistic regression modeled the relationship between probability of reported event of congestion or headache and CO2 levels, adjusted for possible confounding covariates. The first seven days of spaceflight were not included to control for fluid shifts. Data were evaluated to determine the concentration of CO2 required to maintain the risk of congestion below 1% to allow for direct comparison with a previously published evaluation of CO2 concentrations and headache. RESULTS: This study confirmed a previously identified significant association between CO2 and headache and also found a significant association between CO2 and congestion. For each 1-mm Hg increase in CO2, the odds of a crew member reporting congestion doubled. The average 7-day CO2 would need to be maintained below 1.5 mmHg to keep the risk of congestion below 1%. The predicted probability curves of ISS headache and congestion curves appear parallel when plotted against ppCO2 levels with congestion occurring at approximately 1mmHg lower than a headache would be reported. DISCUSSION: While the cause of congestion is multifactorial, this study showed

  4. Microorganisms and heavy metals associated with atmospheric deposition in a congested urban environment of a developing country: Sri Lanka.

    PubMed

    Weerasundara, Lakshika; Amarasekara, R W K; Magana-Arachchi, D N; Ziyath, Abdul M; Karunaratne, D G G P; Goonetilleke, Ashantha; Vithanage, Meththika

    2017-04-15

    The presence of bacteria and heavy metals in atmospheric deposition were investigated in Kandy, Sri Lanka, which is a typical city in the developing world with significant traffic congestion. Atmospheric deposition samples were analyzed for Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb which are heavy metals common to urban environments. Al and Fe were found in high concentrations due to the presence of natural sources, but may also be re-suspended by vehicular traffic. Relatively high concentrations of toxic metals such as Cr and Pb in dissolved form were also found. High Zn loads can be attributed to vehicular emissions and the wide use of Zn coated roofing materials. The metal loads in wet deposition showed higher concentrations compared to dry deposition. The metal concentrations among the different sampling sites significantly differ from each other depending on the traffic conditions. Industrial activities are not significant in Kandy City. Consequently, the traffic exerts high influence on heavy metal loadings. As part of the bacterial investigations, nine species of culturable bacteria, namely; Sphingomonas sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas monteilii, Klebsiella pneumonia, Ochrobactrum intermedium, Leclercia adecarboxylata, Exiguobacterium sp., Bacillus pumilus and Kocuria kristinae, which are opportunistic pathogens, were identified. This is the first time Pseudomonas monteilii and Ochrobactrum intermedium has been reported from a country in Asia. The culturable fraction constituted ~0.01 to 10%. Pigmented bacteria and endospore forming bacteria were copious in the atmospheric depositions due to their capability to withstand harsh environmental conditions. The presence of pathogenic bacteria and heavy metals creates potential human and ecosystem health risk. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE ASSOCIATED WITH PREGNANCY IN OKAPI (OKAPIA JOHNSTONI).

    PubMed

    Warren, Joshua D; Aitken-Palmer, Copper; Weldon, Alan D; Flanagan, Joseph P; Howard, Lauren L; Garner, Michael M; Citino, Scott B

    2017-03-01

    Acute signs associated with cardiovascular disease occurred in three pregnant okapi ( Okapia johnstoni ) during early to midgestation and progressed to congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure was diagnosed antemortem using echocardiography and plasma cardiac troponin levels. Clinical signs included decreased activity, hyporexia, tachypnea, dyspnea, flared nostrils, and productive coughing with copious amounts of foamy nasal discharge. Parenteral and oral treatment with furosemide, enalapril, and spironolactone controlled clinical signs in the three okapi allowing each to carry out one pregnancy to term. Two okapi carried the first pregnancy to term after showing signs, while one okapi aborted the first calf and gave birth to a healthy calf in a subsequent pregnancy. Subsequent pregnancy in one okapi ended with abortion and associated dystocia and endometritis. Following parturition, clinical signs associated with heart failure resolved in all three individuals; serial echocardiography in two individuals showed improvement in fractional shortening and left atrial size and all three okapi showed markedly decreased pleural effusion and resolution of pulmonary edema. However, subsequent pregnancies in all three okapi induced respiratory distress and recurrence of congestive heart failure; one okapi died from congestive heart failure associated with subsequent pregnancy. This case series describes the clinical presentation and pathologic findings of congestive heart failure during pregnancy in adult okapi.

  6. A Harmonized Perspective on Transportation Management in Smart Cities: The Novel IoT-Driven Environment for Road Traffic Modeling

    PubMed Central

    Masek, Pavel; Masek, Jan; Frantik, Petr; Fujdiak, Radek; Ometov, Aleksandr; Hosek, Jiri; Andreev, Sergey; Mlynek, Petr; Misurec, Jiri

    2016-01-01

    The unprecedented growth of today’s cities together with increased population mobility are fueling the avalanche in the numbers of vehicles on the roads. This development led to the new challenges for the traffic management, including the mitigation of road congestion, accidents, and air pollution. Over the last decade, researchers have been focusing their efforts on leveraging the recent advances in sensing, communications, and dynamic adaptive technologies to prepare the deployed road traffic management systems (TMS) for resolving these important challenges in future smart cities. However, the existing solutions may still be insufficient to construct a reliable and secure TMS that is capable of handling the anticipated influx of the population and vehicles in urban areas. Along these lines, this work systematically outlines a perspective on a novel modular environment for traffic modeling, which allows to recreate the examined road networks in their full resemblance. Our developed solution is targeted to incorporate the progress in the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, where low-power, embedded devices integrate as part of a next-generation TMS. To mimic the real traffic conditions, we recreated and evaluated a practical traffic scenario built after a complex road intersection within a large European city. PMID:27834796

  7. The Traffic Adaptive Data Dissemination (TrAD) Protocol for both Urban and Highway Scenarios.

    PubMed

    Tian, Bin; Hou, Kun Mean; Zhou, Haiying

    2016-06-21

    The worldwide economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be US$518 billion per year and the annual congestion cost in France is estimated to be €5.9 billion. Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are one solution to improve transport features such as traffic safety, traffic jam and infotainment on wheels, where a great number of event-driven messages need to be disseminated in a timely way in a region of interest. In comparison with traditional wireless networks, VANETs have to consider the highly dynamic network topology and lossy links due to node mobility. Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) protocols are the keystone of VANETs. According to our survey, most of the proposed IVC protocols focus on either highway or urban scenarios, but not on both. Furthermore, too few protocols, considering both scenarios, can achieve high performance. In this paper, an infrastructure-less Traffic Adaptive data Dissemination (TrAD) protocol which takes into account road traffic and network traffic status for both highway and urban scenarios will be presented. TrAD has double broadcast suppression techniques and is designed to adapt efficiently to the irregular road topology. The performance of the TrAD protocol was evaluated quantitatively by means of realistic simulations taking into account different real road maps, traffic routes and vehicular densities. The obtained simulation results show that TrAD is more efficient in terms of packet delivery ratio, number of transmissions and delay in comparison with the performance of three well-known reference protocols. Moreover, TrAD can also tolerate a reasonable degree of GPS drift and still achieve efficient data dissemination.

