Estimating travel time functions for urban roads: options and issues

Travel time functions specify the relationship between the travel time on a road and the volume of traffic on the road. Until recently, the parameters of travel time functions were rarely estimated in practice; however, a compelling case can be made for the empirical examination of these functions. This paper reviews, and qualitatively evaluates, a range of options for developing a set of travel time functions. A hierarchy of travel time functions is defined based on four levels of network detail: area, corridor, route and link. This hierarchy is illustrated by considering the development of travel time functions for Adelaide. Alternative sources of data for estimating travel time functions are identified.

In general, the costs and benefits increase as the travel time functions are estimated at finer levels of network detail. The costs of developing travel time functions include data acquisition costs and analysis costs. The benefits include the potential for reducing prediction errors, the degree of application flexibility and the policy sensitivity of the travel time functions.     

Monitoring Human Activity in an Area Dedicated to the Protection of the Endangered Mediterranean Monk Seal

Mediterranean monk seal populations have declined dramatically and survive in subpopulations scattered throughout their original distribution. The National Marine Park of Alonnisos, Northern Sporades is the first marine protected Area dedicated to the protection of the species in the Mediterranean. A Monitoring and Awareness Project has been carried out in the area from 1993 to 2000, the results of which have produced a detailed profile of the human usage pattern of the Park and indicated a significant reduction of illegal activities in the area. The pattern of human usage has enabled the monitoring team to adjust their efforts in the Park over time and provided essential baseline data for future management. The combined monitoring and awareness efforts have contributed significantly to the conservation of the Mediterranean monk seal by successfully protecting pupping sites and reducing human-induced mortality of the species in the area.     

Kerr介质腔中三能级原子与腔场相互作用系统量子保真度

研究了Kerr介质腔中相干态单模场与级联三能级原子共振相互作用系统中量子保真度的演化特性.结果表明,对真空初场,原子、场及系统保真度都呈现调制周期振荡;对不依赖强度的原子-场耦合系统,增大Kerr效应或增强初场强度都能提高原子的量子保真度,在原子量子保真度复苏时区同时提升场和系统的量子保真度,但对依赖强度耦合系统却无此作用.     

Observer-based clutch disengagement control during gear shift process of automated manual transmission

A clutch disengagement strategy is proposed for the shift control of automated manual transmissions. The control strategy is based on a drive shaft torque observer. With the estimated drive shaft torque, the clutch can be disengaged as fast as possible without large driveline oscillations, which contributes to the reduction of total shift time and shift shock. The proposed control strategy is tested on a complete powertrain simulation model. It is verified that the system is robust to the variations of driving conditions, such as vehicle mass and road grade. It is also demonstrated that the revised system with switched gain can provide satisfactory performance even under large estimation error of the engine torque.     

A model-based traction control strategy non-reliant on wheel slip information

A traction control system (TCS) for two-wheel-drive vehicles can conveniently be realised by means of slip control. Such a TCS is modified in this paper in order to be applicable to four-wheel-drive vehicles and anti-lock braking systems, where slip information is not readily available. A reference vehicle model is used to estimate the vehicle velocity. The reference model is excited by a saw-tooth signal in order to adapt the slip for maximum tyre traction performance. The model-based TCS is made robust to vehicle modelling errors by extending it with (i) a superimposed loop of tyre static curve gradient control or (ii) a robust switching controller based on a bi-directional saw-tooth excitation signal. The proposed traction control strategies are verified by experiments and computer simulations.     

