Browsing by Subject "ITS Institute"

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Activation of the I-394 Laboratory for ITS Operational Testing: Phase 2
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 1998-04) Reynhout, Kenneth; Michalopoulos, Panos; Siagian, Alexander
The key element in improving traffic operations and performing real-time management is the ability to assess the effectiveness of various alternatives prior to implementation. Likewise, the crucial feature for providing this capability is a Traffic Data Management System (TDMS), which gathers data and makes it available for various traffic analysis applications. The purpose of this research is to develop TDMS as part of a Laboratory Environment for TRaffic ANalysis (LETRAN). Such a laboratory environment would provide easy and efficient access to various kinds of traffic data for use in simulation, control, incident detection, and other types of traffic analysis applications to be deployed in a next-generation traffic management center. In addition, a Machine-Vision Laboratory (MVL) will be designed and implemented as part of the Center for Transportation Studies(CTS) Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory (ITS Lab). This MVL will use live video feeds from both freeways and arterial streets and provide machine-vision technology for conducting traffic detection, data collection, and group training exercises. Such capabilities will allow for the collection of detailed, accurate, and continuous data for successful model development, calibration, testing and evaluation.
Activation of the I-394 Laboratory for ITS Operational Testing: Phase I
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 1997-12) Reynhout, Kenneth; Michalopoulos, Panos; Sullivan, Mike; Siagian, Alexander
This and other related research have two primary objectives: 1. To develop practical operational tools which can be deployed for use in traffic-management and transportation planning activities. 2. To develop a laboratory infrastructure which will facilitate future advances in traffic modeling and other ITS initiatives. The objectives of this particular research project are as follows: * A thorough examination and documentation of the 1-394 system's specifications. * Diagnosis of the working condition of the 1-394 system. * Negotiation and implementation of a repair plan * Establishing a communications connection between the ITS Lab and the Traffic Management Center (TMC). * Activation of the 1-394 Lab, which will include a user's guide that describes the steps a user should take to access video, make a connection to the TMC and the 1-394 system, and configure the system for traffic detection and data collection. A completed 1-394 Lab would be a unique and valuable tool for obtaining information that loop-detectors have been unable to supply. This information includes flow dynamics, incident behavior, capacity, and other traffic-flow characteristics. This information is vital for fine tuning operational tools and schemes to be deployed in a future TMC, and will also provide an information foundation for future research and development.
Adaptive Cruise Control System Design And Its Impact on Traffic Flow
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2005-05-01) Rajamani, Rajesh; Levinson, David M.; Michalopoulos, Panos; Wang, J.; Santhanakrishnan, Kumaragovindhan; Zhu, Xi
This study resolves the controversy over the stability of constant time-gap policy for highway traffic flow. Previous studies left doubt as to the effectiveness of constant time-gap policies and whether they maintain stability in all traffic conditions. The results of this study prove that the constant timegap policy is in fact stable to a limit. At this limit, depending on the boundary conditions, conditions lose their stability. This study develops alternative ways to maintain the balance between safety and traffic flow for ACC vehicles that does not rely on constant time-gap policies. New spacing policies will create more stability, and therefore safer conditions, and allow for greater traffic capacity.
Benchmarking Fleet Management
(2003-07-01) Wyrick, David A; Storhaug, Brandon
Benchmarking is used to assess the best practices in fleet management for MnDOT. Phase I was a regional study that focused on organizational structure, performance measures and targets, policies, and maintenance in a variety of public and private organizations. Phase II was a national assessment focusing on performance measurements that are most useful in state transportation departments. Thirty-five states participated in the Phase II survey and seven benchmarking interviews were conducted (Arizona, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania) to assess the number, types, and effectiveness of performance measures used in leading state transportation departments. Analysis of data from both phases identified best practices and gaps that MnDOT should consider. Minnesota is assessed to have one of the better fleet management approaches, but many opportunities for improvement are possible. Recommended performance measures are given for the state, district, and shop levels, with appropriate reporting periods (monthly, quarterly, annually). Recommendations are presented regarding control limits, organizational performance indices, strategic planning, predictive maintenance, purchasing standards, cost/benefit analysis, fleet asset centralization, internal rental rates, bar coding, asset replacement, pursuing the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and review committee makeup. Possible future benchmarking work includes costing, utilization, and asset life cycle analysis.
