A traffic flow prediction method based on constrained dynamic graph convolutional recurrent networks

Abstract

To enhance the efficiency of predicting future traffic flow trends within a transportation network, we propose a traffic flow prediction approach based on Constrained Dynamic Graph Convolutional Recurrent Network (C-DGCRN). Firstly, we employ matrix linear constraint and low-rank constraint optimization techniques to assist the Dynamic Graph Convolutional Recurrent Network (DGCRN) in extracting relevant internal correlations within the transportation network, leading to the formation of an affinity matrix. Secondly, we utilize the Hadamard product operation to effectively transfer weights from the affinity matrix to DGCRN, further enhancing its predictive accuracy. The experiments conducted an error assessment on the Metro Traffic Los Angeles and Performance Measurement System-Bay Area datasets. The Mean Absolute Error, Root Mean Square Error, and Mean Absolute Percentage Error of C-DGCRN were 2.66, 5.06, and 6.83, respectively. Compared to state-of-the-art methods like Adaptive Graph Convolutional Recurrent Network, C-DGCRN showed a reduction of 7%, 9%, and 11% in these metrics.