  8. The Traffic Adaptive Data Dissemination (TrAD) Protocol for both Urban and Highway Scenarios

    PubMed Central

    Tian, Bin; Hou, Kun Mean; Zhou, Haiying

    2016-01-01

    The worldwide economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be US$518 billion per year and the annual congestion cost in France is estimated to be €5.9 billion. Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are one solution to improve transport features such as traffic safety, traffic jam and infotainment on wheels, where a great number of event-driven messages need to be disseminated in a timely way in a region of interest. In comparison with traditional wireless networks, VANETs have to consider the highly dynamic network topology and lossy links due to node mobility. Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) protocols are the keystone of VANETs. According to our survey, most of the proposed IVC protocols focus on either highway or urban scenarios, but not on both. Furthermore, too few protocols, considering both scenarios, can achieve high performance. In this paper, an infrastructure-less Traffic Adaptive data Dissemination (TrAD) protocol which takes into account road traffic and network traffic status for both highway and urban scenarios will be presented. TrAD has double broadcast suppression techniques and is designed to adapt efficiently to the irregular road topology. The performance of the TrAD protocol was evaluated quantitatively by means of realistic simulations taking into account different real road maps, traffic routes and vehicular densities. The obtained simulation results show that TrAD is more efficient in terms of packet delivery ratio, number of transmissions and delay in comparison with the performance of three well-known reference protocols. Moreover, TrAD can also tolerate a reasonable degree of GPS drift and still achieve efficient data dissemination. PMID:27338393

  9. An optimization model for the US Air-Traffic System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mulvey, J. M.

    1986-01-01

    A systematic approach for monitoring U.S. air traffic was developed in the context of system-wide planning and control. Towards this end, a network optimization model with nonlinear objectives was chosen as the central element in the planning/control system. The network representation was selected because: (1) it provides a comprehensive structure for depicting essential aspects of the air traffic system, (2) it can be solved efficiently for large scale problems, and (3) the design can be easily communicated to non-technical users through computer graphics. Briefly, the network planning models consider the flow of traffic through a graph as the basic structure. Nodes depict locations and time periods for either individual planes or for aggregated groups of airplanes. Arcs define variables as actual airplanes flying through space or as delays across time periods. As such, a special case of the network can be used to model the so called flow control problem. Due to the large number of interacting variables and the difficulty in subdividing the problem into relatively independent subproblems, an integrated model was designed which will depict the entire high level (above 29000 feet) jet route system for the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. As a first step in demonstrating the concept's feasibility a nonlinear risk/cost model was developed for the Indianapolis Airspace. The nonlinear network program --NLPNETG-- was employed in solving the resulting test cases. This optimization program uses the Truncated-Newton method (quadratic approximation) for determining the search direction at each iteration in the nonlinear algorithm. It was shown that aircraft could be re-routed in an optimal fashion whenever traffic congestion increased beyond an acceptable level, as measured by the nonlinear risk function.

  10. Measuring and improving performance in incident management.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-03-01

    Traffic incidents account for about 25 percent of traffic congestion and delay. Clearing incidents rapidly is crucial in : minimizing congestion, reducing secondary crashes and improving safety for both emergency responders and : travelers. Especiall...

  11. 23 CFR 973.214 - Indian lands congestion management system (CMS).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 23 Highways 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Indian lands congestion management system (CMS). 973.214... HIGHWAYS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS PERTAINING TO THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND THE INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Bureau of Indian Affairs Management Systems § 973.214 Indian lands congestion management system...

  12. 14 CFR 137.49 - Operations over other than congested areas.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Operations over other than congested areas. 137.49 Section 137.49 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF... congested areas below 500 feet above the surface and closer than 500 feet to persons, vessels, vehicles, and...

  13. Analysis of local bus markets : volume II – rider characteristics : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-07-04

    Despite having an extensive network of public transit, traffic congestion and transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are significant concerns in New Jersey. This research hypothesizes that traffic congestion and air quality concerns in...

  14. Analysis of local bus markets : volume I – methodology and findings : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-07-04

    Despite having an extensive network of public transit, traffic congestion and transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are significant concerns in New Jersey. This research hypothesizes that traffic congestion and air quality concerns in...

  15. Analysis of local bus markets : volume III – travel characteristics : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-07-04

    Despite having an extensive network of public transit, traffic congestion and transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are significant concerns in New Jersey. This research hypothesizes that traffic congestion and air quality concerns in...

  16. Effects of heterogeneous traffic with speed limit zone on the car accidents

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marzoug, R.; Lakouari, N.; Bentaleb, K.; Ez-Zahraouy, H.; Benyoussef, A.

    2016-06-01

    Using the extended Nagel-Schreckenberg (NS) model, we numerically study the impact of the heterogeneity of traffic with speed limit zone (SLZ) on the probability of occurrence of car accidents (Pac). SLZ in the heterogeneous traffic has an important effect, typically in the mixture velocities case. In the deterministic case, SLZ leads to the appearance of car accidents even in the low densities, in this region Pac increases with increasing of fraction of fast vehicles (Ff). In the nondeterministic case, SLZ decreases the effect of braking probability Pb in the low densities. Furthermore, the impact of multi-SLZ on the probability Pac is also studied. In contrast with the homogeneous case [X. Li, H. Kuang, Y. Fan and G. Zhang, Int. J. Mod. Phys. C 25 (2014) 1450036], it is found that in the low densities the probability Pac without SLZ (n = 0) is low than Pac with multi-SLZ (n > 0). However, the existence of multi-SLZ in the road decreases the risk of collision in the congestion phase.

  17. Measuring non-recurrent congestion in small to medium sized urban areas.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-05-01

    Understanding the relative magnitudes of recurrent vs. non-recurrent congestion in an urban area is critical to the selection of proper countermeasures and the appropriate allocation of resources to address congestion problems. Small to medium sized ...

  18. Liver congestion in heart failure contributes to inappropriately increased serum hepcidin despite anemia.

    PubMed

    Ohno, Yukako; Hanawa, Haruo; Jiao, Shuang; Hayashi, Yuka; Yoshida, Kaori; Suzuki, Tomoyasu; Kashimura, Takeshi; Obata, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Komei; Watanabe, Tohru; Minamino, Tohru

    2015-01-01

    Hepcidin is a key regulator of mammalian iron metabolism and mainly produced by the liver. Hepcidin excess causes iron deficiency and anemia by inhibiting iron absorption from the intestine and iron release from macrophage stores. Anemia is frequently complicated with heart failure. In heart failure patients, the most frequent histologic appearance of liver is congestion. However, it remains unclear whether liver congestion associated with heart failure influences hepcidin production, thereby contributing to anemia and functional iron deficiency. In this study, we investigated this relationship in clinical and basic studies. In clinical studies of consecutive heart failure patients (n = 320), anemia was a common comorbidity (41%). In heart failure patients without active infection and ongoing cancer (n = 30), log-serum hepcidin concentration of patients with liver congestion was higher than those without liver congestion (p = 0.0316). Moreover, in heart failure patients with liver congestion (n = 19), the anemia was associated with the higher serum hepcidin concentrations, which is a type of anemia characterized by induction of hepcidin. Subsequently, we produced a rat model of heart failure with liver congestion by injecting monocrotaline that causes pulmonary hypertension. The monocrotaline-treated rats displayed liver congestion with increase of hepcidin expression at 4 weeks after monocrotaline injection, followed by anemia and functional iron deficiency observed at 5 weeks. We conclude that liver congestion induces hepcidin production, which may result in anemia and functional iron deficiency in some patients with heart failure.

