Traffic Files


Traffic Intersection  Simulation

Traffic Intersection Simulation is a specific application of Objective Functional Analysis. Traffic Intersection Simulation models a real world traffic intersection. The duration of the green light in both directions of the intersection is chosen by maximizing the objective function. The objective function is formed as a separably additive function of three objective functions; (1) the number of vehicles that make it through the intersection, (2) the average speed of the vehicles, (3) the average distance moved by each vehicle.

This simulation grew out of my disgust with driving to and from work. The simulation currently models only a single intersection.  I had envisioned that I would expand the simulation to an array of 10x10 intersections. However, computations for a single intersection are quite time consuming. So unless I can figure out a more efficient computation or modeling mechanism, I am less inclined to pursue the multiple intersection modeling.

The model has been abandoned because after initial simulations it became apparent that for heavy traffic not much can be done to maximize throughput.  The algorithms used by the government's road authority are about as good as one can do for heavy traffic.  It is best just to make the duration of the green light proportional to the traffic load.  For light traffic, the government could do a lot better. But I realized that with a simple addition of a WWB clock chip and simple sensor of traffic load (traditional way is to use the ground stress sensor), a simple algorithm would be sufficient to efficiently handle light traffic loads. So I saw no real world usefulness and thus have abandoned this simulation.