Intelligent Transportation Systems

Summary of Observations on July 1993 Study Tour to Japan

Orne, Donald E.
Shladover, Steven E.
1993

The purpose of this report is to document some lessons learned during the July 3-16, 1993 tour of Japan and Intelligent Vehicles ’93 Symposium attendance by PATH Director Donald E. Orne and Deputy Director/AVCS Program Manager Steven E. Shladover.The tour was arranged by PATH through Japanese contacts to coincide with the Intelligent Vehicles ’93 conference. Most of the contacts were known to PATH either from introductions at various conferences or by visits to PATH offices.Special attention was given by Orne and Shladover to consider the extent to which interaction with government,...

The Role of Teamwork in a Planning Methodology for Intelligent Transportation Systems: Volume 1

Kanafani, Adib
Manheim, Marvin L.
Khattak, Asad
Vlahos, Nicholas J.
1994

In this research we propose a framework for a transportation planning methodology that recognizes the key role that teamwork plays in the decision-making process. We recognize that the transportation planning process has evolved for many reasons, and develop a cohesive framework for providing intelligent decision support to teams deliberating planning problems. The design methodology considers both user and functional issues in building a matrix of building block functions (BBFs) to support a particular planning process. We illustrate the design methodology by using as an example a recent...

Evaluation Methodologies for ITS Applications

Gillen, David
Li, Jianling
1999

California’s Transportation Plan [CTP] was designed to set the course for the future of transportation in California.’ At the heart of the plan are three comprehensive policies; promoting the economic vitality of California by assuring mobility and access for people, goods, services and information, provide safe, convenient and reliable transportation and, provide environmental protection and energy efficiency. The Caltrans Strategic Plan in keeping with the CTP creates a vision of a balanced, integrated multimodal transportation network to move people, goods, services and information...

User's Manual for Transit ITS Simulator (TRAN-ITS)

Dessouky, Maged
Zhang, Lei
Singh, Ajay
Hall, Randolph
1999

This report describes a simulation model developed to evaluate the impact of using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for bus tracking, on controlling buses in wide-area transit networks. Control strategies with ITS will be compared against those without ITS (i.e., they do not rely on communication or tracking). The model is developed using a general-purpose simulation language, AweSim (Pritsker, 1997). The simulation model is generic and independent of any dedicated transit network. The model has high flexibility and can be used to simulate...

Measuring the Aggregate Productivity Benefits from ITS Applications: The California Experience

Gillen, David
Haynes, Matt
2000

This research provides the first evidence of whether and how ITS contributes to economic growth and productivity – an objective established by the California Transportation Plan and ITS in particular. The next set of questions includes, what industries are most affected by ITS applications? Does it matter how many ITS applications are present, in other words, are there diminishing returns to similar ITS projects? Finally, does it matter how ITS projects are combined? This latter question also arose out of our research on production functions as well, and will be a central part of the...

Advances in Fuzzy Logic Control for Lateral Vehicle Guidance

Hessburg, Thomas
Tomizuka, Masayoshi
1994

A candidate for intelligent control for lateral guidance of a vehicle is a fuzzy logic controller (FLC). The details of the most recent FLC with a rule base derived from heuristics and designer insight to the problem at hand, as well as a method for estimating a projected lateral displacement are presented along with simulation results. The structure of this FLC is suited to incorporate human knowledge about the steering operation by its choice of inputs and outputs of the FLC which are natural to human steering operation. In addition, a method that makes use of preview information...

Combined Brake and Steering Actuator for Automatic Vehicle Control

Prohaska, R.
Devlin, P.
1998

This report describes a combined steering and brake actuator system for use in automatic vehicle control research The system allows a standard passenger car to switch from normal manual operation to automatic operation and back in a seamless manner using largely standard parts. The system uses a constant flow actuator system which employs valves using standard constant-pressure spool valve bodies and custom spools. The technique minimizes the mechanical disruption to the vehicle and also allows a smooth transmission between modes.

Evaluation Methods for Measuring the Value of ITS Services and Benefits from Implementation: Part X Freeway Service Patrols

Levinson, David
Parthasarathi, Pavithra Kandadai
2001

The goal of our report is to determine the value that people place on the benefits offered by freeway service patrols in comparison to private assistance services and how much they would be willing to pay to avoid being stranded when their vehicle breaks down on the freeway. The report investigates the factors that contribute to people choosing to rely on the highway assistance services in comparison to the private assistance services. The studies conducted so far have focused on the effectiveness of the freeway service patrol whereas this report analyzes the factors that influence people...

Video-based Vehicle Signature Analysis and Tracking System Phase 2: Algorithm Development and Preliminary Testing

MacCarley, Arthur C.
2001

This report describes the results of the PATH/Caltrans-funded project Video-Base Signature Analysis and Tracking (V2SAT) System, Phase 2 Algorithm Development and Preliminary Testing. The V2SATSystem was conceived in 1995 by Loragen Systems, of San Luis Obispo, California, as a means for non-intrusively tracking individual vehicles on freeways for data collection purposes. The concept involves the use of computer vision methods to make simple optical measurements on digitized real-time images of each vehicle on the freeway. A conventional color video camera serves as the primary sensor....

Highway Electrification: An Exploration of Energy Supply Implications

Wang, Quanlu
Sperling, Daniel
1987

The objective of this preliminary report is to explore the energy supply opportunities and implications of electrifying highways. An important assumption in this report is that the technology and general cost structure for generating and storing electricity does not change significantly in the future. In other words, we ignore the possible use of super conductive materials to store electricity during off-peak times, which, if feasible, would greatly reduce average electricity costs. A future report will examine the opportunities and implications of breakthroughs in superconductivity.The...