Vehicular Movement Research Articles

Stability, convergence and Hopf bifurcation analyses of the classical car-following model

Reaction delays play an important role in determining the qualitative dynamical properties of a platoon of vehicles traversing a straight road. In this paper, we investigate the impact of delayed feedback on the dynamics of the Classical Car-Following Model (CCFM). Specifically, we analyze the CCFM in no delay, small delay and arbitrary delay regimes. First, we derive a sufficient condition for local stability of the CCFM in no-delay and small-delay regimes using. Next, we derive the necessary and sufficient condition for local stability of the CCFM for an arbitrary delay. We then demonstrate that the transition of traffic flow from the locally stable to the unstable regime occurs via a Hopf bifurcation, thus resulting in limit cycles in system dynamics. Physically, these limit cycles manifest as back-propagating congestion waves on highways. In the context of human-driven vehicles, our work provides phenomenological insight into the impact of reaction delays on the emergence and evolution of traffic congestion. In the context of self-driven vehicles, our work has the potential to provide design guidelines for control algorithms running in self-driven cars to avoid undesirable phenomena. Specifically, designing control algorithms that avoid jerky vehicular movements is essential. Hence, we derive the necessary and sufficient condition for non-oscillatory convergence of the CCFM. Next, we characterize the rate of convergence of the CCFM, and bring forth the interplay between local stability, non-oscillatory convergence and the rate of convergence of the CCFM. Further, to better understand the oscillations in the system dynamics, we characterize the type of the Hopf bifurcation and the asymptotic orbital stability of the limit cycles using Poincare normal forms and the center manifold theory. The analysis is complemented with stability charts, bifurcation diagrams and MATLAB simulations.

Determining risk-based safety thresholds through naturalistic driving patterns using trajectory data on expressways

The present research work is initiated, probing for safety levels, evolving as an outcome of analysis of micro-level interactions due to naturalistic vehicular movements on Indian expressways. The research work reported here, devised a micro-level parameter, namely instant perception time (IPT) as a safety measure, which is a function of vehicular interactions. As a step towards deriving IPT, video-graphic surveys were conducted and traffic data was collected on two intercity Indian expressways. As a part of this work, first microscopic trajectory data was developed for capturing naturalistic driving behavior under heterogeneous traffic environment. Thereafter, hysteresis plots were developed between leader-follower pairs using relative speed and spacing between the vehicles. By means of the developed hysteresis plots, a novel approach for identification and quantifying chances of rear-end crashes using follower’s Instantaneous perception time (IPT), is proposed in the present study. To study the IPT approach under different flow conditions, well-calibrated and validated simulation model is also developed using real trajectory data collected for the prevailing traffic conditions observed on the study sections. From the obtained IPTs using simulation model, three cluster ranges are delineated pertaining to different levels of risks of crashes. The cluster-analysis suggests that the least values of space-headway (m) and IPT (s) (space headway < 10.91 m, IPT < 5.61 s) at a given location shows most severe chances of rear-end collision. While, lower to moderate values indicate (with thresholds: space headway in the range 10.91–18.5 m; IPT 5.61–11.91 s), whereas higher values of IPT (more than 12 s) suggest the least chances of rear-end collision. The methodological approach, results and findings thus developed under naturalistic driving environment, presented here can be very useful in understanding the operational deficiencies of traffic streams, road geometry, coupled with safety assessment of traffic streams on uninterrupted roadway facilities. Furthermore, traffic control or geometry improvement related decisions can also be taken at different unsafe locations using IPT as a risk measure to enhance safety.

An Analysis of Pattern of Fatal Head Injuries in Road Traffic Accidents

One of the common regional injuries an individual can sustain in Road Traffic Accidents is head injury. Head and face is the region which is more susceptible and requires an immediate care and treatment. The fatality rate is high even with intense treatment. Law making agencies has been continuously trying to enforce the rules of wearing helmets both in riders and pillion in two wheelers. Considering the same, this study was done in eastern part of Bangalore, an IT hub and a rapidly developing area with increase in vehicular movements. The study concluded that incidence was common among age group of 21–30 years with male predominance and among two wheel riders. Laceration is most common external injury followed by abrasion. Fissure fractures are most common type of Fracture, and sub dural haemorrhage is seen in majority of cases.

