Craig R. Rindt

TRICEPS-CARTESIUS: Advanced Transportation Management System Test Bed for Evaluation of Interjurisdictional Traffic Management Strategies

The initial testing and evaluation of one of the key components of the Test-bed Real-Time Integrated Control and Evaluation Prototype System (TRICEPS) are described. TRICEPS is a software platform that facilitates the implementation and evaluation of a wide range of algorithms for traffic control and advanced transportation management systems. TRICEPS supports research activities by providing consistent interfaces for transportation management modules to both simulated and real-world environments. One of the key components of the TRICEPS platform is a distributed architecture for real-time decision support to transportation management center operators that provides a set of core transportation management applications for multijurisdictional traffic control and incident management on freeway and arterial networks. The architecture hosts algorithms for the estimation of current traffic conditions, the analysis of incident characteristics, and the formulation of multiple-decision-maker traffic control plans using advanced methodologies for cooperation and conflict resolution. Although the process of evaluation of such methodologies using the TRICEPS platform is aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of the cooperative approach, it also provides a demonstration of platform functionality for range of related applications.

DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING AND SIMULATION IN A TRAFFIC RESEARCH TEST BED

This article describes the laboratory backbone of the California Advanced Research Testbed (CART), which is integrated with an actual urban traffic network. The research laboratory is based at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) and has real-time communication capabilities with several traffic-control centers in Orange County, California. We discuss a simulation and optimization environment that provides the capabilities to study various components of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) and Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) in conjunction with the available real-world connections. The platform accommodates system components such as communications, computing, modeling, prediction, optimization, and control with sufficient flexibility that different candidate system designs can be studied. The article focuses on distributed computing issues and implementation of the hybrid simulation framework that includes integrated microscopic and macroscopic simulation models.

Implementation of a Real-Time Integrated Control System in a Freeway/Arterial Corridor

Abstract This paper presents the status of the California Advanced Research Testbed (CART) research implementation program. The discussion first describes the establishment of data communication links between the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Advanced Testbed Laboratories and the Testbed field implementation sites including the City of Irvine and Caltrans District 12 Traffic Management Centers. This is followed by a review of the Irvine federal FOT implementation technologies including MIST, OPAC, SWARM, and the Caltrans D12 ATMS occurring simultaneously with testbed research implementation. The final section discusses the Testbed Real-time Integrated Control and Evaluation Prototype System (TRICEPS) which is designed for use with the real-world data to be received from the data links to the traffic networks on in the Testbed area.

Truck Activity Monitoring System for Freight Transportation Analysis

Understanding truck activity is an essential component of strategic freight planning and programming. However, recent studies have revealed a significant void in the availability of detailed truck activity data. Although some existing detectors are capable of providing truck counts by axle configuration, higher-resolution data that indicate truck body configuration, industry served, and commodity carried cannot be obtained from existing sensors. This paper presents the newly developed Truck Activity Monitoring System, which leverages existing in-pavement traffic sensors to provide truck activity data in California. Existing inductive loop detector sites were updated with inductive signature technology and advanced truck classification models were implemented to provide detailed truck count data with more than 40 truck body configurations. The system has been deployed to more than 90 detector locations in California to provide coverage at state borders, regional cordons, and significant metropolitan truck corridors. An interactive geographic information system website provides users with advanced visual analytics and access to archived data across all deployed locations. The case studies presented in this paper demonstrate the potential of the data obtained from this system in analyzing and understanding current and historical industry-specific truck activity.