Advanced simulation of intelligent transportation systems

A large-scale, comprehensive, scaleable simulation of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) has been developed which is capable of running on parallel computers and distributed (networked) computer systems. The simulator currently models instrumented {open_quotes}smart{close_quotes} vehicles with in-vehicle navigation units capable of optimal route planning and Traffic Management Centers (TMC). The TMC has probe vehicle tracking capabilities (display position and attributes of instrumented vehicles), and can provide two-way interaction with traffic to provide advisories and link times. Both the in-vehicle navigation module and the TMC feature detailed graphical user interfaces to support human-factors studies. The prototype has been developed on a distributed system of networked UNIX computers but is designed to run on parallel computers, such as ANL`s IBM SP-2, for large-scale problems. A novel feature of this approach is that vehicles are represented by autonomous computer processes which exchange messages with other processes. The vehicles have a behavior model which governs route selection and driving behavior, and can react to external traffic events much like real vehicles. With this approach, the simulation is scaleable to take advantage of emerging massively parallel processor (MPP) systems.