Micro-simulation models are becoming increasingly popular for the evaluation and development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Micro-simulation models are computer models where the movements of individual vehicles travelling around road networks are determined by using simple car following, lane changing and gap acceptance rules. However, very few studies have been published that show how well micro-simulation models reproduce real-world traffic behaviour. As part of the SMARTEST project such a study was carried out. Data was collected from a small network in Leeds (ten junctions, three of which are signalised) and was compared with the outputs of three different micro-simulation models (AIMSUN2, DRACULA and NEMIS). Comparisons were made of car travel times, saturation flows, queue lengths and speed distributions.
Abstract