Measurement of Noise Pollution in Northern Industrial Areas of Windhoek, Namibia

The increase in industrial activities and vehicular movement along the northern industrial area of Windhoek has vastly increased the amount of traffic noise and other noise pollution in the area. Noise pollution has an adverse health effect to human population, when exposed for a long period. Residence in proximate communities along the north industrial area and those working in the various industries located in the area may be affected, when the noise pollution level exceed the permissible standard for human exposure. A sound level meter was used to measure the amount of noise pollution at the streets of the northern industrial area. The measurements were done during the daytime, at a time interval of 2 hours, from 08:00 am - 06:00 pm. The amount of noise pollution obtained from the study ranges from (64 - 72) dB (A), with a maximum of 72 dB (A) in Bonsmara Street, (67.4 - 75.3) dB (A), with a maximum of 75.3 dB (A) in New Castle Street, (60.5 - 81.0) dB (A), with a maximum of 72.3 dB (A) in Braham Street. (62.5 - 72.3) dB (A), with a maximum of 82.3 dB (A) in Hosea Kutako Street, (66.0 - 82.3) dB (A), with a maximum of 76.8 dB (A) in Simmentaler Street and (65.1 - 76.8) dB (A), with a maximum of 76.8 dB (A) in Dortmund Street. The variation of noise level index L10, L50, L90 and Leq, Noise Climate (NC) and Traffic Noise index (TNI) were calculated. The maximum noise pollution values obtained from the study were higher than the WHO recommended limit of 70 dB (A).

Studying the influence of moving vehicle on air pollutant dispersion through environmental chamber

The risk of air pollutants like particulate matters on human beings has been widely reported. One main concern is its health impact on people through direct emission or resuspension. In China with the quick growth in private car ownership, the worries about the influence of the moving vehicles on particulate dispersion is growing. In this study, the influence of a moving object on wick formation and particulate dispersion was investigated. An advanced numerical model was developed, in which the unsteady Eulerian RANS model was applied for simulating the airflow, the modified drift-flux model for modelling particulate dispersion, and the dynamic mesh model for mimicking the moving vehicle. The results show that the vehicular movement induces three noticeable vortexes around the moving body, and the faster the running speed, the stronger the secondary airflow generated.

Automatic Led Solar Powered Street Light Control based on Climatic Conditions and Vehicular Movement

India is the country where more amount of energy is consumed because of enormous population. Most of us are looking forward for a new source of energy. In this paper we focused on how to conserve energy which are existing. Most of the power are wasted mainly due to misuse of energy and not having sufficient knowledge on the utilization of energy resources .In this paper we used microcontroller to detects the vehicular movement.IR rays are passed which is received by LDR and thus intensity of the light is adjusted. Temperature sensor has been used to detect various climatic conditions in that region. We have also proposed the idea to display the street light numbers which are not glowing.

Equipoising multi-modal traffic environments using vehicular ad-hoc networks

Competent transportation infrastructure is one of the prominent factors influencing sustainable economic growth and appreciable living standard in a country. Urban cities habitually equipped with multi-modal traffic flows which encompass various modes of transportation mechanisms such as walking, skating, cycling, motorcycles, three wheelers, private passenger cars, public transport modes like buses or trains, etc. Efficient urban traffic planning has become an exigent task involving complex behavioural analysis of multi-modal traffic scenarios. One possible way of enhancing the travel experience of commuters is by revolutionizing the vehicular communication strategies to devise intelligent routing approaches. Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are a special type of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) which can be used to define intelligent conciliator interfaces for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) or vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication needs. In this paper, we propose an approach for equilibrating multi-modal traffic environments after road block situations occur through VANET scenario simulations. For this research, we have used OMNeT++ network simulator to simulate the mobile network involved and SUMO microscopic traffic simulator to simulate vehicular movements in parallel and Veins framework as a bridging interface between OMNeT++ and SUMO. We have validated our solution with two heterogeneous metropolitan areas located in the cities of Kandy and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Our solution achieved lower values for waiting time and trip duration of vehicles and qualitatively improving the traffic flow when comparing against the absence of equilibrating module.

Road traffic induced pollution of roadside soil: A case study of Sango-ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

This study examined the influence of road traffic on the accumulation of heavy metals in roadside soil located at Sango-Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria were selected on the basis of their high and low concentration of vehicular traffic. Standard methods were used in digesting the soil samples (experimental and control) taken from the roadsides and in determining some heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cr and Ag) presence using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The ranges of concentrations of the heavy metals found in the samples were 3.2 - 52.6, 23.9 - 232.5, 9.8 - 51.3, 16.4 - 89.3, 7.9 - 24.5, 59.4 - 573.5, 12.4 - 89.2 and 0.00 - 0.12 mg/kg for Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Ni, Fe, Cr and Ag, respectively. These values were observed to be relatively lower than that stipulated by European Union standard expect Ag that was not specified in the standard. This study revealed the relatively low level of roadside soil pollution due to vehicular movement on the roads in the area of study. Improved traffic flow, good maintenance of vehicles and stringent policy on emission control are amongst possible measures suggested to curb pollution of roadside soil due to road traffics.Keywords: traffics, emissions, pollution, roadside soil, heavy metals

