A Study of the Feasibility of Distributed Multi-Level Traffic Control Systems

摘要

The goal of the study is to identify conditions under which distributed multi-level traffic control systems (DMLS) can be most effectively deployed using state-of-the-art hardware and software. The final report examines the feasibility of DMLS through utility-cost analysis and provides information that will be useful in determining the choice of control configuration for a specific traffic control system installation. This information includes tutorial and reference material, as well as examples of cost computations and utility-cost analysis. The report covers the following subjects: the development of a definition of DMLS and a state-of-the-art review of distributed traffic control; a development of different DMLS control configurations using UTCS software; and, an utility-cost analysis of the application of these control configurations to different street networks for each of two control requirements. The results of this analysis identify certain conditions under which distributed traffic control is likely to be cost-effective: the control requirements include other functions in addition to traffic control; the signal system consists of small clusters of signals scattered over an urban area, without a highly concentrated CBD; and, the signal system has few existing facilities, e.g. computers, interconnect.