Cyber Transportation Systems Research Articles

Network Traffic Control in Cyber-Transportation Systems Accounting for User-Level Fairness

This research identifies the advantage of connected vehicle environment in cyber-transportation systems (CTS) and proposes control strategies that can yield benefits from system and user perspectives. Particularly, the focus is to minimize the total stopped delay at signalized intersections for the entire trip of a user. Further, we define and assess the notion of fairness from the user perspective. We develop and implement a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)-based signal controller within the framework of CTS. The test results from a network containing 15 signalized intersections show that the proposed fair queuing (FQ) algorithm performs better than the fixed control and real-time adaptive control in terms of both efficiency (system travel time) and fairness (minimizing the difference between maximum and mean intersection delay) across users.

Integrated Traffic-Driving-Networking Simulator for the Design of Connected Vehicle Applications: Eco-Signal Case Study

This article first develops an integrated traffic-driving-networking simulator (ITDNS) intended for the design and evaluation of cyber transportation systems (CTS) and connected vehicle (CV) applications. The ITDNS allows a human driver to control a subject vehicle, in a virtual environment, that is capable of communicating with other vehicles and the infrastructure with CTS messages. The challenges associated with the integration of the three simulators, and how those challenges were overcome, are discussed. As an application example, an eco-signal system, which recommends the approach speed for vehicles approaching the intersection so as to minimize fuel consumption and emissions, was implemented in the ITDNS. Test drivers were then asked to virtually drive through a signalized corridor twice, one time with the eco-signal system in place and another without the system. Thanks to the human-in-the-loop component of ITDNS, the research was able to evaluate the likely benefits of the eco-signal system, while accounting for the response of human drivers to the recommended speed profiles. Moreover, the study compared the energy consumption and emission production rates of human-controlled vehicles’ approach trajectories to the rates associated with “idealistic” trajectories that may be attainable via vehicle automation. With respect to ITDNS, the study demonstrates the unique advantages of the simulator and the broad range of applications it can address. Regarding the eco-signal application example, preliminary results demonstrate the potential of the concept to result in tangible reductions of around 9% for energy consumption, 18% for carbon monoxide, and 25% for nitrogen oxides emissions. Moreover, the application eliminated hard accelerations and decelerations maneuvers, and thus may have an additional positive safety impact.

Emerging Applications for Cyber Transportation Systems

Recent advances in connected vehicles and autonomous driving are going to change the face of ground transportation as we know it. This paper describes the design and evaluation of several emerging applications for such a cyber transportation system (CTS). These applications have been designed using holistic approaches, which consider the unique roles played by the human drivers, the transportation system, and the communication network. They can improve driver safety and provide on-road infotainment. They can also improve transportation operations and efficiency, thereby benefiting travelers and attracting investment from both government agencies and private businesses to deploy infrastructures and bootstrap the evolutionary process of CTS.

From machine-to-machine communications towards cyber-physical systems

In recent years, cyber-physical systems (CPS) have emerged as a promising direction to enrich the interactions between physical and virtual worlds. In this article, we first present the correlations among machine-to-machine (M2M), wireless sensor networks (WSNs), CPS and internet of things (IoT), and introduce some research activities in M2M, including M2M architectures and typical applications. Then, we review two CPS platforms and systems that have been proposed recently, including a novel prototype platform for multiple unmanned vehicles with WSNs navigation and cyber-transportation systems. Through these reviews, we propose CPS is an evolution of M2M by the introduction of more intelligent and interactive operations, under the architecture of IoT. Also, we especially hope to demonstrate how M2M systems with the capabilities of decision-making and autonomous control can be upgraded to CPS and identify the important research challenges related to CPS designs.

Machine-to-Machine Communications: Architectures, Standards and Applications

As a new business concept, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications are born from original telemetry technology with the intrinsic features of automatic data transmissions and measurement from remote sources typically by cable or radio. M2M includes a number of technologies that need to be combined in a compatible manner to enable its deployment over a broad market of consumer electronics. In order to provide better understanding for this emerging concept, the correlations among M2M, wireless sensor networks, cyber-physical systems (CPS), and internet of things are first analyzed in this paper. Then, the basic M2M architecture is introduced and the key elements of the architecture are presented. Furthermore, the progress of global M2M standardization is reviewed, and some representative applications (i.e., smart home, smart grid and health care) are given to show that the M2M technologies are gradually utilized to benefit people’s life. Finally, a novel M2M system integrating intelligent road with unmanned vehicle is proposed in the form of CPS, and an example of cyber-transportation systems for improving road safety and efficiency are introduced.