Abstract
Queue length is one of the most important traffic evaluation indexes for traffic signal control at signalized intersections. Most previous studies have focused on estimating queue length, which cannot be predicted effectively. In this paper, we applied the Lighthill–Whitham–Richards shockwave theory and Robertson’s platoon dispersion model to predict the arrival of vehicles in advance at intervals of 5 seconds. This approach fully described the relationship between disparate upstream traffic arrivals (as a result of vehicles making different turns) and the variation of incremental queue accumulation. It also addressed the shortcomings of the uniform arrival assumption in previous research. In addition, to predict the queue length of multiple lanes at the same time, we integrated the prediction of the traffic volume proportions in each lane using the Kalman filter. We tested this model in a field experiment, and the results showed that the model had satisfactory accuracy. We also discussed the limitations of the proposed model in this paper.
Highlights
Queue length is the most important index for signal control evaluation [1] or signal optimization [2,3,4,5,6]
The first category—the direct detection of queue length using equipment such as cameras—is one of the most commonly used methods to obtain queue length in recent research [7,8,9]. This method can and quickly obtain the queue length, but it does not consider fluctuations in traffic flow, and the maximum queue will not be obtained when the queue length exceeds the visual range of the camera
(2) The proposed model predicted the lane-based queue length in real time—the prediction included incremental queue accumulation (IQA), queue trajectory, maximum queue, and residual queue, which overcame the shortcomings of previous research that could not obtain the evolution trend of queuing in advance; and we determined the specific predicted advance interval of the queue length depends on the travel time between upstream intersection and downstream intersection
Summary
Queue length is the most important index for signal control evaluation [1] or signal optimization [2,3,4,5,6]. (1) We obtained the upstream different turning flows in real time at intervals of 5 seconds and fully considered the discrete characteristics of the vehicle to predict downstream vehicle arrival, which overcame the limitation of the uniform arrival assumption in previous research on queue length estimation. (2) The proposed model predicted the lane-based queue length in real time—the prediction included incremental queue accumulation (IQA), queue trajectory, maximum queue, and residual queue, which overcame the shortcomings of previous research that could not obtain the evolution trend of queuing in advance; and we determined the specific predicted advance interval of the queue length depends on the travel time between upstream intersection and downstream intersection This was a convenient way to make an optimal strategy of proactive signal control.
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