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Key topic: traffic control Keywords: ramp metering, fuzzy logic, field installation Dr.-Ing. Svetlana Vukanovic Dipl.-Ing. Oliver Ernhofer TRANSVER GmbH Maximilianstrasse 45 D-80538 Munich vukanovic@transver.de, ernhofer@transver.de Abstract: Ramp metering has proven to be one of the most direct and effective control measures to overcome temporary disturbances on motorway traffic flow and to help to reach an improved utilization of 1 motorway infrastructure. The ACCEZZ ramp metering algorithm is an adaptive control approach based on Fuzzy Logic. Results from its calibration and validation as well as its evaluation show how different control strategies can improve traffic conditions especially during the peak hours. The ramp metering software ACCEZZ including a GUI has been implemented at the demonstration site A94 in st Munich since December 1 , 2005 and controls traffic at two consecutive on ramps successfully. Data for a cross-algorithm (with ALINEA) and a cross-site evaluation will be collected at A94 until April 2006 2 within the European research project EURAMP .
INTRODUCTION
Ramp metering has proven to be one of the most direct and effective control measures to overcome temporary disturbances on motorway traffic flow and to help to reach an improved utilization of motorway infrastructure. Within the EURAMP project, a European RTD project, forming part of the European Commissions FP6 Action Line e-safety of road and air transports ramp metering algorithms have been modified and re-developed to aim to EURAMPs major objectives to advance, promote and harmonize ramp metering control measures in European motorways. These major objectives are pursued within EURAMP via a number of multifaceted actions and subobjectives:
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Advancement of methodological issues, with particular focus on traffic flow safety, to secure a European technological leadership in the area. Consolidation, harmonization and advancement of ramp metering practice in Europe. Demonstration of new developments in European sites and paving the way for a new generation of extended (network-wide) ramp metering installations. Co-operation of ramp metering with signal control and further heterogeneous control measures for maximum synergy in terms of traffic flow efficiency and safety.
The first stage in the project is the (re-) design and simulation testing of ramp metering algorithms, in particular ALINEA and ACCEZZ in several demonstration and virtual sites in France (A6 Paris), the Netherlands (A28 and A2 Utrecht), Germany (A9 and A94 Munich) and Israel (Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv). This will be followed by the field implementation and verification of the ramp metering strategies and the field demonstrations, allowing assessment of the strategy and a comparative evaluation. At the German demonstration site the genetic fuzzy algorithm of ACCEZZ has been implemented, tested (by using the microscopic simulation tool AIMSUN) and verified. In the following a summary of the calibration and evaluation of the algorithm and its fuzzy sets is given as well as the main aspects of the software development, the graphical user interface GUI, the field implementation at the motorway A94 and the next steps within the demonstration phase.
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ACCEZZ: Adaptive Control Approach at Entrance Ramps based on Fuzzy Logic EURAMP: European Ramp Metering Project; www.euramp.org
together with mainline flow merges with the demand coming from A9/A99 motorway-tomotorway interchange. High flows from the mainline and the A9/A99 interchange are the main cause for the congestion at A9 northbound direction. Since controlling the motorway-tomotorway interchange is a questionable issue in Germany, the potential of ramp metering to reduce such congestion by metering the upstream demand will be considered. The bottleneck capacity value is set to 5700 veh/h as determined from the fundamental diagram. 4. Metering of 3 on-ramps located at the beginning of the simulated stretch with the ACCEZZ algorithm and global utilized bottleneck information. The controlled on-ramps are AS Frankfurter Ring, AS Freimann and AS Frttmaning as before. To investigate how the bottleneck threshold value influences the overall performances in this scenario, values of 5000 veh/h will be used instead of the bottleneck capacity value of 5700 veh/h determined from the fundamental diagram. 5. Metering of 4 on-ramps at the beginning of the simulated stretch with the ACCEZZ algorithm and global bottleneck information. The controlled on-ramps are AS Frankfurter Ring, AS Freimann and AS Frttmaning as before but extended by an additional ramp metering at the freeway-to-freeway interchange (AK MNord) which represents one of the most critical ramps at the stretch. This scenario is not likely to be applied in reality but to show further potentials of network wide ramp metering by controlling motorway-to-motorway interchanges. The bottleneck capacity value is set to 5700 veh/h as determined from the fundamental diagram. 6. Metering of 4 on-ramps at the beginning of the stretch with the ACCEZZ algorithm and global utilized bottleneck information. The controlled on-ramps are AS Frankfurter Ring, AS Freimann and AS Frttmaning and the freeway-to-freeway interchange (AK M-Nord). To investigate how the bottleneck threshold value influences the overall performances in this scenario, bottleneck capacity values of 5000 veh/h will be used instead of 5700 veh/h determined from the fundamental diagram. In addition there is also a 7 and 8 scenario by applying the 3 and 4 ramp strategies with only local information. This corresponds to controlling several local on-ramps along the stretch without their coordination or interaction. Using the data from a typical weekday traffic pattern, different ramp metering control strategies are tested, compared and explained in the following. The performances of a 3 on-ramp scenario (AS Frankfurter ring, AS Freimann, AS Froettmaning), a 4 on-ramp scenario (like the previous plus AK MNord) and two 1 on-ramp scenarios (AS Frankfurter Ring and AS Freimann) have been analysed and compared with the no control case. The control scenarios involving several on-ramps are