Bus Rapid Transit Technologies: A Virtual Mirror for Eliminating Vehicle Blind Zones: Volume 2
(Center for Transportation Studies, 2005-01) Sergi, Michael Knoll; Donath, Max
The FTA has identified the concept of Bus Rapid Transit as a means to increase the efficiency of transit operations while maintaining transit’s proven safety record. According to the FTA website www.fta.dot.gov, “BRT combines the quality of rail transit and the flexibility of buses. It can operate on exclusive transitways, HOV lanes, expressways, or ordinary streets. A BRT system combines intelligent transportation systems technology, priority for transit, cleaner and quieter vehicles, rapid and convenient fare collection, and integration with land use policy.” Because of the limited right-of -way available to build new the FTA has identified lane assist as an emerging technology, which the premise behind lane assist technology is to unique environments, such as narrow lanes. Lane assist technology will allow desired higher operating speeds while maintaining the safety of the passengers, BRT public. Vehicle and the motoring BRT vehicles to operate at the increase the safety of BRT vehicles as they operate in the more will enable deployment of BRT systems. (and possibly dedicated) lanes for BRT operations. The third objective will be to develop long term relationships with Metro Transit, the Federal Transit Administration, bus manufacturers, and technology providers to develop and implement strategies to improve transit operations. For instance, improving the ability of a bus driver to merge into and out of traffic is a high priority. Improved bus guidance technology will make bus only shoulders a viable alternative throughout the country. Progress towards meeting this objective has been made, but considerable effort will have to be expended to make lane assist technology ubiquitous throughout the transit industry.
Bus Rapid Transit Technologies: Assisting Drivers Operating Buses on Road Shoulders: Volume 1
(2003-12) Alexander, Lee; Cheng, Pi-Ming; Donath, Max; Gorjestani, Alec; Newstrom, Bryan; Shankwitz, Craig; Trach, Walter
The FTA has identified the concept of Bus Rapid Transit as a means to increase the efficiency of transit operations while maintaining transit's proven safety record. According to the FTA website www.fta.dot.gov, "BRT combines the quality of rail transit and the flexibility of buses. It can operate on exclusive transitways, HOV lanes, expressways, or ordinary streets. A BRT system combines intelligent transportation systems technology, priority for transit, cleaner and quieter vehicles, rapid and convenient fare collection, and integration with land use policy." Because of the limited right-of-way available to build new (and possibly dedicated) lanes for BRT operations, the FTA has identified lane assist as an emerging technology, which will enable deployment of BRT systems. The premise behind lane assist technology is to increase the safety of BRT vehicles as they operate in the more unique environments, such as narrow lanes. Lane assist technology will allow BRT vehicles to operate at the desired higher operating speeds while maintaining the safety of the passengers, BRT vehicle and the motoring public.
A Bus Signal Priority System Using Automatic Vehicle Location / Global Position Systems and Wireless Communication Systems
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2008-12) Liao, Chen-Fu; Davis, Gary A.; Iyer, Priya
Current signal priority strategies implemented in various US cities mostly utilize sensors to detect buses at a fixed or preset distance away from an intersection. Traditional presence detection systems, ideally designed for emergency vehicles, usually send signal priority request after a preprogrammed time offset as soon as transit vehicles were detected without the consideration of bus readiness. The objective of this study is to integrate the already equipped Global Positioning System/Automated Vehicle Location (GPS/AVL) system on the buses in Minneapolis and develop an adaptive signal priority system that could consider the bus schedule adherence, its number of passengers, location and speed. Buses can communicate with intersection signal controllers using wireless technology to request for signal priority. Similar setup can also be utilized for other transit-related Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications. The City of Minneapolis recently deployed wireless technology to provide residents, businesses and visitors with wireless broadband access anywhere in the city. Communication with the roadside unit (e.g., traffic controller) for signal priority may be established using the readily available 802.11x WLAN or the Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) 802.11p protocol currently under development for wireless access in vehicular environment. This report documents the development, verification and validation of the embedded signal priority prototype systems, field testing results and limitations of using the City of Minneapolis Wi-Fi network for Transit Signal Priority (TSP).