  19. Limb congestion enhances the synchronization of sympathetic outflow with muscle contraction

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mostoufi-Moab, S.; Herr, M. D.; Silber, D. H.; Gray, K. S.; Leuenberger, U. A.; Sinoway, L. I.

    2000-01-01

    In this report, we examined if the synchronization of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) with muscle contraction is enhanced by limb congestion. To explore this relationship, we applied signal-averaging techniques to the MSNA signal obtained during short bouts of forearm contraction (2-s contraction/3-s rest cycle) at 40% maximal voluntary contraction for 5 min. We performed this analysis before and after forearm venous congestion; an intervention that augments the autonomic response to sustained static muscle contractions via a local effect on muscle afferents. There was an increased percentage of the MSNA noted during second 2 of the 5-s contraction/rest cycles. The percentage of total MSNA seen during this particular second increased from minute 1 to 5 of contraction and was increased further by limb congestion (control minute 1 = 25.6 +/- 2.0%, minute 5 = 32.8 +/- 2.2%; limb congestion minute 1 = 29.3 +/- 2.1%, minute 5 = 37.8 +/- 3.9%; exercise main effect <0.005; limb congestion main effect P = 0.054). These changes in the distribution of signal-averaged MSNA were seen despite the fact that the mean number of sympathetic discharges did not increase over baseline. We conclude that synchronization of contraction and MSNA is seen during short repetitive bouts of handgrip. The sensitizing effect of contraction time and limb congestion are apparently due to feedback from muscle afferents within the exercising muscle.

  20. Congestive heart failure in subjects with thyrotoxicosis in a black community

    PubMed Central

    Anakwue, R C; Onwubere, B J C; Anisiuba, B C; Ikeh, V O; Mbah, A; Ike, S O

    2010-01-01

    Introduction: Thyroid hormone has profound effects on a number of metabolic processes in virtually all tissues but the cardiovascular manifestations are prominent usually creating a hyperdynamic circulatory state. Thyrotoxicosis is not a common cause of congestive heart failure among black communities. Objectives: To determine the hospital prevalence, clinical characteristics and echocardiographic findings in patients with thyrotoxicosis who present with congestive heart failure (CCF) in the eastern part of Nigeria. Subjects and methods: A total of 50 subjects aged 15 years and above who were diagnosed as thyrotoxic following clinical and thyroid function tests were consecutively recruited. Fifty age- and sex-matched controls with no clinical or biochemical evidence of thyrotoxicosis and no comorbidities were used as controls. Two-dimensional echocardiography was carried out on all the subjects. CCF was determined clinically and echocardiographically. Results: Eight patients (5 females and 3 males) out of a total of 50 thyrotoxic patients presented with congestive heart failure. Conclusion: The study revealed that congestive heart failure can occur in thyrotoxicosis in spite of the associated hyperdynamic condition. The underlying mechanism may include direct damage by autoimmune myocarditis, congestive circulation secondary to excess sodium, and fluid retention. PMID:20730063

  1. Traffic safety facts 1999 : state traffic data

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-01-01

    This traffic safety fact sheet presents state traffic data in a figure showing 1999 Traffic Fatalities by State and Percent Change from 1998 and in 11 tables showing: (1) Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rates, 1999; (2) Traffic Fatalities and Percent...

  2. Congestive heart failure and central sleep apnea.

    PubMed

    Sands, Scott A; Owens, Robert L

    2015-07-01

    Congestive heart failure (CHF) is among the most common causes of admission to hospitals in the United States, especially in those over age 65. Few data exist regarding the prevalence CHF of Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR) owing to congestive heart failure in the intensive care unit (ICU). Nevertheless, CSR is expected to be highly prevalent among those with CHF. Treatment should focus on the underlying mechanisms by which CHF increases loop gain and promotes unstable breathing. Few data are available to determine prevalence of CSR in the ICU, or how CSR might affect clinical management and weaning from mechanical ventilation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Congestive Heart Failure and Central Sleep Apnea.

    PubMed

    Sands, Scott A; Owens, Robert L

    2016-03-01

    Congestive heart failure (CHF) is among the most common causes of admission to hospitals in the United States, especially in those over age 65. Few data exist regarding the prevalence CHF of Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR) owing to congestive heart failure in the intensive care unit (ICU). Nevertheless, CSR is expected to be highly prevalent among those with CHF. Treatment should focus on the underlying mechanisms by which CHF increases loop gain and promotes unstable breathing. Few data are available to determine prevalence of CSR in the ICU, or how CSR might affect clinical management and weaning from mechanical ventilation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Quantum random walks on congested lattices and the effect of dephasing.

    PubMed

    Motes, Keith R; Gilchrist, Alexei; Rohde, Peter P

    2016-01-27

    We consider quantum random walks on congested lattices and contrast them to classical random walks. Congestion is modelled on lattices that contain static defects which reverse the walker's direction. We implement a dephasing process after each step which allows us to smoothly interpolate between classical and quantum random walks as well as study the effect of dephasing on the quantum walk. Our key results show that a quantum walker escapes a finite boundary dramatically faster than a classical walker and that this advantage remains in the presence of heavily congested lattices.

  5. Quantum random walks on congested lattices and the effect of dephasing

    PubMed Central

    Motes, Keith R.; Gilchrist, Alexei; Rohde, Peter P.

    2016-01-01

    We consider quantum random walks on congested lattices and contrast them to classical random walks. Congestion is modelled on lattices that contain static defects which reverse the walker’s direction. We implement a dephasing process after each step which allows us to smoothly interpolate between classical and quantum random walks as well as study the effect of dephasing on the quantum walk. Our key results show that a quantum walker escapes a finite boundary dramatically faster than a classical walker and that this advantage remains in the presence of heavily congested lattices. PMID:26812924

  6. Multimodal and corridor applications of travel time reliability.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-03-30

    Congestion is all too familiar in Floridas cities. Traditionally, agencies have tried to mitigate recurring congestion by comparing demand and capacity during peak periods and alleviating bottlenecks. However, congestion is often due to nonrecurri...

  7. Multimodal and corridor applications of travel time reliability : [summary].

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-01-01

    Congestion is all too familiar in Floridas cities. Traditionally, agencies have tried to mitigate recurring congestion by comparing demand and capacity during peak periods and alleviating bottlenecks. However, congestion is often due to nonrecurri...

  8. Desloratadine and pseudoephedrine combination therapy as a comprehensive treatment for allergic rhinitis and nasal congestion.

