A metric for pattern-matching applications to traffic management

Richard Mounce; Garry Hollier; Mike Smith; Victoria J. Hodge; Tom Jackson; Jim Austin

doi:10.1016/j.trc.2012.04.019

A metric for pattern-matching applications to traffic management

Richard Mounce, Garry Hollier, Mike Smith, Victoria J. Hodge, Tom Jackson, Jim Austin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This paper considers signal plan selection; the main topic is the design of a system for utilising pattern matching to assist the timely selection of sound signal control plan changes. In this system, historical traffic flow data is continually searched, seeking traffic flow patterns similar to today's. If, in one of these previous similar situations, (a) the signal plan utilised was different to that being utilised today and (b) it appears that the performance achieved was better than the performance likely to be achieved today, then the system recommends an appropriate signal plan switch. The heart of the system is "similarity". Two traffic flow patterns (two time series of traffic flows arising from two different days) are said to be "similar" if the distance between them is small; similarity thus depends on how the metric or distance between two time series of traffic flows is defined. A simple example is given which suggests that utilising the standard Euclidean distance between the two sequences comprising cumulatives of traffic flow may be better than utilising the standard Euclidean distance between the original two sequences of traffic flow data. The paper also gives measured on-street public transport benefits which have arisen from using a simple rule-based (traffic-responsive) signal plan selection system, compared with a time-tabled signal plan selection system. ?? 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	148–155
Journal	Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Volume	29
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2012.04.019
Publication status	Published - Apr 2013

Keywords

Cumulatives
Intelligent decision support
Pattern matching
Signal plan selection

Access to Document

10.1016/j.trc.2012.04.019

Cite this

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title = "A metric for pattern-matching applications to traffic management",

abstract = "This paper considers signal plan selection; the main topic is the design of a system for utilising pattern matching to assist the timely selection of sound signal control plan changes. In this system, historical traffic flow data is continually searched, seeking traffic flow patterns similar to today's. If, in one of these previous similar situations, (a) the signal plan utilised was different to that being utilised today and (b) it appears that the performance achieved was better than the performance likely to be achieved today, then the system recommends an appropriate signal plan switch. The heart of the system is {"}similarity{"}. Two traffic flow patterns (two time series of traffic flows arising from two different days) are said to be {"}similar{"} if the distance between them is small; similarity thus depends on how the metric or distance between two time series of traffic flows is defined. A simple example is given which suggests that utilising the standard Euclidean distance between the two sequences comprising cumulatives of traffic flow may be better than utilising the standard Euclidean distance between the original two sequences of traffic flow data. The paper also gives measured on-street public transport benefits which have arisen from using a simple rule-based (traffic-responsive) signal plan selection system, compared with a time-tabled signal plan selection system. ?? 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",

keywords = "Cumulatives, Intelligent decision support, Pattern matching, Signal plan selection",

author = "Richard Mounce and Garry Hollier and Mike Smith and Hodge, {Victoria J.} and Tom Jackson and Jim Austin",

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doi = "10.1016/j.trc.2012.04.019",

language = "English",

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journal = "Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies",

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AU - Hollier, Garry

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AU - Austin, Jim

PY - 2013/4

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AB - This paper considers signal plan selection; the main topic is the design of a system for utilising pattern matching to assist the timely selection of sound signal control plan changes. In this system, historical traffic flow data is continually searched, seeking traffic flow patterns similar to today's. If, in one of these previous similar situations, (a) the signal plan utilised was different to that being utilised today and (b) it appears that the performance achieved was better than the performance likely to be achieved today, then the system recommends an appropriate signal plan switch. The heart of the system is "similarity". Two traffic flow patterns (two time series of traffic flows arising from two different days) are said to be "similar" if the distance between them is small; similarity thus depends on how the metric or distance between two time series of traffic flows is defined. A simple example is given which suggests that utilising the standard Euclidean distance between the two sequences comprising cumulatives of traffic flow may be better than utilising the standard Euclidean distance between the original two sequences of traffic flow data. The paper also gives measured on-street public transport benefits which have arisen from using a simple rule-based (traffic-responsive) signal plan selection system, compared with a time-tabled signal plan selection system. ?? 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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DO - 10.1016/j.trc.2012.04.019

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