Cellular Automata for Traffic Flow Modeling
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 1997-12) Benjaafar, Saifallah; Dooley, Kevin; Setyawan, Wibowo
In this paper, we explore the usefulness of cellular automata to traffic flow modeling. We extend some of the existing CA models to capture characteristics of traffic flow that have not been possible to model using either conventional analytical models or existing simulation techniques. In particular, we examine higher moments of traffic flow and evaluate their effect on overall traffic performance. The behavior of these higher moments is found to be surprising, somewhat counter-intuitive, and to have important implications for design and control of traffic systems. For example, we show that the density of maximum throughput is near the density of maximum speed variance. Contrary to current practice, traffic should, therefore, be steered away from this density region. For deterministic systems we found traffic flow to possess a finite period which is highly sensitive to density in a non-monotonic fashion. We show that knowledge of this periodic behavior to be very useful in designing and controlling automated systems. These results are obtained for both single and two lane systems. For two lane systems, we also examine the relationship between lane changing behavior and flow performance. We show that the density of maximum lane changing frequency occurs past the density of maximum throughput. Therefore, traffic should also be steered away from this density region.
Collaboration in Fighting Traffic Congestion: A Study of Minnesota’s Urban Partnership Agreement
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2008-12) Bryson, John M.; Crosby, Barbara C.; Stone, Melissa M.; Mortensen, J. Clare
The Twin Cities metropolitan area was selected to participate in a federal transportation initiative called the Urban Partnership program. This required the formation of a multi-agency collaboration of transportation-focused groups in the Twin Cities area. This collaboration – including the external forces affecting it, the internal processes, structures, and competencies that allowed it to operate, and its accountability mechanisms – is the focus of this analysis. Confirming lessons found in the collaboration literature, the Minnesota UPA is a complex assembly of human (individuals and relationships) and non-human (technologies, artifacts, laws, and procedures) elements; therefore, it is not an easy answer to hard problems but a hard answer to hard problems. The research highlights some new findings. Most notably: the role of technology; linkages connecting high-level federal policymaking to local, operational implementation details; emphasis on multiple roles played by sponsors, champions, neutral conveners, process designers, and technical experts; importance of specific competencies; the role of rules and routines as drivers of collaboration; and the importance of spatial and temporal organizational ambidexterity. It is important to note that the work of this collaboration thus far has been virtually invisible to the public, but that will change in the upcoming stages of UPA implementation.
Connected Vehicles Program: Driver Performance and Distraction Evaluation for In-vehicle Signing
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2012-03) Creaser, Janet; Manser, Michael
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) conducted a demonstration project as part of the Connected Vehicles Program to design, build, and test three new software applications to run on a commercially available personal navigation device (PND). The goal of this study was to examine only the in-vehicle signing (IVS) function for four zones and determine the utility and potential distraction associated with this function. The specific zones of interest that were signed on the PND were areas where speed zone changes occurred along the same roadway or for speed changes associated with construction, school and curve zones. A continuous navigation function was provided in two of the three conditions to examine the effect of navigation information alone and multiple sources of information on driving performance. Driving performance measures known to be related to distraction as well as subjective usability and workload measures were used to help identify potential distraction associated with the IVS information. The project identified some driver effects that may occur when using a commercially available navigation device with in-vehicle signing (IVS) information, such as drivers demonstrating higher speeds associated with some of the System On conditions. Overall, distraction effects were small and not consistent across all zones or conditions. The main conclusion drawn from this study was that the IVS information was considered useful by drivers and resulted in few distraction-related effects. The benefit of advance notification likely outweighs any distraction that may be associated with in-vehicle signing of these zones.