    PubMed

    Anolik, Robert

    2009-06-01

    Allergic rhinitis (AR) is rapidly increasing in global prevalence. Symptoms of AR, particularly nasal congestion, can cause quality of life (QoL) impairment. Second-generation antihistamines are a recommended first-line therapy for AR but are not viewed as very effective for the treatment of congestion. Therefore, an antihistamine plus a decongestant, such as the combination of desloratadine and pseudoephedrine, is a convenient and efficacious treatment. To review the clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of combination desloratadine/pseudoephedrine for the treatment of AR symptoms, particularly nasal congestion. Four large studies found that improvement in nasal congestion is enhanced when patients are treated with combination desloratadine/pseudoephedrine. The combination drug significantly improved mean reflective nasal congestion scores in these studies compared with either component as monotherapy (p congestion were observed by day 2. Mean reductions in nasal congestion scores were comparable between the once- and twice-daily dosing regimens of the combination drug. Comprehensive treatment of AR that effectively relieves nasal congestion can also improve patient QoL. Administration of the second-generation antihistamine desloratadine in combination with the decongestant pseudoephedrine may be regarded as an efficacious and convenient option for patients with AR who are particularly troubled by nasal congestion.

  9. Projecting future landside congestion delays at the BWI Airport : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-10-01

    This study examines the access to the BWI Airport in detail. Complex density functions are utilized to determine the : congestion curves faced by passengers arriving at the airport. It is found that all lots have congestion during peak : periods and ...

  10. [Use of antihypertensive drug therapy and risk of development of congestive heart failure].

    PubMed

    Sobrino, Javier; Plana, Jaume; Felip, Angela; Doménech, Mónica; Reth, Peter; Adrián, María Jesús; de la Sierra, Alejandro

    2004-09-18

    It has been suggested that the use of some antihypertensive agents may favour the development of congestive heart failure. The aim of the present study was to evaluate such a possible association in patients who had a new diagnosis of congestive heart failure. This was a retrospective case-control study of 81 patients who had a first hospital admission with a new diagnosis of congestive heart failure (cases) and 162 patients admitted for other hypertensive complications (controls). Previous antihypertensive drug use was registered and the possible association with congestive heart failure was evaluated. The presence of congestive heart failure was not associated with the use of any antihypertensive drug class. When treatments were grouped in classic (diuretics and betablockers) or modern (calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, alphablockers or angiotensin receptor blockers), a negative association was observed with the latter group, which was observed in 48.1% of cases and 63.6% of controls (odds ratio: 0.532; 95% confidence interval, 0.310-0.913). This association was lost after adjustment for other cardiovascular risk factors or previous hypertensive complications. The development of congestive heart failure was not associated with the use of any specific antihypertensive drug class. From the present evidence, it is not possible to recommend a specific antihypertensive agent in patients at risk of developing congestive heart failure but without evidence of such disease.

  11. Left lateral decubitus position on patients with atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Varadan, Vijay K.; Kumar, Prashanth S.; Ramasamy, Mouli

    2017-04-01

    Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a cardiovascular disease that affects about 5.7 million people in the US. The most prevalent comorbidity to CHF is Atrial Fibrillation (AF). These two pathologies present in a mutually worsening manner in that patients diagnosed with CHF are more likely to develop AF and patients who are diagnosed with AF are more likely to develop CHF. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms have been studied for several years and the most recent efforts are in the cellular and molecular basis. In this paper, we focus on manifestation of CHF and AF symptoms as influenced by the posture assumed by a patient. We consider three postures - Left lateral decubitus, right lateral decubitus and supine. We review the clinical evidence gathered thus far relating enhanced sympathetic activity to the left lateral decubitus and supine positions with equivalent evidence on the enhanced vagal activity when the right lateral decubitus posture is assumed. We conclude with a compilation of all the hypotheses on the mechanism by which the right lateral decubitus posture alleviates the symptoms of CHF and AF, and future avenues for investigation.

  12. Principled negotiation and distributed optimization for advanced air traffic management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wangermann, John Paul

    Today's aircraft/airspace system faces complex challenges. Congestion and delays are widespread as air traffic continues to grow. Airlines want to better optimize their operations, and general aviation wants easier access to the system. Additionally, the accident rate must decline just to keep the number of accidents each year constant. New technology provides an opportunity to rethink the air traffic management process. Faster computers, new sensors, and high-bandwidth communications can be used to create new operating models. The choice is no longer between "inflexible" strategic separation assurance and "flexible" tactical conflict resolution. With suitable operating procedures, it is possible to have strategic, four-dimensional separation assurance that is flexible and allows system users maximum freedom to optimize operations. This thesis describes an operating model based on principled negotiation between agents. Many multi-agent systems have agents that have different, competing interests but have a shared interest in coordinating their actions. Principled negotiation is a method of finding agreement between agents with different interests. By focusing on fundamental interests and searching for options for mutual gain, agents with different interests reach agreements that provide benefits for both sides. Using principled negotiation, distributed optimization by each agent can be coordinated leading to iterative optimization of the system. Principled negotiation is well-suited to aircraft/airspace systems. It allows aircraft and operators to propose changes to air traffic control. Air traffic managers check the proposal maintains required aircraft separation. If it does, the proposal is either accepted or passed to agents whose trajectories change as part of the proposal for approval. Aircraft and operators can use all the data at hand to develop proposals that optimize their operations, while traffic managers can focus on their primary duty of ensuring

  13. State Traffic Data: Traffic Safety Facts, 2001.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NHTSA), Washington, DC.

    This brief provides statistical information on U.S. traffic accidents delineated by state. A map details the 2001 traffic fatalities by state and the percent change from 2000. Data tables include: (1) traffic fatalities and fatality rates, 2001; (2) traffic fatalities and percent change, 1975-2001; (3) alcohol involvement in fatal traffic crashes,…

  14. Traveling waves in an optimal velocity model of freeway traffic.

    PubMed

    Berg, P; Woods, A

    2001-03-01

    Car-following models provide both a tool to describe traffic flow and algorithms for autonomous cruise control systems. Recently developed optimal velocity models contain a relaxation term that assigns a desirable speed to each headway and a response time over which drivers adjust to optimal velocity conditions. These models predict traffic breakdown phenomena analogous to real traffic instabilities. In order to deepen our understanding of these models, in this paper, we examine the transition from a linear stable stream of cars of one headway into a linear stable stream of a second headway. Numerical results of the governing equations identify a range of transition phenomena, including monotonic and oscillating travelling waves and a time- dependent dispersive adjustment wave. However, for certain conditions, we find that the adjustment takes the form of a nonlinear traveling wave from the upstream headway to a third, intermediate headway, followed by either another traveling wave or a dispersive wave further downstream matching the downstream headway. This intermediate value of the headway is selected such that the nonlinear traveling wave is the fastest stable traveling wave which is observed to develop in the numerical calculations. The development of these nonlinear waves, connecting linear stable flows of two different headways, is somewhat reminiscent of stop-start waves in congested flow on freeways. The different types of adjustments are classified in a phase diagram depending on the upstream and downstream headway and the response time of the model. The results have profound consequences for autonomous cruise control systems. For an autocade of both identical and different vehicles, the control system itself may trigger formations of nonlinear, steep wave transitions. Further information is available [Y. Sugiyama, Traffic and Granular Flow (World Scientific, Singapore, 1995), p. 137].

