The UNC Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) are jointly pursuing the development of a 'laboratory' capability for the integrated application of modeling, simulation, and visualization technologies to non-motorized (ped/bike) research. The simulator component is to be developed in conjunction with the existing TTI driving simulator built by Hyperion/KQ Corporation (now Global Sim) and housed on the Texas A&M campus. HSRC is currently using the VISSIM model in a stand-alone (i.e., non-integrated) mode on NIH-sponsored research addressing the problems of blind and visually impaired pedestrians at complex intersections (e.g., roundabouts). An expansion of the NIH work is anticipated that will permit the integrated application of modeling and simulation over the next year. The work with NIH will also permit exploration of the possibility of a high fidelity 'aural' simulation of the operational traffic environment (important to the blindness community). Such a simulation would be possible with the integration of the real time traffic modeling capabilities of VISSIM (or other similar model) and auditory psychophysics capabilities of the Vanderbilt partner of the NIH bioengineering research partnership (BRP). Such an application would also present new opportunities for the system development and evaluation of 'accessible pedestrian signal' (APS) concepts. A major goal is to be able to fully integrate the constructive simulation capabilities of a model such as VISSIM with the real time multi-modal capability of the TTI driving simulator. The ability to integrate real time and constructive simulation capabilities (and in turn the derivative capabilities for 3D/4D visualization) will represent a major step toward being able to utilize these technologies to convincingly demonstrate the 'operational' benefits of advanced Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) concepts prior to their actual implementation. It will have the effect of being able to move beyond the use of 3D/4D visualization technologies to simply show how advanced system concepts will 'look' to where we will be able to demonstrate (with the confidence of underlying micro-simulation models) how they will 'operate' as well. Being able to provide an operationally realistic (traffic) environment in the simulator will significantly increase the utility of the simulator as a research tool for the analysis of driver, vehicle, and system variables involved in advanced transportation system concepts.
Abstract