Data Mining of Traffic Video Sequences
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-09) Joshi, Ajay J.; Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos
Automatically analyzing video data is extremely important for applications such as monitoring and data collection in transportation scenarios. Machine learning techniques are often employed in order to achieve these goals of mining traffic video to find interesting events. Typically, learning-based methods require significant amount of training data provided via human annotation. For instance, in order to provide training, a user can give the system images of a certain vehicle along with its respective annotation. The system then learns how to identify vehicles in the future - however, such systems usually need large amounts of training data and thereby cumbersome human effort. In this research, we propose a method for active learning in which the system interactively queries the human for annotation on the most informative instances. In this way, learning can be accomplished with lesser user effort without compromising performance. Our system is also efficient computationally, thus being feasible in real data mining tasks for traffic video sequences.
Detecting Driver Fatigue Through the Use of Advanced Face Monitoring Techniques
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2001-09-01) Veeraraghavan, Harini; Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos P.
Driver fatigue is an important factor in many vehicular accidents. Reducing the number of fatigue-related accidents would save society a significant amount financially, in addition to reducing personal suffering. The researchers developed a driver fatigue monitoring system that uses a camera (or cameras) to detect indications of driver fatigue. The mechanism detects and tracks the eyes of the driver based on human skin color properties, along with templates that monitor how long the eyes are open or closed. Tests of the approach were run on 20 human subjects in a simulated environment (the driving simulator at the Human Factors Research Laboratory) in order to find its potential and its limitations. This report describes the findings from these experiments.
Detection of Water and Ice on Bridge Structures by AC Impedance and Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy Phase I
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-04) Evans, John F.
We have carried out a preliminary evaluation of two approaches to low-cost sensing systems for monitoring ice and water on bridge deck surfaces. These sensing systems are based on the measurement of impedance of the sensor in contact with or close proximity to ice, water or aqueous solutions of deicing chemicals. Impedance analysis at lower frequencies allows for the determination of the presence of solutions of deicing electrolyte (a sort of “conductivity measurement"), while high frequency dielectric relaxation using time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes the physical state of precipitation and deicing chemicals on the deck or road surface (via dielectric relaxation). While we originally expected that both measurements would be required to reliably determine the condition of a bridge deck surface with regard to the presence of frozen water or deicing solutions, we have found that the TDR approach is adequate for this task. This suggests that a significant reduction in both the cost of development of practicable sensors and supporting software/electronics can be realized, as well as the ultimate cost of deploying a system based on TDR alone can be realized. As such, TDR becomes the focus for the next phase of development of these sensors.
Detection of Water and Ice on Bridge Structures by AC Impedance and Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy Phase II
(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, 2013-08) Evans, John F.
During Phase I of this project, we have carried out preliminary evaluation of a novel approach to low-cost sensing systems for monitoring ice, water and deicing solutions on road bridge deck surfaces. Our initial approaches included the techniques of alternating current impedance and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy of responses from simple passive metal sensors. These preliminary results indicated that the second approach of dielectric relaxation spectroscopy was far more promising. Furthermore, likely implementations would be significantly more economical using lower-cost electronics modules connected to passive sensors. Our choice for implementation of dielectric relaxation spectroscopy is based on the measurement of high-frequency components of pulse waveforms reflected from the sensor and using time domain reflectometry (TDR). The information content of these waveforms is strongly influenced by the dielectric properties of the media of interest (ice, water or aqueous solutions of deicing chemicals) in contact with or in close proximity (microns) with passive metal conductors, which comprise the sensor. These high-frequency dielectric relaxation measurements using TDR probe the physical state of precipitation and deicing chemicals on the deck or road surface by the detailed examination of the frequency response waveforms returned after the application of a fast rise-time excitation pulse. Signal processing of the acquired waveforms involves taking the derivative of the response followed by digital filtering and subsequent wavelet analysis to emphasize and distinguished low vs high frequency components of the waveforms reflected from the sensors. Determination of the state and nature of the precipitation, solutions or air in contact with a given sensor is made on a statistical basis via correlation of responses to calibration waveforms collected under known conditions for a given sensor. The software to carry out these signal processing tasks in implemented using LabVIEW.