  15. Traveling waves in an optimal velocity model of freeway traffic

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berg, Peter; Woods, Andrew

    2001-03-01

    Car-following models provide both a tool to describe traffic flow and algorithms for autonomous cruise control systems. Recently developed optimal velocity models contain a relaxation term that assigns a desirable speed to each headway and a response time over which drivers adjust to optimal velocity conditions. These models predict traffic breakdown phenomena analogous to real traffic instabilities. In order to deepen our understanding of these models, in this paper, we examine the transition from a linear stable stream of cars of one headway into a linear stable stream of a second headway. Numerical results of the governing equations identify a range of transition phenomena, including monotonic and oscillating travelling waves and a time- dependent dispersive adjustment wave. However, for certain conditions, we find that the adjustment takes the form of a nonlinear traveling wave from the upstream headway to a third, intermediate headway, followed by either another traveling wave or a dispersive wave further downstream matching the downstream headway. This intermediate value of the headway is selected such that the nonlinear traveling wave is the fastest stable traveling wave which is observed to develop in the numerical calculations. The development of these nonlinear waves, connecting linear stable flows of two different headways, is somewhat reminiscent of stop-start waves in congested flow on freeways. The different types of adjustments are classified in a phase diagram depending on the upstream and downstream headway and the response time of the model. The results have profound consequences for autonomous cruise control systems. For an autocade of both identical and different vehicles, the control system itself may trigger formations of nonlinear, steep wave transitions. Further information is available [Y. Sugiyama, Traffic and Granular Flow (World Scientific, Singapore, 1995), p. 137].

  16. Development of an Analysis Tool for Evaluation of Marginal Impacts of Freeway Incidents in the Las Vegas Area Using FAST’s Dashboard Freeway Data.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-01-21

    Incidents are a major source of non-recurring congestion on freeways. In addition to costing millions of dollars in the loss of life, injuries and property damage, traffic incidents also cause additional losses due to the resulting traffic congestion...

  17. A model to forecast peak spreading.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-04-01

    As traffic congestion increases, the K-factor, defined as the proportion of the 24-hour traffic volume that occurs during the peak hour, may decrease. This behavioral response is known as peak spreading: as congestion grows during the peak travel tim...

  18. Simulation-Based Testbed Development for Analyzing Toll Impacts on Freeway Travel

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-06-01

    Traffic congestion has been a world-wide problem in metropolitan areas all over the world. Toll-based traffic management is one of the most applicable solutions against freeway congestion. This research chooses two toll roads, the SR-167 HOT Lane and...

  19. Nuclear traffic and peloton formation in fungal networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roper, Marcus; Hickey, Patrick; Lewkiewicz, Stephanie; Dressaire, Emilie; Read, Nick

    2013-11-01

    Hyphae, the network of microfluidic pipes that make up a growing fungal cell, must balance their function as conduits for the transport of nuclei with other cellular functions including secretion and growth. Constant flow of nuclei may interfere with the protein traffic that enables other functions to be performed. Live-cell imaging reveals that nuclear flows are anti-congestive; that groups of nuclei flow faster than single nuclei, and that nuclei sweep through the colony in dense clumps. We call these clumps pelotons, after the term used to describe groups of cycle racers slip-streaming off each other. Because of the pelotons, individual hyphae transport nuclei only intermittently, producing long intervals in which hyphae can perform their other functions. Modeling reveals how pelotons are created by interactions between nuclei and the hyphal cytoskeleton, and reveal the control that the fungus enjoys over peloton assembly and timing.

  20. Autonomous Distributed Congestion Control Scheme in WCDMA Network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ahmad, Hafiz Farooq; Suguri, Hiroki; Choudhary, Muhammad Qaisar; Hassan, Ammar; Liaqat, Ali; Khan, Muhammad Umer

    Wireless technology has become widely popular and an important means of communication. A key issue in delivering wireless services is the problem of congestion which has an adverse impact on the Quality of Service (QoS), especially timeliness. Although a lot of work has been done in the context of RRM (Radio Resource Management), the deliverance of quality service to the end user still remains a challenge. Therefore there is need for a system that provides real-time services to the users through high assurance. We propose an intelligent agent-based approach to guarantee a predefined Service Level Agreement (SLA) with heterogeneous user requirements for appropriate bandwidth allocation in QoS sensitive cellular networks. The proposed system architecture exploits Case Based Reasoning (CBR) technique to handle RRM process of congestion management. The system accomplishes predefined SLA through the use of Retrieval and Adaptation Algorithm based on CBR case library. The proposed intelligent agent architecture gives autonomy to Radio Network Controller (RNC) or Base Station (BS) in accepting, rejecting or buffering a connection request to manage system bandwidth. Instead of simply blocking the connection request as congestion hits the system, different buffering durations are allocated to diverse classes of users based on their SLA. This increases the opportunity of connection establishment and reduces the call blocking rate extensively in changing environment. We carry out simulation of the proposed system that verifies efficient performance for congestion handling. The results also show built-in dynamism of our system to cater for variety of SLA requirements.

  1. Understanding congestion in China's medical market: an incentive structure perspective.

    PubMed

    Sun, Zesheng; Wang, Shuhong; Barnes, Stephen R

    2016-04-01

    Congestion has become one of the most important factors leading to patient dissatisfaction and doctor-patient conflicts in the medical market of China. In this study, we explore the causes and effects of structural congestion in the Chinese medical market from an incentive structure perspective. Our analysis reveals that prior medical system reforms with price regulation in China have induced hospitals to establish incentives for capital-intensive investments, while ignoring human capital, and have driven medical staff and patients to higher-level hospitals, reinforcing an incentive structure in which congestion in higher-level hospitals and idle resources in lower-level hospitals coexist. The existing incentive structure has led to cost increases and degradation of human capital and specific factor effects. Recent reforms to reduce congestion in the Chinese medical market were not effective. Most of them had no impact on and did not involve the existing distorted incentive structure. Future reforms should consider rebalancing expectations for medical quality, free flow of human capital and price regulation reforms to rebuild a new incentive structure. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  2. Targeting congestion in allergic rhinitis: the importance of intranasal corticosteroids.

    PubMed

    Marple, Bradley F

    2008-01-01

    The cardinal nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis (AR) are sustained by an underlying inflammatory process. Congestion is one of the most prominent and distressing symptoms for patients and is strongly associated with a broadly deteriorated quality of life and significant losses in productivity. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of intranasal corticosteroids (INSs) in down-regulating the inflammatory response to allergen and their clinical efficacy on AR symptoms, particularly congestion. AR is characterized by an influx of inflammatory cells and mediators into the nasal mucosa after antigen exposure. The response is biphasic, encompassing an early and a late phase. Antigen exposure has a priming effect, decreasing the threshold for subsequent allergic reaction on rechallenge and increasing the responsiveness of the nasal mucosa. INSs are a mainstay of therapy for AR and the most effective intervention for nasal congestion and other nasal symptoms, with established superiority to antihistamines, decongestants, and leukotriene antagonists. In addition to symptom relief, INSs suppress numerous stages of the inflammatory cascade, inhibiting the influx of inflammatory cells and mediators. Topical nasal corticosteroids have a low incidence of local adverse effects, negligible systemic absorption, and excellent safety. Congestion is one of the most bothersome symptoms of AR. INS therapy improves AR symptoms, with particular efficacy in relieving congestion, by attenuating nasal hyperresponsiveness. Pretreatment with INSs has been shown to relieve early and late-phase clinical symptoms of AR. Modification of the disease process results in significant relief of symptoms and leads to fewer disease exacerbations.

