Heterogeneous Traffic Flow Detection Using CAV-Based Sensor With I-GAIN

Abstract

This study proposes using connected automatic vehicles (CAVs) as traffic flow detectors to collect and exchange traffic flow data for heterogeneous traffic management and control. The proposed method includes the construction of a mathematical matrix to represent the status of the road section, the use of unsupervised machine learning to evaluate traffic data, and an improved generative adversarial imputation net (GAIN) to evaluate and impute missing traffic data. Next-generation simulation (NGSIM) data are used to verify the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method. One of the primary innovations of this study is the use of GAIN, a deep learning framework based on generative adversarial networks (GANs), to impute missing traffic data. GAIN has been shown to be more robust and stable when handling incomplete heterogeneous data than existing imputation methods. Additionally, this study contributes to the field by proposing the use of CAVs as sensors to detect mixed traffic flow, which could lead to more efficient and accurate traffic management and control. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing imputation methods, with a normalized root mean squared error and symmetric mean absolute percentage error of less than 0.2/0.3 and 0.08/0.13 in I-80 and Lankershim Boulevard, respectively. The findings of this study have important implications for the development and implementation of connected and automated vehicle technologies in the field of transportation.