Detection of Water and Ice on Bridge Structures by AC Impedance and Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy, Phases III and IV: Continued Field Testing and Refinement of Novel Water and Ice Sensor Systems on Bridge Decks
(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, 2013-08) Evans, John F.
During Phases III and IV of this project it was determined that the physical attributes of the prototypes developed during the earlier work was inappropriate for bridge deck installations. Mn/DOT engineers required that they be planar and not require drainage through the deck. As RWIS platforms had been widely deployed on decks throughout the state, we decided to adhere to the RWIS geometric format. This necessitated a significant re-engineering of the sensor hardware before installation and testing at remote bridge sites could proceed. To that end extensive development of a robust sensor meeting these requirements was developed and tested without compromise to the earlier performance results. In large part the maintenance of performance was achieved through a significant modification of the software to include Wavelet analysis of the raw data in the determination of surface state of the sensor platform (ice vs air vs water vs electrolyte present on the sensing electrode structure). The combined regression results for raw TDR responses treated by three analysis procedures are shown to give rise to very reliable results. Unfortunately, remote field testing of sensors installed on bridge decks was not accomplished.
Developing Driving Support Systems to Mitigate Behavioral Risk Patterns Among Teen Drivers
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-08) Brovold, Shawn; Ward, Nic; Donath, Max; Simon, Stephen
Based on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2003), motor vehicle deaths are the leading cause of teenage fatalities. A possible approach to mitigate the incidence of teenage driver crashes and fatalities is through the use of in-vehicle technology. The design and development of a first-generation prototype Teen Driver Support System (TDSS) to explore the feasibility and opportunities of such technology has been completed. The TDSS system includes technology designed to address several primary contributing factors associated with the majority of teen fatal crashes: speeding, seatbelt use, driver inexperience, and alcohol use. This has been implemented using a combination of what researchers call forcing, feedback, and/or reporting functions. Forcing functions take the form of ignition interlocks to enforce seat belt compliance and sober driving. A feedback function provides real-time tutoring and warnings about illegal or unsafe speeds through auditory warnings. A reporting function records vehicle information for parents to review and supervise (and enforce) teen driver performance. A speed feedback and reporting component is used for driver compliance with safe travel speeds. The system correlates the location (using GPS) of the vehicle to a digital road map and the road's corresponding speed limit. A weather-based speed element incorporates current weather information that is used to warn a driver if the vehicle's speed is too high for current weather conditions. Similarly, speed warnings specific to curves are included to warn if speed is excessive for the prevailing geometry. With the prototype TDSS, the researchers developed a method of integrating a seat belt interlock that requires the driver's seat belt to be engaged before the vehicle will start. Seat belt use is continuously monitored during each trip, and lack of seat belt use is recorded for later review. An additional interlock for alcohol is reserved for teen drivers with preexisting alcohol-related convictions. Since alcohol interlock systems are commercially available, they can be demonstrated as an optional component of the TDSS. In anticipation of potential future applications, such as the enforcement of certain graduated driver licensing (GDL) requirements, the system includes a biometric fingerprint component, which uses a fingerprint sensor to identify the driver and parent so that the system can log the number of training hours spent behind the wheel.
