Adaptive traffic signal control using approximate dynamic programming

This thesis presents a study on an adaptive traffic signal controller for real-time operation. An approximate dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm is developed for controlling traffic signals at isolated intersection and in distributed traffic networks. This approach is derived from the premise that classic dynamic programming is computationally difficult to solve, and approximation is the second-best option for establishing sequential decision-making for complex process. The proposed ADP algorithm substantially reduces computational burden by using a linear approximation function to replace the exact value function of dynamic programming solution. Machine-learning techniques are used to improve the approximation progressively. Not knowing the ideal response for the approximation to learn from, we use the paradigm of unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning in particular. Temporal-difference learning and perturbation learning are investigated as appropriate candidates in the family of unsupervised learning. We find in computer simulation that the proposed method achieves substantial reduction in vehicle delays in comparison with optimised fixed-time plans, and is competitive against other adaptive methods in computational efficiency and effectiveness in managing varying traffic. Our results show that substantial benefits can be gained by increasing the frequency at which the signal plans are revised. The proposed ADP algorithm is in compliance with a range of discrete systems of resolution from 0.5 to 5 seconds per temporal step. This study demonstrates the readiness of the proposed approach for real-time operations at isolated intersections and the potentials for distributed network control

Applying Machine Learning Techniques to Improve Safety and Mobility of Urban Transportation Systems Using Infrastructure- and Vehicle-Based Sensors

The importance of sensing technologies in the field of transportation is ever increasing. Rapid improvements of cloud computing, Internet of Vehicles (IoV), and intelligent transport system (ITS) enables fast acquisition of sensor data with immediate processing. Machine learning algorithms provide a way to classify or predict outcomes in a selective and timely fashion. High accuracy and increased volatility are the main features of various learning algorithms. In this dissertation, we aim to use infrastructure- and vehicle-based sensors to improve safety and mobility of urban transportation systems. Smartphone sensors were used in the first study to estimate vehicle trajectory using lane change classification. It addresses the research gap in trajectory estimation since all previous studies focused on estimating trajectories at roadway segments only. Being a mobile application-based system, it can readily be used as on-board unit emulators in vehicles that have little or no connectivity. Secondly, smartphone sensors were also used to identify several transportation modes. While this has been studied extensively in the last decade, our method integrates a data augmentation method to overcome the class imbalance problem. Results show that using a balanced dataset improves the classification accuracy of transportation modes. Thirdly, infrastructure-based sensors like the loop detectors and video detectors were used to predict traffic signal states. This system can aid in resolving the complex signal retiming steps that is conventionally used to improve the performance of an intersection. The methodology was transferred to a different intersection where excellent results were achieved. Fourthly, magnetic vehicle detection system (MVDS) was used to generate traffic patterns in crash and non-crash events. Variational Autoencoder was used for the first time in this study as a data generation tool. The results related to sensitivity and specificity were improved by up to 8% as compared to other state-of-the-art data augmentation methods