Flexible long range planning using low cost information

Contemporary transport planning requires a flexible modelling approach which can be used to monitor the implementation of a long term plan checking regularly its short term performance with easily available data; the original model is periodically updated using low cost information and this allows the evaluation of the changes to the plan which may be required. Such an approach requires models suited to regular updating and to the use of data from different sources. Models to update trip matrices from traffic counts have been available for some time; however, the estimation and/or updating of other model stages with low cost data has escaped analytical treatment. The paper discusses this idea and formulates the updating problem for an example involving a joint destination/mode choice model under various assumptions about the nature of the available data. Analytical solutions are proposed as well as some general conclusions.requests for offprints     

Application of genetic algorithms for joint optimization of signal setting parameters and dynamic traffic assignment for the real network data

This paper presents the joint optimization of signal setting parameters and dynamic user equilibrium (DUE) traffic assignment for the congested urban road network. The simulation-based approach is employed to obtain the DUE condition for the case of multiple-origin multiple-destination traffic flows. The dynamic traffic assignment simulation program (DTASP), developed in C language is used to assign the traffic dynamically on the road network, whereas method of successive averages (MSA) is modified and used to arrive at the DUE condition. The artificial intelligence technique of genetic algorithms (GAs) is applied to obtain the optimal signal setting parameters and path flow distribution factor for DUE condition. The methodology developed in such a way that joint optimization of signal setting parameters with DUE is obtained. The proposed method is applied to the real network data of Fort Area of Mumbai city comprising of 17 nodes and 56 unidirectional links with 72 Origin–Destination pairs, where all the 17 nodes are signalized intersections. The traffic flow condition for the optimized signal setting parameters is considerably improved compared to the existing signal settings. The results prove that the GA is an effective technique to solve the joint optimization problem for the real network data.     

热扰动对冻土区片块石路基热状态变化特性的影响研究

随着我国现阶段的公路建设里程不断增长,相较于常规平原地区,高寒冻土区公路建设过程要克服冻土路基带来的各类不良影响。针对热扰动对冻土区片块石路基带来的影响进行深入研究,在分析该区域高等级公路路基状态的过程中,采集片块石路基的温度状态、吸放热状态和冻融循环状态等方面数据,探讨了其热状态变化的整体规律。研究结果显示:片块石路基在冻土区有着很好的热稳定性作用,可实现主动冷却作用;片块石路基能通过加快温差空气间的流通速度,避免热扰动对路基温度产生过于明显的影响,从而减少热扰动所带来的各类路基病害;片块石路基正下方的最大融化深度正逐步提高;片块石路基的阴阳面存在吸放热不平衡的情况,阳面路肩吸放热量达到阴面路肩吸放热量的2.7倍,阳面坡脚吸放热量达到阴面坡脚吸放热量的2.3倍;随着片块石路基阴阳面吸放热不平衡的发展,其对应的阴面冻土升温速度小于阳面冻土,阴面冻土上限发展程度同样小于阳面冻土。     

Intermodal and international freight network modeling

The authors describe the development and application of a single, integrated digital representation of a multimodal and transcontinental freight transportation network. The network was constructed to support the simulation of some five million origin to destination freight shipments reported as part of the 1997 United States Commodity Flow Survey. The paper focuses on the routing of the tens of thousands of intermodal freight movements reported in this survey. Routings involve different combinations of truck, rail and water transportation. Geographic information systems (GIS) technology was invaluable in the cost-effective construction and maintenance of this network and in the subsequent validation of mode sequences and route selections. However, computationally efficient routing of intermodal freight shipments was found to be most efficiently accomplished outside the GIS. Selection of appropriate intermodal routes required procedures for linking freight origins and destinations to the transportation network, procedures for modeling intermodal terminal transfers and inter-carrier interlining practices, and a procedure for generating multimodal impedance functions to reflect the relative costs of alternative, survey reported mode sequences.     

Efficient multiple model particle filtering for joint traffic state estimation and incident detection

This article proposes an efficient multiple model particle filter (EMMPF) to solve the problems of traffic state estimation and incident detection, which requires significantly less computation time compared to existing multiple model nonlinear filters. To incorporate the on ramps and off ramps on the highway, junction solvers for a traffic flow model with incident dynamics are developed. The effectiveness of the proposed EMMPF is assessed using a benchmark hybrid state estimation problem, and using synthetic traffic data generated by a micro-simulation software. Then, the traffic estimation framework is implemented using field data collected on Interstate 880 in California. The results show the EMMPF is capable of estimating the traffic state and detecting incidents and requires an order of magnitude less computation time compared to existing algorithms, especially when the hybrid system has a large number of rare models.