Angular and Metric Distance in Road Network Analysis: A nationwide correlation study

There is an epistemological divide in the field of road network analysis, concerning the way network distance should be conceptualized. On one hand, the generality of studies in the field adopt metric distance as a self-evident choice. On the other, space syntax studies adopt a different distance concept, namely that of angular distance, which ignores actual physical lengths. Theoretically, these two distance concepts imply quite different assumptions. Analytically, they produce also different results.In this paper we assess the differences between these two network distance concepts, using a model of the UK's complete road network (2,031,971 nodes) and a very large dataset of vehicular movement counts (20,752 locations). We describe the statistical associations between observed vehicular flows and the betweenness centrality of the road-network nodes where such flows were measured, the latter calculated with metric and angular distance functions, across a number of increasing radii. Relations to road capacity are also discussed in principal roads where this is known.The geographical comprehensiveness of our model and the size of our movement sample allow us to state, with unprecedented statistical validity, the clear outperformance of angular distance over metric distance, in what concerns the strength of the studied correlations. This is true for all types of roads (urban and non-urban) and for all motorized vehicles, representing 99.05% of the total traffic; the remaining 0.95% correspond to pedal cycles, which yielded inconclusive results. We also demonstrate the existence of two distinct regimes of association between movement and centrality, conspicuous in cities but altogether absent in non-urban areas, which represent new evidence supporting space syntax's dual model of urban form.

Military use of geologists and geology: a historical overview and introduction

Abstract Napoleon Bonaparte was, in 1798, the first general to include geologists as such on a military operation. Within the UK, the following century saw geology taught, and national geological mapping initiated, as a military science. Nevertheless, military geologists were not deployed on a battlefield until World War I, first by the German and Austro-Hungarian armies and later and less intensively those of the UK and USA. Geologists were used primarily to guide abstraction of groundwater, construction of ‘mine’ tunnels and dug-outs, development of fortifications and quarrying of natural resources to enhance or repair supply routes. Only the USSR and Germany entered World War II with organized military geological expertise, but the UK and later the USA made significant use of military geologists, albeit far fewer than the c. 400 in total used by German forces. Military geologist roles in World War II included most of those of World War I, but were extended to other aspects of terrain evaluation, notably the rapid construction of temporary airfields and factors affecting cross-country vehicular movement (‘going’). After 1945, more military geologists were used in the USA than Germany or the UK, in these and wider roles, but mostly as civilians or reservists.

A Historical Perspective on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities and the Impact of the Vehicular Cycling Movement

This paper draws from a literature review and interviews to demonstrate the impact of advocacy, research, and culture on guidance for design users, bike lanes, and separated (protected) bike lanes in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ bicycle guides’ content from 1974 to present. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a bicycle renaissance in America resulted in efforts at the local, state, and federal level to encourage bicycling. After Davis, California, became the first community in the United States to build a network of bike lanes, a new brand of bicycle advocacy, vehicular cycling (VC), formed to oppose efforts to separate bicyclists from motorized traffic based on fears of losing the right to use public roads. Via positions of power and strong rhetoric, vehicular cyclists influenced design guidance for decades to come. Through the 1980s, VC philosophy aligned with a federal view that bicyclists freeloaded from the gas tax, resulting in diminished federal support for guidance and related research throughout the decade. However, the passing of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 led to increased bicycle networks and renewed interest in bicycle facility research. Although vehicular cyclists continue to oppose roadway designs that separate bicyclists from motorized traffic, research from the last decade demonstrates networks of separated bike lanes improve bicyclist safety and are necessary to meet the needs of the vast majority of the public who want to bicycle but feel unsafe in many traffic contexts.

Quantification of LOS at Uncontrolled Median Openings Using Area Occupancy Through Cluster Analysis

This study quantifies LOS ranges for traffic movement at uncontrolled median openings using ‘area occupancy’ as a measure of effectiveness. The Highway Capacity Manual is silent about LOS ranges at uncontrolled median openings. Traditionally, traffic density is considered as an important parameter for quantifying the traffic flow. However, it does not consider the heterogeneous characteristics of the traffic stream. Further, occupancy also does not explain the heterogeneous traffic and the absence of lane discipline which is predominant in developing countries. Therefore, area occupancy is used in this study to assess the performance of traffic conditions at median openings. The established method to measure area occupancy has been modified to overcome the assumption used in earlier techniques. Area occupancy has been estimated for both major and minor traffic streams. K-mean clustering has been employed to classify area occupancy ranges for various LOS categories. This methodology could be beneficial for practitioner engineers to monitor the vehicular movement at median opening.

