AN EVALUATION OF TRAFFIC SIMULATION MODELS FOR SUPPORTING INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (ITS) DEVELOPMENT

Tools to evaluate networks under information supply are a vital necessity in light of the systems being implemented as part of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) deployment plan. One such tool is the traffic simulation model. This report presents an evaluation of the existing traffic simulation models to identify the models that can be potentially applied in ITS equipped networks. The traffic simulation models are categorized according to type (macroscopic, microscopic or mesoscopic), as well as functionality (highway, signal, integrated). The entire evaluation is conducted through two steps: initial screening and in-depth evaluation. The initial step generates a shorter but more specific list of traffic simulation models based on some pre-determined criteria. The in-depth evaluation identifies which model on the shorter list is suitable for a specific area of ITS applications. It is concluded from this research that presently CORSIM and INTEGRATION appear to have the highest probability of success in real-world applications. It is also found that by adding more calibration and validation in the U.S., the AIMSUN 2 and PARAMICS models will be brought to the forefront in the near term for use with ITS applications.