ABEONA monitored traffic: VANET-assisted cooperative traffic congestion forecasting

The existing mechanisms to monitor vehicular traffic, such as the use of induction loops and cameras, are expensive to deploy and maintain. Vehicular communications opens up a new world of optimization opportunities as each vehicle can be used as a sensor to measure the fundamental variables defining the traffic state (flow, density, and speed). In this article, we propose ABEONA, a beacon-based traffic congestion algorithm and also the name of the Roman goddess of journey, which captures the current and recent-past traffic trends to forecast the near-future road conditions. Compared to the existing monitoring approaches, ABEONA allows for the estimation of the vehicular density and reduces installation and maintenance costs. ABEONA's algorithm incurs low overhead and enables drivers to use forecast traffic congestion events to replan their route accordingly.Publicad

Neural Network Based Models for Short-Term Traffic Flow Forecasting Using a Hybrid Exponential Smoothing and Levenberg–Marquardt Algorithm

This paper proposes a novel neural network (NN) training method that employs the hybrid exponential smoothing method and the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm, which aims to improve the generalization capabilities of previously used methods for training NNs for short-term traffic flow forecasting. The approach uses exponential smoothing to preprocess traffic flow data by removing the lumpiness from collected traffic flow data, before employing a variant of the LM algorithm to train the NN weights of an NN model. This approach aids NN training, as the preprocessed traffic flow data are more smooth and continuous than the original unprocessed traffic flow data. The proposed method was evaluated by forecasting short-term traffic flow conditions on the Mitchell freeway in Western Australia. With regard to the generalization capabilities for short-term traffic flow forecasting, the NN models developed using the proposed approach outperform those that are developed based on the alternative tested algorithms, which are particularly designed either for short-term traffic flow forecasting or for enhancing generalization capabilities of NNs

Integration of exponential smoothing with state space formulation for bus travel time and arrival time prediction

In recent years, the problem of bus travel time prediction is becoming more important for applications such as informing passengers regarding the expected bus arrival time in order to make public transit more attractive to the urban commuters. One of the popular techniques reported for such prediction is the use of time series analysis. Most of the studies on the application of time series techniques for bus arrival time prediction used Box-Jenkins AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models, which are presently not suited for real time implementation. This is mainly due to the necessity and dependence of ARIMA models on a time series modelling software to execute. Moreover, the ARIMA model building process is time consuming, making it difficult to use for real-time implementations. Alternatively, Exponential Smoothing (ES) methods can be used, as they are easy to understand and implement when compared to ARIMA models. The present study is an attempt in this direction, where the basic equation of ES is used, as the state equation with Kalman filtering to recursively update the travel time estimate as the new observation becomes available. The proposed algorithm of state space formulation of ES with Kalman filtering for bus travel time and arrival time prediction was field tested using 105 actual bus trips data along a particular bus route from Chennai, India. The results are promising and a comparison of the proposed algorithm with ES alone without state space formulation and Kalman filtering has also been performed. An information system based on a webpage for real-time display of bus arrival times has been designed and developed using the proposed algorithm. First published online: 12 Oct 201

Predictions of urban volumes in single time series

Congestion is increasing in many urban areas. This has led to a growing awareness of the importance of accurate traffic-flow predictions. In this paper, we introduce a prediction scheme that is based on an extensive study of volume patterns that were collected at about 20 urban intersections in the city of Almelo, The Netherlands. The scheme can be used for both short- and long-term predictions. It consists of 1) baseline predictions for a given preselected day, 2) predictions for the next 24 h, and 3) short-term predictions with horizons smaller than 80 min. We show that the predictions significantly improve when we adopt some straightforward assumptions about the correlations between and the noise levels within volumes. We conclude that 24-h predictions are much more accurate than baseline predictions and that errors in short-term predictions are even negligibly small during working days. We used a heuristic approach to optimize the model. As a consequence, our model is quite simple so that it can easily be used for practical applications