Traffic Simulation

Simulation.jpg (6884 bytes)

Simulation of ITS on the Irvine FOT Area Using 'Paramics 1.5' Scalable Microscopic Traffic Simulator: Phase I: Model Calibration and Validation

Baher Abdulhai, Jiuh-Biing Sheu, Will Recker

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) appear to provide a set of intuitively promising tools to improve the increasingly complex and rapidly deteriorating transportation systems of today. Potential success of such ITS is implicit and derived to a large extent form the success of the underlying technology in other fields such as the defense and aerospace industries. Comprehensive research tools for quantifying the expected benefits from ITS are, however, still absent. In order to quantify potential benefits prior to any major investment in development and deployment, the use of traffic simulation is regarded inevitable, at present at least. Simulators are needed, not only to assess the benefits of ITS in a planning mode, but also to generate scenarios, optimize control, and predict network behavior at the operational level.

A fairly large number of traffic simulators are currently under development all over the world covering wide ranges of complexity, comprehensiveness, and potential usefulness. The majority of these simulators, however, have never been closely evaluated, neither calibrated nor validated. In this regard, researchers usually encounter three major obstacles: [1] the unavailability of a manageable network/corridor that is adequately instrumented with functioning vehicle detectors to supply the necessary data, [2] the absence of a comprehensive testbed that is capable of modeling and testing a variety of ITS components and of acquiring real-time traffic data, and [3] the unavailability of a non-limiting traffic simulator that is easy to use and yet capable of ITS modeling in a corridor/network environment of any realistic size.

The research presented in this report is an attempt to compile a list of attributes or a 'wish list' a successful traffic simulator should possess in order to adequately model Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and calibrate, validate and evaluate one promising ITS-capable advanced traffic flow simulator, namely Paramics1.5. The research makes use of the unprecedented capabilities available at the ATMIS testbed and labs of University of California Irvine (UCI) that collectively present a potential solution to the above problems. These capabilities are founded on three pillars: [1] the fairly young, well instrumented and manageable Irvine network, [2] the variety of ITS modeling components of the UCI testbed and its on-line real-time data acquisition capabilities [3] +the capabilities of a newly acquired 'Paramics1.5' microscopic traffic simulation and visualization tool. The objective is to evaluate Paramics1.5, both subjectively using the complied evaluationtemplate and objectively through calibration and validation, in order to prepare it for a near-future second stage of ITS modeling in the Irvine network, California.

Full Report: UCB-ITS-PRR-99-12 (750K PDF file)