PATH

This report deals with an introduction to the control aspect of platoon maneuvers in Automated Highway Systems. The different platoon maneuvers include lane changes, merge procedures and split procedures. The first part of the report consists of a review of the existing literature in this area. The survey is split up into the quasi-synchronous and vehicle follower controller methods of approach to the problem. The subsequent sections deal with the mathematical description of the problem with two representations of the system under study, varying only in level of model complexity. The...

The number and quality of sensors available for both on-board vehicle and infrastructure-based sensing is increasing while the cost of these sensors is rapidly decreasing. On-board vehicle sensors can be utilized for both individual vehicle safety as well as automated vehicle control. It is becoming imperative that "fusion" techniques be developed, i.e., methods to combine the wide variety of sensors available so that reliable and accurate information can be obtained even though individual sensors may fail or become extremely noisy. The process of sensor fusion combines multiple sensor...

Trucking productivity can be significantly increased by moving freight with longer combination vehicles (LCVs). However, LCV operations not only raise safety concerns for the surrounding traffic and the LCV drivers themselves but also can damage roadways and bridges not equipped to support the operations. All the discussion about truck size and weight limitations or about the pros and cons of LCV operations is predicated on the use of conventional tractors and trailers. We however observed that a root cause of several major issues associated with LCV operations is the problem of off-...

This report focuses on traffic congestion under current road conditions with the objective of developing a quantitative understanding of their costs. The work is intended to provide a foundation upon which to build later estimates of the benefits that could be attributable to the use of Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS) technologies. The report gives an overview of traffic congestion and summarizes the principal sources of research in the areas of quantifying the costs of congestion. It reviews this past work relative to the usage of data, methodological approaches used in the...