  3. A new casemix adjustment index for hospital mortality among patients with congestive heart failure.

    PubMed

    Polanczyk, C A; Rohde, L E; Philbin, E A; Di Salvo, T G

    1998-10-01

    Comparative analysis of hospital outcomes requires reliable adjustment for casemix. Although congestive heart failure is one of the most common indications for hospitalization, congestive heart failure casemix adjustment has not been widely studied. The purposes of this study were (1) to describe and validate a new congestive heart failure-specific casemix adjustment index to predict in-hospital mortality and (2) to compare its performance to the Charlson comorbidity index. Data from all 4,608 admissions to the Massachusetts General Hospital from January 1990 to July 1996 with a principal ICD-9-CM discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure were evaluated. Massachusetts General Hospital patients were randomly divided in a derivation and a validation set. By logistic regression, odds ratios for in-hospital death were computed and weights were assigned to construct a new predictive index in the derivation set. The performance of the index was tested in an internal Massachusetts General Hospital validation set and in a non-Massachusetts General Hospital external validation set incorporating data from all 1995 New York state hospital discharges with a primary discharge diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Overall in-hospital mortality was 6.4%. Based on the new index, patients were assigned to six categories with incrementally increasing hospital mortality rates ranging from 0.5% to 31%. By logistic regression, "c" statistics of the congestive heart failure-specific index (0.83 and 0.78, derivation and validation set) were significantly superior to the Charlson index (0.66). Similar incrementally increasing hospital mortality rates were observed in the New York database with the congestive heart failure-specific index ("c" statistics 0.75). In an administrative database, this congestive heart failure-specific index may be a more adequate casemix adjustment tool to predict hospital mortality in patients hospitalized for congestive heart failure.

  4. Airport Characterization for the Adaptation of Surface Congestion Management Approaches

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-02-01

    Surface Congestion Management Program at New York JFK airport [6,7], the human-in-the-loop simulations of the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor...a surface congestion management technique at New York JFK airport ,” AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration and Operations (ATIO) Conference...Virginia Beach, VA, September 2011. [7] S. Stroiney, H. Khadilkar and H. Balakrishnan, “Ground Management Program at JFK Airport : Implementation and

  5. Losartan corrects abnormal frequency response of renal vasculature in congestive heart failure.

    PubMed

    DiBona, Gerald F; Sawin, Linda L

    2003-11-01

    In congestive heart failure, renal blood flow is decreased and renal vascular resistance is increased in a setting of increased activity of both the sympathetic nervous and renin-angiotensin systems. The renal vasoconstrictor response to renal nerve stimulation is enhanced. This is associated with an abnormality in the low-pass filter function of the renal vasculature wherein higher frequencies (> or =0.01 Hz) within renal sympathetic nerve activity are not normally attenuated and are passed into the renal blood flow signal. This study tested the hypothesis that excess angiotensin II action mediates the abnormal frequency response characteristics of the renal vasculature in congestive heart failure. In anesthetized rats, the renal vasoconstrictor response to graded frequency renal nerve stimulation was significantly greater in congestive heart failure than in control rats. Losartan attenuated the renal vasoconstrictor response to a significantly greater degree in congestive heart failure than in control rats. In control rats, the frequency response of the renal vasculature was that of a first order (-20 dB/frequency decade) low-pass filter with a corner frequency (-3 dB, 30% attenuation) of 0.002 Hz and 97% attenuation (-30 dB) at > or =0.1 Hz. In congestive heart failure rats, attenuation did not exceed 45% (-5 dB) over the frequency range of 0.001-0.6 Hz. The frequency response of the renal vasculature was not affected by losartan treatment in control rats but was completely restored to normal by losartan treatment in congestive heart failure rats. The enhanced renal vasoconstrictor response to renal nerve stimulation and the associated abnormality in the frequency response characteristics of the renal vasculature seen in congestive heart failure are mediated by the action of angiotensin II on renal angiotensin II AT1 receptors.

  6. Traveller Information System for Heterogeneous Traffic Condition: A Case Study in Thiruvananthapuram City, India

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Satyakumar, M.; Anil, R.; Sreeja, G. S.

    2017-12-01

    Traffic in Kerala has been growing at a rate of 10-11% every year, resulting severe congestion especially in urban areas. Because of the limitation of spaces it is not always possible to construct new roads. Road users rely on travel time information for journey planning and route choice decisions, while road system managers are increasingly viewing travel time as an important network performance indicator. More recently Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) are being developed to provide real-time information to roadway users. For ATIS various methodologies have been developed for dynamic travel time prediction. For this work the Kalman Filter Algorithm was selected for dynamic travel time prediction of different modes. The travel time data collected using handheld GPS device were used for prediction. Congestion Index were calculated and Range of CI values were determined according to the percentage speed drop. After prediction using Kalman Filter, the predicted values along with the GPS data was integrated to GIS and using Network Analysis of ArcGIS the offline route navigation guide was prepared. Using this database a program for route navigation based on travel time was developed. This system will help the travelers with pre-trip information.

  7. Integrative Assessment of Congestion in Heart Failure Throughout the Patient Journey.

    PubMed

    Girerd, Nicolas; Seronde, Marie-France; Coiro, Stefano; Chouihed, Tahar; Bilbault, Pascal; Braun, François; Kenizou, David; Maillier, Bruno; Nazeyrollas, Pierre; Roul, Gérard; Fillieux, Ludivine; Abraham, William T; Januzzi, James; Sebbag, Laurent; Zannad, Faiez; Mebazaa, Alexandre; Rossignol, Patrick

    2018-04-01

    Congestion is one of the main predictors of poor patient outcome in patients with heart failure. However, congestion is difficult to assess, especially when symptoms are mild. Although numerous clinical scores, imaging tools, and biological tests are available to assist physicians in ascertaining and quantifying congestion, not all are appropriate for use in all stages of patient management. In recent years, multidisciplinary management in the community has become increasingly important to prevent heart failure hospitalizations. Electronic alert systems and communication platforms are emerging that could be used to facilitate patient home monitoring that identifies congestion from heart failure decompensation at an earlier stage. This paper describes the role of congestion detection methods at key stages of patient care: pre-admission, admission to the emergency department, in-hospital management, and lastly, discharge and continued monitoring in the community. The multidisciplinary working group, which consisted of cardiologists, emergency physicians, and a nephrologist with both clinical and research backgrounds, reviewed the current literature regarding the various scores, tools, and tests to detect and quantify congestion. This paper describes the role of each tool at key stages of patient care and discusses the advantages of telemedicine as a means of providing true integrated patient care. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  8. A cellular automata model for traffic flow based on kinetics theory, vehicles capabilities and driver reactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guzmán, H. A.; Lárraga, M. E.; Alvarez-Icaza, L.; Carvajal, J.

