Simulation Framework for Intelligent Transportation Systems *

A simulation framework has been developed for a large-scale, comprehensive, scaleable simulation of an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). The simulator is designed for running on parallel computers and distributed (networked) computer systems, but can run on standalone workstations for smaller simulations. The simulator currently models instrumented "smart" vehicles with in-vehicle navigation units capable of optimal route planning and Traffic Management Centers (TMC). The TMC has probe vehicle tracking capabilities (display position and attributes of instrumented vehicles), and can provide two-way interaction with traffic to provide advisories and link times. Both the in-vehicle navigation module and the TMC feature detailed graphical user interfaces to support human-factors studies. Realistic modeling of variations of the posted driving speed are based on human factors studies that take into consideration weather, road conditions, driver personality and behavior, and vehicle type. The prototype has been developed on a distributed system of networked UNIX computers but is designed to run on parallel computers, such as ANL's IBM SP-2, for large-scale problems. A novel feature of our approach is that vehicles are represented by autonomous computer processes which exchange messages with other processes. The vehicles have a behavior model which governs route selection and driving behavior, and can react to external traffic events much like real vehicles. With this approach, the simulation is scaleable to take advantage of emerging massively parallel processor (MPP) systems. SIMULATION FRAMEWORK FOR INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS Thomas Ewing, Ezzat Doss, Ulf Hanebutte, Adrian Tentner Argonne National Laboratory Argonne, Illinois 60439 USA