Development of a Low-Cost Interface between Cell Phone and DSRC-Based Vehicle Unit for Efficient Use of IntelliDrive Infrastructure
(2010-11) Roodell, Beau; Hayee, M. Imran
Intelligent transportation systems (ITS), a mission of the US Department of Transportation, focuses on intelligent vehicles, intelligent infrastructure and the creation of an intelligent transportation system through integration with and between these two components. Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), a tool approved for licensing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2003, promises to partially fulfill this mission. This research proposal intends to utilize DSRC technology to communicate the traffic safety information available at central infrastructure to a driver’s cell phone. The specific objective of this research project is to design, build and demonstrate a wireless communication interface device that can act as a traffic-safety-information transportation agent between the DSRC vehicle radio unit and a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone inside a vehicle. By having this interface device along with the DSRC radio unit in a vehicle as a separate entity or integrated with a DSRC unit, any driver will be able to receive the valuable traffic safety messages on a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The prototype was demonstrated successfully in multiple road and traffic scenarios by transmitting the traffic safety messages to the Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The next step is to show effectiveness of this system in a realistic environment for which a workzone environment has been chosen to relay traffic safety messages to vehicles approaching the workzone.
Development of a Multiple-Camera Tracking System for Accurate Traffic Performance Measurements at Intersections
(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2013-02) Tang, Hua
Automatic traffic data collection can significantly save labor work and cost compared to manual data collection. However, automatic traffic data collection has been one of the challenges in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). To be practically useful, an automatic traffic data collection system must derive traffic data with reasonable accuracy compared to a manual approach. This project presents the development of a multiple-camera tracking system for accurate traffic performance measurements at intersections. The tracking system sets up multiple cameras to record videos for an intersection. Compared to the traditional single-camera based tracking system, the multiple-camera one can take advantage of significantly overlapped views of the same traffic scene provided by the multiple cameras such that the notorious vehicle occlusion problem is alleviated. Also, multiple cameras provide more evidence of the same vehicle, which allows more robust tracking of the vehicle. The developed system has mainly three processing modules. First, the camera is calibrated for the traffic scene of interest and a calibration algorithm is developed for multiple cameras at an intersection. Second, the system tracks vehicles from the multiple videos by using powerful imaging processing techniques and tracking algorithms. Finally, the resulting vehicle trajectories from vehicle tracking are analyzed to extract the interested traffic data, such as vehicle volume, travel time, rejected gaps and accepted gaps. Practical tests of the developed system focus on vehicle counts and reasonable accuracy is achieved.
Development of a Novel Tilt-Controlled Narrow Commuter Vehicle
(2006-05-01) Gohl, J.; Rajamani, Rajesh; Starr, Patrick J.; Alexander, Lee
Traffic congestion is growing in urban areas of every size and is expected to double by 2010. A relatively unexplored but very promising solution to the problem of congestion is the adoption of narrow vehicles for commuter travel. Narrow vehicles like motorcycles can promote significantly improved highway utilization by the use of half-width lanes. However, in order for the general public to adopt this form of personal transportation, narrow vehicles should perceptibly provide the same ease of use and the same level of safety as passenger sedans. The research team in this project has developed a new concept vehicle that is relatively tall compared to its track width so as to provide a travel height that is comparable to that of other vehicles on the highway. To help the driver balance a relatively tall, narrow vehicle, it incorporates an electronic tilt control system that ensures tilt stability. The tilt control system balances the vehicle and improves ease of use, especially on curves where the vehicle must lean into the curve to ensure tilt stability. In this report the design and implementation of a control system that ensures the tilt stability of the prototype narrow vehicle is presented. The control system is based on the use of steer-by-wire technology and is called Steering Tilt Control (STC). The report includes significant details on the design of the prototype narrow vehicle constructed by the research team, on dynamic modeling for narrow tilting vehicles and also includes experimental results on the performance of the control system on the prototype narrow vehicle.
Development of a Parallel Simulation Algorithm for Freeway Traffic Flows on a Distributed Personal Computer System: Final Report for Phase I
(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 1997-12) Kwon, Eil
This research investigates the feasibility of developing low-cost, personal computer-based parallel processing procedures that can be applicable to real time simulation of freeway flows. Specific objectives include, * Development of a framework for PC-based parallel simulation system * Enhancements of existing freeway traffic models for parallel simulation * Development of a PC-based, parallel simulation algorithm for freeway flows. * Development of a prototype version of a PC-based parallel simulation system Performance evaluation of the PC-based parallel freeway simulation system.

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