Measuring the invisible

PurposeConstruction logistics is an essential part of Construction Supply Chain Management for both project management and cost aspects. The quantum of money that is embodied in the transportation of materials to site could be 39–58 per cent of total logistics costs and between 4 and 10 per cent of the product selling price for many firms. However, limited attention has been paid to measure the logistics performance at the operational level in the construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge about managing logistics costs by setting a key performance indicator (KPI) based on the number of vehicle movements to the construction site.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach was adopted with on-site observations and interviews. Observations were performed from the start of construction until “hand-over” to the building owner. A selection of construction suppliers and subcontractors involved in the studied project were interviewed.FindingsData analysis of vehicle movements suggested that construction transportation costs can be monitored and managed. The identified number of vehicle movements as a KPI offers a significant step towards logistics performance management in construction projects.Originality/valueThis research paper demonstrates that framework of using vehicular movements meet the criterion of effective KPI and is able to detect rooms for improvements. The key findings shed valuable insight for industry practitioners in initiating the measurement and monitor “the invisible logistics costs and performance”. It provides a basis for benchmarking that enables comparison, learning and improvement and thereby continuous enhancement of best practice at the operational level, which may accelerate the slow SCM implementation in the construction industry.

Influence of Road Paving on Particulate Matter Emission and Fingerprinting of Elements of Road Dust.

Most assessments of road dust have focused largely on the resuspension of materials from the paved road while the contribution from unpaved shoulder to particulate matter is poorly understood. We evaluated the role of unpaved road shoulders in the contribution of particulate matter emitted by analyzing elements in the road dust. We collected road dust samples and employed US-EPA empirical equations. The results of TSP emission reveal that unpaved shoulder adjacent to paved roads (43.1-29.9%) is a potential emitter than that at roundabouts (27%). In paved road environment, the contribution of TSP emission was 54.9-25.6% from unpaved shoulders based on driving share of vehicles. TSP emission results suggest that waste material is frequently exchanged from paved to unpaved shoulder, which leads to seasonal variations in paved road. The observed particle size of paved surface waste material shows that about 36% particles were less than 2.5μm and 52% were greater than 10μm, suggesting that dust is resuspendable and presents a health risk due to being respirable. Elemental analysis confirmed the presence of the toxic elements Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Sn, Sb, and Ba in waste material. Moreover, receptor models indicate that the waste material comprised of elements from tire wear (31%), mineral dust (27%), brake wear (17%), vehicle exhaust (14%), and coal (7%). The elemental contribution of coal is a location-specific source identified from principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis, which originated spillage during transportation. The study illustrates the contributions of PM emission from the different road networks and the mechanism of exchange of waste materials. Microscopic observation of resuspension and transportation of road dust due to vehicular movement leads to advection mechanism at the roundabout and the paved road having unpaved shoulders.

Smart Vehicular System based on the Internet of Things

With the advent of smart city and its implications, different components of the smart city such as traffic, pollution monitoring, infotainment and others need to be considered as well for enabling the complete smartness. One of the major components of the smart city is regulation of traffic and its standards for smooth vehicular movement and it depends on the road conditions and environment. Road conditions provide valuable information for developing assistive systems for the vehicles and to be provided and trained with different road conditions for better accuracy and finally enabling the smartness around the system. With the increasing vehicular population around the globe and in developing countries like India, assistive systems based on Internet of Things (IoT) play a major role in developing smart systems for the vehicles. Once the population of the vehicles increases, assistive systems need a smart mechanism for parking as well. The proposed Internet of things (IoT) based system provides the user with different conditions of the road and a smart parking solution.

Modeling the effect of days and road type on peak period travels using structural equation modeling and big data from radio frequency identification for private cars and taxis

PurposeThe main congestion on roads occur during peak hours, apart from incidents such as road accidents and construction works. Although there have been studies on peak period travels, these studies have only implicitly considered weekday, weekend and road type in their investigations. In this paper, it is proposed to investigate explicitly, the effect of weekday and weekend travel variability and road type on peak hour vehicular movement which leads to congestion. A study of vehicular movement patterns during these times can influence and impact on planning decisions for transportation engineers.MethodsThis study utilizes structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the vehicular movements influence of weekdays, weekends, road type choice and car type on two peak hour periods 6 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 7 pm and one off-peak hour 9 am to 12 noon.ResultsUsing vehicular movement data from Radio Frequency Identification for Nanjing, China, for the month of May 2014, it was revealed that in most of the cases, weekday travels influence peak hour travels more than weekends and that off-peak hour travels for both weekdays and weekends show little variations. The study also discovered that choice of road type and car type, have varying influence on peak hour travels.ConclusionsThe high significance ratios of results prove that these chosen variables are suitable for investigations into peak hour travel pattern studies. The study has also proved the viability of this modeling method to investigate policy measures to reduce peak period congestion.

