Paramics : Parallel Microscopic Traffic Simulator

PARAMICS is a state-of-the-art, parallel ‘microscopic’ traffic simulator, developed in a collaboration between EPCC and SIAS Ltd., for simulations of traffic congestion in large-scale road networks. Individual vehicle and driver characteristics are modelled, responding to perceived road and junction conditions. To allow traffic planners to predict and attempt to rectify potential congestion problems, within the trunk road network of central Scotland at peak times, requires the real-time simulation of some 200,000 vehicles. The simulator is being implemented in the data-parallel C* language on the CM-200 massively parallel computer at EPCC, which has the potential to deliver the substantial computing demands required. From a detailed description of the Scottish road network, and the traffic within it, vehicles’ movements and flow summaries can be displayed graphically, highlighting the formation of areas of congestion and allowing the probable causes to be identified.