Construction and Evaluation of Cellular Automata Lattice Based on the Semantics of an Urban Traffic Network

In this paper, we propose a construction process that enables the transformation of an urban traffic network using a cellular automata lattice. An abstract network hierarchy is defined which allows us to describe the important properties of an urban traffic network layer by layer. The cellular automata lattice is extended with three additional types of cells that permit the modelling of conflict points at intersections. A supporting model of vehicle behaviour based on traffic cellular automata is also extended with rules that allow vehicles to move properly within the extended cellular automata lattice. Example traffic network was transformed and capacity of a minor street in a two-way yield controlled intersection was measured under different vehicle flow parameters. Results show that simulation on extended cellular lattice is capable of reproducing relationships between vehicle flows at intersections.