Exploring participatory visions of smart transport in Milton Keynes

This paper explores citizen concerns emerging in the design stage of MotionMap, a smart transport initiative developed in the context of a £16 million smart city programme. A city-wide sensing system integrated with other databases will provide real-time information about vehicular and pedestrian movement. The experience of a series of smart transport workshops in Milton Keynes suggests that citizens feel that they bear the cost of smart cities through potentially intrusive surveillance producing sacrifices in convenience and privacy, while the gains are captured by industrial and governmental actors. This distrust of surveillance through urban sensing systems is not inflexible. Such systems can gain legitimacy through a participatory approach where users legitimize the sensing system by taking an active role in providing transport data, as opposed to having it ‘harvested’ from them through passive or opportunistic mechanisms. Participatory approaches are challenging because users will engage only if the system can provide compelling benefits. A key contribution of this research comes from identifying that the benefits important to citizens are not necessarily measured in economic terms nor in terms of increased efficiency.

Approach to Environmental Sustainability and Green Campus at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia: A Review

Environmental pollution is a complex and rapidly evolving challenge faced by urban environments. University campuses are susceptible to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions arising from energy use, particularly due to vehicular movement, solid waste generation and disposal, and electricity generation. The impact of GHG emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) on climate change, mainly global warming, which has emerged a contemporary concern. The recent increase in the number of proposals for regulatory legislations on emission control indicates the need for a clear methodology to address GHG emissions, as well as their environmental impacts. This paper deals with CO2 emission arising from energy used and solid waste within the campus of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru. The objective of this study is only the environmental aspect, related to carbon emission from energy used in the study area under review. This emission sources on UTM campus include, transportation, electricity and waste generation. This work reviews the application of compliance plans and approaches for the monitoring and control of environmentally sustainable parameters and categories. The performance of each model which reflects the sustainability achievement goals was determined. Constraints to the practice of sustainability concepts are identified and measures to improve sustainability levels are suggested. It is concluded that by following the standard set by Universitas Indonesia (UI) ranking, sustainability coupled with, enabling environment will be enhanced for universities' dwellers.

Vehicular Network-Aware Route Selection Considering Communication Requirements of Users for ITS

Increasing demands of mobile users on communication and new types of devices, such as sensors, machines, and vehicles, impose high load on cellular networks. Since requirements are expected to rise in a near future, new ways for cellular network offloading are needed. A promising solution for vehicles and vehicular users is to offload data to vehicular networks. To maximize offloading of the cellular networks, the vehicles can be navigated through areas characterized with more available communication capacity. Hence, we propose a novel scalable traveling route selection algorithm determining the route according to a traveling time and available throughput of both cellular and vehicular networks. While the maximum tolerated traveling time is defined by the vehicular users, an estimation of available throughput is based on a vehicular movement prediction. The proposed route selection algorithm is able to offload cellular network by up to 17% and time spent without required quality of connection can be reduced by 65%. At the same time, the traveling time is prolonged only negligibly in comparison with state-of-the-art algorithms.

Building a low cost wind turbine in highways for rural house electricity demand

The main aim of this work is to design, fabricate, and test a wind turbine for power generation applications in rural areas. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines were selected to harness the energy from wind through the drag forces induced due to vehicular movements. Various parameters were analyzed for the design of a low‐cost wind turbine. A Savonius blade was selected for the design, which could be accommodated on the median of the highways. By using recycled materials, a low‐cost wind turbine was fabricated at a cost of $117.5 approximately. The wind turbine was placed on the houses and on the highway medians to test the power output at various operating conditions. Average electricity consumption at selected rural houses were calculated. The calculated average electricity demand during power cuts in the selected rural houses was around 0.2–0.6 kWh/day. Average generated electricity from the turbine at highways was observed to be around 0.67 kWh/day. The Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of the generated electricity from the proposed SWT on highways is around $0.04/kWh. The LCOE of the proposed design is relatively cheaper when compared with the conventional horizontal axis wind turbines. The energy demand during power cuts was met completely when the SWT was placed on the highways. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38: 278–285, 2019