The performance of a road network in terms of travel time, delay, queue length or other indices have traditionally been obtained through surveys using, say, the floating-car technique. This manual method is both costly and labour-intensive. This paper describes past and current research in on-line monitoring of various performance indices in an urban traffic system. The techniques available for on-line performance include the processing of traffic data available from signal control systems and freeway management systems, and the use of location technologies such as electronic tags, Global Positioning System and cellular phones. There are privacy and cost issues associated with location technologies. This paper concludes that control systems for freeways and arterials should form the backbone of a performance monitoring system. Data from vehicle location systems, if available and cost effective, can fuse with signal and freeway data to strengthen the information content. This data fusion activity can be a joint venture of the private and public sectors. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E211903.
Abstract