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, a reliable cellular automata model oriented to faithfully reproduce deceleration and acceleration according to realistic reactions of drivers, when vehicles with different deceleration capabilities are considered is presented. The model focuses on describing complex traffic phenomena by coding in its rules the basic mechanisms of drivers behavior, vehicles capabilities and kinetics, while preserving simplicity. In particular, vehiclés kinetics is based on uniform accelerated motion, rather than in impulsive accelerated motion as in most existing CA models. Thus, the proposed model calculates in an analytic way three safe preserving distances to determine the best action a follower vehicle can take under a worst case scenario. Besides, the prediction analysis guarantees that under the proper assumptions, collision between vehicles may not happen at any future time. Simulations results indicate that all interactions of heterogeneous vehicles (i.e., car-truck, truck-car, car-car and truck-truck) are properly reproduced by the model. In addition, the model overcomes one of the major limitations of CA models for traffic modeling: the inability to perform smooth approach to slower or stopped vehicles. Moreover, the model is also capable of reproducing most empirical findings including the backward speed of the downstream front of the traffic jam, and different congested traffic patterns induced by a system with open boundary conditions with an on-ramp. Like most CA models, integer values are used to make the model run faster, which makes the proposed model suitable for real time traffic simulation of large networks.

  9. On the Inefficiency of Equilibria in Linear Bottleneck Congestion Games

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Keijzer, Bart; Schäfer, Guido; Telelis, Orestis A.

    We study the inefficiency of equilibrium outcomes in bottleneck congestion games. These games model situations in which strategic players compete for a limited number of facilities. Each player allocates his weight to a (feasible) subset of the facilities with the goal to minimize the maximum (weight-dependent) latency that he experiences on any of these facilities. We derive upper and (asymptotically) matching lower bounds on the (strong) price of anarchy of linear bottleneck congestion games for a natural load balancing social cost objective (i.e., minimize the maximum latency of a facility). We restrict our studies to linear latency functions. Linear bottleneck congestion games still constitute a rich class of games and generalize, for example, load balancing games with identical or uniformly related machines with or without restricted assignments.

  10. Rate of change of heart size before congestive heart failure in dogs with mitral regurgitation.

    PubMed

    Lord, P; Hansson, K; Kvart, C; Häggström, J

    2010-04-01

    The objective of the study was to examine the changes in vertebral heart scale, and left atrial and ventricular dimensions before and at onset of congestive heart failure in cavalier King Charles spaniels with mitral regurgitation. Records and radiographs from 24 cavalier King Charles spaniels with mitral regurgitation were used. Vertebral heart scale (24 dogs), and left atrial dimension and left ventricular end diastolic and end systolic diameters (18 dogs) and their rate of increase were measured at intervals over years to the onset of congestive heart failure. They were plotted against time to onset of congestive heart failure. Dimensions and rates of change of all parameters were highest at onset of congestive heart failure, the difference between observed and chance outcome being highly significant using a two-tailed chi-square test (P<0.001). The left heart chambers increase in size rapidly only in the last year before the onset of congestive heart failure. Increasing left ventricular end systolic dimension is suggestive of myocardial failure before the onset of congestive heart failure. Rate of increase of heart dimensions may be a useful indicator of impending congestive heart failure.

  11. Increased walking variability in elderly persons with congestive heart failure

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hausdorff, J. M.; Forman, D. E.; Ladin, Z.; Goldberger, A. L.; Rigney, D. R.; Wei, J. Y.

    1994-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of congestive heart failure on a person's ability to walk at a steady pace while ambulating at a self-determined rate. SETTING: Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, a primary and tertiary teaching hospital, and a social activity center for elderly adults living in the community. PARTICIPANTS: Eleven elderly subjects (aged 70-93 years) with well compensated congestive heart failure (NY Heart Association class I or II), seven elderly subjects (aged 70-79 years) without congestive heart failure, and 10 healthy young adult subjects (aged 20-30 years). MEASUREMENTS: Subjects walked for 8 minutes on level ground at their own selected walking rate. Footswitches were used to measure the time between steps. Step rate (steps/minute) and step rate variability were calculated for the entire walking period, for 30 seconds during the first minute of the walk, for 30 seconds during the last minute of the walk, and for the 30-second period when each subject's step rate variability was minimal. Group means and 5% and 95% confidence intervals were computed. MAIN RESULTS: All measures of walking variability were significantly increased in the elderly subjects with congestive heart failure, intermediate in the elderly controls, and lowest in the young subjects. There was no overlap between the three groups using the minimal 30-second variability (elderly CHF vs elderly controls: P < 0.001, elderly controls vs young: P < 0.001), and no overlap between elderly subjects with and without congestive heart failure when using the overall variability. For all four measures, there was no overlap in any of the confidence intervals, and all group means were significantly different (P < 0.05).

  12. Allergic rhinitis-induced nasal congestion: its impact on sleep quality.

    PubMed

    Storms, William

    2008-03-01

    Allergic rhinitis (AR) is an extremely common health problem affecting 20 to 40 million Americans and between 10-25% of the world's population. Patients with AR suffer from both nasal symptoms (congestion, rhinorrhea, itching, and sneezing) and ocular symptoms (itching, redness, and tearing). The negative impact on sleep quality and quantity, and consequently on various aspects of the patient's life, is an under-recognised and under-treated component of AR morbidity. Nasal congestion, which is one of the most bothersome and prevalent symptoms of AR, is thought to be the leading symptom responsible for rhinitis-related sleep problems. In addition to reducing clinical symptoms, pharmacologic therapies for AR that specifically reduce inflammatory cells and mediators - and therefore nasal congestion and other symptoms - should also improve sleep quality and overall quality of life (QOL). Intranasal corticosteroids (INS) are the current mainstay of therapy for AR. Results of a number of clinical trials demonstrate that INS effectively reduce nasal congestion and ocular symptoms, improve sleep quality, and decrease daytime somnolence. Intranasal corticosteroids have also proved to be effective in reducing symptoms of acute rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis, both of which also negatively impact on sleep quality. Intranasal corticosteroids are considered safe due to their low systemic bioavailability.

  13. 76 FR 70122 - Plan for Conduct of 2012 Electric Transmission Congestion Study

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-10

    ... preparations for the 2012 Congestion Study, and seeks comments on what publicly-available data and information...), and Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt). The Department intends to use only data that is publicly available... Study, the Department gathered historical congestion data obtained from existing studies prepared by...

  14. Effective use of congestion in complex networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Echagüe, Juan; Cholvi, Vicent; Kowalski, Dariusz R.

    2018-03-01

    In this paper, we introduce a congestion-aware routing protocol that selects the paths according to the congestion of nodes in the network. The aim is twofold: on one hand, and in order to prevent the networks from collapsing, it provides a good tolerance to nodes' overloads; on the other hand, and in order to guarantee efficient communication, it also incentivize the routes to follow short paths. We analyze the performance of our proposed routing strategy by means of a series of experiments carried out by using simulations. We show that it provides a tolerance to collapse close to the optimal value. Furthermore, the average length of the paths behaves optimally up to the certain value of packet generation rate ρ and it grows in a linear fashion with the increase of ρ.