local control strategies since each controlled on-ramp uses only the local data without considering the situation at the bottleneck. As input into the simulation measured traffic demand was used with deactivated dynamic speed limits. Contour plots of the no-control scenario and simulation outputs produced with different ramp metering strategies are given in Figure 2. According to the average journey times (see Figure 3 and Figure 4), all strategies manage to improve the situation at the mainline during the entire congestion period. Travel time for the considered stretch is reduced up to 8 min/veh (more than 35%). However as expected, an increased travel time can be measured at the on-ramps. By observing the journey time at the entire motorway, all ramp metering strategies managed to reduce the congestion at its beginning but during the course of the congestion the high demand at the on-ramps protected the ramp metering from further improvements. The cumulative travel time for the motorway section of interest for all scenarios as well as the improvements in percentage of each control strategy in comparison with the no-control case is given in Table 1. Positive percent means that the control improved the situation at the road, while the negative values mean that motorway performances were decreased due to the ramp metering control. The best improvement at the mainline is achieved by the 4 on-ramp scenario but due to the significant increase of travel times at on-ramps (mainly at the AK M-Nord) overall benefits are reduced. The 3 onramp scenario not only improved the situation at the mainline, but in addition due to the clearing of the on-ramp areas at the beginning of the motorway stretch lower travel times at the on-ramps are achieved also as on-ramps are not severely blocked by the congestion at the mainline. The 1 on-ramp scenarios improved traffic flow performances by the on-ramp but could not significantly reduce congestion since the bottleneck is further downstream by AK M-Nord. The 1 on-ramp Freimann control
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scenario increased traffic related performances in comparison with the scenario where only Frankfurter Ring is controlled. In overall, cumulative travel time is reduced, with the lowest improvement achieved with 1 on-ramp Frankfurter Ring scenario of 3.5% and highest reduction by the 3 on-ramp scenario of 10.8%. As expected most changes happen in those areas where the different scenarios are applied, i.e. the first 4 on-ramps respectively the first 5 kilometers. Whereas in the reference case speed at the onramps are constantly 20 km/h or below, conditions recover especially in the 3 and 4 on-ramp scenarios with speeds around 80 km/h. Due to the high demands, the positive effects of the 4 on-ramp scenario on the mainline traffic were strongly reduced by induced queues at the last on-ramp (AK MNord). The throughput after the bottleneck is increased by each ramp metering scenario and the best environmental impacts are measured with the 3 on-ramp scenario. All scenarios significantly improved the situation at the mainline for the price of larger queues at on-ramps.
stretch a distinct advantage of the 3 on-ramp strategy at AS Frankfurter Ring, AS Freimann and AS Frttmaning and the 1 on-ramp strategy at AS Freimann is observed. Controlling only the ramp at AS Frankfurter Ring leads to the release of the bottleneck which again results in much higher flows arriving to the major bottleneck downstream at AK M-Nord. Moreover, very high demand at the onramp leads to a fast queue forming and reduces the ability of ramp metering to control incoming traffic. In terms of the cumulative travel times the maximal improvement that can be achieved hereby is up to 10% during weekdays and 13% during a typical Friday. The ramp metering software ACCEZZ including a GUI has been implemented at the EURAMP st demonstration site A94 in Munich since December 1 , 2005 and controls traffic at two consecutive on ramps successfully. Data for a cross-algorithm (with ALINEA) and a cross-site evaluation within EURAMP will be collected at A94 until April 2006. Full demonstration results will be available by summer 2006 and will have an influence on the recommendations given in the Handbook of Ramp Metering that will we published by the end of the EURAMP project in March 2007.
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Figure 1 Demonstration Site Munich: A9 northbound direction: road geometry, metered ramps (yellow), detectors (red) and VMS signs (blue)
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c) 1 on-ramp (Freimann)
d) 3 on-ramps
e) 4 on-ramps
Figure 2 Speed contour plots for the no-control scenario (a) and different control scenarios b) e)
Figure 4: Average journey time for the entire motorway including on-ramps; red reference case
Figure 6 Graphical user interface (GUI) of ACCEZZ showing the considered part of a network and its traffic conditions (LOS) as well as the main control parameters
Measured cumulative travel time [h] Difference in hours [h] Improvement [%] mainline on-ramp total mainline on-ramp total mainline on-ramp total Reference 4194 630 4824 Frankfurter Ring 3974 680 4654 220 -50 170 5,25 -7,94 3,52 Freimann 3905 539 4444 288 91 380 6,88 14,49 7,87 3 on-ramps 3743 559 4303 450 71 521 10,74 11,24 10,81 4 on-ramps 3699 827 4526 495 -197 298 11,80 -31,24 6,18 Scenario
REFERENCES
K. Bogenberger, (2001), Adaptive Fuzzy Systems for Traffic Responsive and Coordinated Ramp Metering. Ph.D. Thesis at the Fachgebiet Verkehrstechnik und Verkehrsplanung, Munich, 2001. K. Bogenberger, S. Vukanovic, H. Keller: A Neuro-Fuzzy Algorithm for Coordinated, Traffic Responsive Ramp Metering, IEEE 4th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Oakland, California, August 25-29, 2001 H. Haj-Salem, A motorway-to-motorway control: Overview of simulation and field trial results in France. Preprints Triennial Symp. On Transportation Analysis IV, 2001, pp. 415-420. M. Papageorgiou and A. Kotsialos, Freeway ramp metering: An overview, IEEE Trans. on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 3, pp. 271-281, 2002 EURAMP (EUropean RAmp Metering Project), contract number 507645, is part of the European Commission's FP6 Action Line "e-safety of road and air transports". More information: www.euramp.org