Estimating traffic volumes for signalized intersections using connected vehicle data

Recently connected vehicle (CV) technology has received significant attention thanks to active pilot deployments supported by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). At signalized intersections, CVs may serve as mobile sensors, providing opportunities of reducing dependencies on conventional vehicle detectors for signal operation. However, most of the existing studies mainly focus on scenarios that penetration rates of CVs reach certain level, e.g., 25%, which may not be feasible in the near future. How to utilize data from a small number of CVs to improve traffic signal operation remains an open question. In this work, we develop an approach to estimate traffic volume, a key input to many signal optimization algorithms, using GPS trajectory data from CV or navigation devices under low market penetration rates. To estimate traffic volumes, we model vehicle arrivals at signalized intersections as a time-dependent Poisson process, which can account for signal coordination. The estimation problem is formulated as a maximum likelihood problem given multiple observed trajectories from CVs approaching to the intersection. An expectation maximization (EM) procedure is derived to solve the estimation problem. Two case studies were conducted to validate our estimation algorithm. One uses the CV data from the Safety Pilot Model Deployment (SPMD) project, in which around 2800 CVs were deployed in the City of Ann Arbor, MI. The other uses vehicle trajectory data from users of a commercial navigation service in China. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the estimation is found to be 9–12%, based on benchmark data manually collected and data from loop detectors. Considering the existing scale of CV deployments, the proposed approach could be of significant help to traffic management agencies for evaluating and operating traffic signals, paving the way of using CVs for detector-free signal operation in the future.     

Modeling real-time human mobility based on mobile phone and transportation data fusion

Even though a variety of human mobility models have been recently developed, models that can capture real-time human mobility of urban populations in a sustainable and economical manner are still lacking. Here, we propose a novel human mobility model that combines the advantages of mobile phone signaling data (i.e., comprehensive penetration in a population) and urban transportation data (i.e., continuous collection and high accuracy). Using the proposed human mobility model, travel demands during each 1-h time window were estimated for the city of Shenzhen, China. Significantly, the estimated travel demands not only preserved the distribution of travel demands, but also captured real-time bursts of mobility fluxes during large crowding events. Finally, based on the proposed human mobility model, a predictive model is deployed to predict crowd gatherings that usually cause severe traffic jams.     

基于语义的可定制数据切分和动态加载方法

文章提供一种基于语义的可定制数据切分和动态加载方法，它能够对源数据库建立基于语义的元数据描述，根据不同用户的数据需求，依据数据的语义相关性，转化并归纳为通用的策略模版，基于策略进行数据的切割和数据的级联抽取。之后，采用容错式动态加载方法。这在一定程度上实现了异构数据库之间的批量数据迁移。     

Travel analytics: Understanding how destination choice and business clusters are connected based on social media data

Understanding how destination choice and business clusters are connected is of great importance for designing sustainable cities, fostering flourishing business clusters, and building livable communities. As sharing locations and activities on social media platforms becomes increasingly popular, such data can reveal destination choice and activity space which can shed light on human-environment relationships. To this end, this research models the relationship between characteristics of business clusters and check-in activities from Los Angeles County, California. Business clusters are analyzed via two lenses: the supply side (employment data by industry) and the demand side (on-line check-in data). Spatial and statistical analyses are performed to understand how land use and transportation network features affect the popularity of the identified clusters and their relationships. Our results suggest that a cluster with more employment opportunities and more types of employment is associated with more check-ins. A business cluster that has access to parks or recreational services is also more popular. A business cluster with a longer road network and better connectivity of roads is associated with more check-ins. The visualization of the common visitors between clusters reveals that there are a few clusters with outstanding strong ties, while most have modest ties with each other. Our findings have implications on the influence of urban design on the popularity of business clusters.     

Highway voting system: Embracing a possible paradigm shift in traffic data acquisition

The integration of internet and mobile phones has opened the door to a new wave of utilizing private vehicles as probes not only for performance evaluation but for traffic control as well, gradually replacing the role of traffic surveillance systems as the dominant source of traffic data. To prepare for such a paradigm shift, one needs to overcome some key institutional barriers, in particular, the privacy issue. A Highway Voting System (HVS) is proposed to address this issue in which drivers provide link- and/or path-based vehicle data to the traffic management system in the form of “votes” in order to receive favorable service from traffic control. The proposed HVS offers a platform that links data from individual vehicles directly with traffic control. In the system, traffic control responds to voting vehicles in a way similar to the current system responding to prioritized vehicles and providing the requested services accordingly. We show in the paper that the proposed “voting” system can effectively resolve the privacy issue which often hampers traffic engineers from getting detailed data from drivers. Strategies to entice drivers into “voting” so as to increase the market penetration level under all traffic conditions are discussed. Though the focus of the paper is on addressing the institutional issues associated with data acquisition from individual vehicles, other research topics associated with the proposed system are identified. Two examples are given to demonstrate the impact of the proposed system on algorithm development and traffic control.     

Modeling time-of-day car use behavior: A Bayesian network approach

In this research, a Bayesian network (BN) approach is proposed to model the car use behavior of drivers by time of day and to analyze its relationship with driver and car characteristics. The proposed BN model can be categorized as a tree-augmented naive (TAN) Bayesian network. A latent class variable is included in this model to describe the unobserved heterogeneity of drivers. Both the structure and the parameters are learned from the dataset, which is extracted from GPS data collected in Toyota City, Japan. Based on inferences and evidence sensitivity analysis using the estimated TAN model, the effects of each single observed characteristic on car use measures are tested and found to be significant. The features of each category of the latent class are also analyzed. By testing the effect of each car use measure on every other measure, it is found that the correlations between car use measures are significant and should be considered in modeling car use behavior.     

船舶电缆自动化敷设系统设计与实现

在船舶电缆敷设过程中,很难借助有效的工装提高劳动效率,低空间的高强度作业存在严重的安全风险。以船舶电缆自动化敷设系统为分析对象,介绍系统组成和系统接口,采用比例积分微分(Proportion Integration Differentiation,PID)算法计算系统行程,通过PROFINET总线完成数据传输,以人机界面(Human Machine Interface,HMI)实现系统性能要求。在风电安装平台上的实际运用表明,该系统可解决造船行业劳动力成本高和安全风险大的问题。     

基于多源数据的公交车能耗碳排放测算模型

公交车能耗碳排放强度与车辆、线路和驾驶员有显著相关关系，为精准刻画其能耗碳排放强度特征，整合OBD监测数据、加油(气)数据、运营排班数据等多源数据资源. OBD监测数据和加油(气)数据呈显著的线性关系，证明修正后的OBD监测数据可满足分析要求. 搭建“速度-能耗碳排放强度曲线”测算模型，幂函数关系的拟合优度R2 =0.972 6 为最高. 实证研究发现，平均速度在10~60 km/h 变化时，液化天然气(LNG)车比柴油车能耗碳排放强度高 3.3%~33.7%，双层车比铰接车高2.4%~13.3%；LNG铰接车在不同线路、相同速度下的强度相差9.6%；不同驾驶员在相同线路的能耗碳排放强度可相差24.2%. 模型为各城市基于多源数据开展公交能耗碳排放目标设定提供数据支撑.     

HXD1型机车自动驾驶系统设计与应用

主要介绍HXD1型交流传动电力机车的自动驾驶系统方案设计与应用情况,以机车改动最小、成本最低为原则,通过加装自动驾驶系统设备、通信及供电线缆实现自动驾驶功能。通过机车自动系统的成功运用,降低了人工劳动强度,杜绝了人为失误因素,提升了机车操纵水平和操纵一致性。