  15. Can complexity decrease in congestive heart failure?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mukherjee, Sayan; Palit, Sanjay Kumar; Banerjee, Santo; Ariffin, M. R. K.; Rondoni, Lamberto; Bhattacharya, D. K.

    2015-12-01

    The complexity of a signal can be measured by the Recurrence period density entropy (RPDE) from the reconstructed phase space. We have chosen a window based RPDE method for the classification of signals, as RPDE is an average entropic measure of the whole phase space. We have observed the changes in the complexity in cardiac signals of normal healthy person (NHP) and congestive heart failure patients (CHFP). The results show that the cardiac dynamics of a healthy subject is more complex and random compare to the same for a heart failure patient, whose dynamics is more deterministic. We have constructed a general threshold to distinguish the border line between a healthy and a congestive heart failure dynamics. The results may be useful for wide range for physiological and biomedical analysis.

  16. Dynamic analysis of pedestrian crossing behaviors on traffic flow at unsignalized mid-block crosswalks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Gang; He, Jing; Luo, Zhiyong; Yang, Wunian; Zhang, Xiping

    2015-05-01

    It is important to study the effects of pedestrian crossing behaviors on traffic flow for solving the urban traffic jam problem. Based on the Nagel-Schreckenberg (NaSch) traffic cellular automata (TCA) model, a new one-dimensional TCA model is proposed considering the uncertainty conflict behaviors between pedestrians and vehicles at unsignalized mid-block crosswalks and defining the parallel updating rules of motion states of pedestrians and vehicles. The traffic flow is simulated for different vehicle densities and behavior trigger probabilities. The fundamental diagrams show that no matter what the values of vehicle braking probability, pedestrian acceleration crossing probability, pedestrian backing probability and pedestrian generation probability, the system flow shows the "increasing-saturating-decreasing" trend with the increase of vehicle density; when the vehicle braking probability is lower, it is easy to cause an emergency brake of vehicle and result in great fluctuation of saturated flow; the saturated flow decreases slightly with the increase of the pedestrian acceleration crossing probability; when the pedestrian backing probability lies between 0.4 and 0.6, the saturated flow is unstable, which shows the hesitant behavior of pedestrians when making the decision of backing; the maximum flow is sensitive to the pedestrian generation probability and rapidly decreases with increasing the pedestrian generation probability, the maximum flow is approximately equal to zero when the probability is more than 0.5. The simulations prove that the influence of frequent crossing behavior upon vehicle flow is immense; the vehicle flow decreases and gets into serious congestion state rapidly with the increase of the pedestrian generation probability.

  17. Risk of venous congestion in live donors of extended right liver graft

    PubMed Central

    Radtke, Arnold; Sgourakis, George; Molmenti, Ernesto P; Beckebaum, Susanne; Cicinnati, Vito R; Schmidt, Hartmut; Peitgen, Heinz-Otto; Broelsch, Christoph E; Malagó, Massimo; Schroeder, Tobias

    2015-01-01

    AIM: To investigate middle hepatic vein (MHV) management in adult living donor liver transplantation and safer remnant volumes (RV). METHODS: There were 59 grafts with and 12 grafts without MHV (including 4 with MHV-5/8 reconstructions). All donors underwent our five-step protocol evaluation containing a preoperative protocol liver biopsy Congestive vs non-congestive RV, remnant-volume-body-weight ratios (RVBWR) and postoperative outcomes were evaluated in 71 right graft living donors. Dominant vs non-dominant MHV anatomy in total liver volume (d-MHV/TLV vs nd-MHV/TLV) was constellated with large/small congestion volumes (CV-index). Small for size (SFS) and non-SFS remnant considerations were based on standard cut-off- RVBWR and RV/TLV. Non-congestive RVBWR was based on non-congestive RV. RESULTS: MHV and non-MHV remnants showed no significant differences in RV, RV/TLV, RVBWR, total bilirubin, or INR. SFS-remnants with RV/TLV < 30% and non-SFS-remnants with RV/TLV ≥ 30% showed no significant differences either. RV and RVBWR for non-MHV (n = 59) and MHV-containing (n = 12) remnants were 550 ± 95 mL and 0.79 ± 0.1 mL vs 568 ± 97 mL and 0.79 ± 0.13, respectively (P = 0.423 and P = 0.919. Mean left RV/TLV was 35.8% ± 3.9%. Non-MHV (n = 59) and MHV-containing (n = 12) remnants (34.1% ± 3% vs 36% ± 4% respectively, P = 0.148. Eight SFS-remnants with RVBWR < 0.65 had a significantly smaller RV/TLV than 63 non-SFS-remnants with RVBWR ≥ 0.65 [SFS: RV/TLV 32.4% (range: 28%-35.7%) vs non-SFS: RV/TLV 36.2% (range: 26.1%-45.5%), P < 0.009. Six SFS-remnants with RV/TLV < 30% had significantly smaller RVBWR than 65 non-SFS-remnants with RV/TLV ≥ 30% (0.65 (range: 0.6-0.7) vs 0.8 (range: 0.6-1.27), P < 0.01. Two (2.8%) donors developed reversible liver failure. RVBWR and RV/TLV were concordant in 25%-33% of SFS and in 92%-94% of non-SFS remnants. MHV management options including complete MHV vs MHV-4A selective retention were necessary in n = 12 vs n = 2 remnants

  18. Atlanta congestion reduction demonstration national evaluation plan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-04-01

    This report provides an analytic framework for evaluating the Atlanta Congestion Reduction Demonstration (CRD) under the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) and CRD Programs. The Atlanta CRD project...

  19. Fermi-Dirac statistics and traffic in complex networks.

    PubMed

    de Moura, Alessandro P S

    2005-06-01

    We propose an idealized model for traffic in a network, in which many particles move randomly from node to node, following the network's links, and it is assumed that at most one particle can occupy any given node. This is intended to mimic the finite forwarding capacity of nodes in communication networks, thereby allowing the possibility of congestion and jamming phenomena. We show that the particles behave like free fermions, with appropriately defined energy-level structure and temperature. The statistical properties of this system are thus given by the corresponding Fermi-Dirac distribution. We use this to obtain analytical expressions for dynamical quantities of interest, such as the mean occupation of each node and the transport efficiency, for different network topologies and particle densities. We show that the subnetwork of free nodes always fragments into small isolated clusters for a sufficiently large number of particles, implying a communication breakdown at some density for all network topologies. These results are compared to direct simulations.

  20. Traffic pollution and countermeasures of urban traffic environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Yuhong; Zheng, Chaocheng

    2018-01-01

    Background: Traffic environment has become a serious social problem in China currently, therefore, urban traffic environment governance is the requirement to solve this issue because as an important place in people's social life, urban traffic environment shows a strong city's energy. Objective: Based on analysis on social function of city traffic environment and its influence of traffic on urban environment in this paper, the goal to establish a healthy urban traffic environment must be included under the aim of sustainable development eternally and feasible measures were put forward afterwards. Method, result, conclusion and possible applications.