Micro-simulation model of two-lane freeway vehicles for obtaining traffic flow characteristics including safety condition

Unidirectional two-lane freeway is a typical and the simplest form of freeway. The traffic flow char- acteristics including safety condition on two-lane freeway is of great significance in planning, design, and manage- ment of a freeway. Many previous traffic flow models are able to figure out flow characteristics such as speed, den- sity, delay, and so forth. These models, however, have great difficulty in reflecting safety condition of vehicles. Besides, for the cellular automation, one of the most widely used microscopic traffic simulation models, its discreteness in both time and space can possibly cause inaccuracy or big errors in simulation results. In this paper, a micro-simula- tion model of two-lane freeway vehicles is proposed to evaluate characteristics of traffic flow, including safety condition. The model is also discrete in time but continu- ous in space, and it divides drivers into several groups on the basis of their preferences for overtaking, which makes the simulation more aligned with real situations. Partial test is conducted in this study and results of delay, speed, volume, and density indicate the preliminary validity of our model, based on which the proposed safety coefficient evaluates safety condition under different flow levels. It is found that the results of this evaluation coincide with daily experience of drivers, providing ground for effectiveness of the safety coefficient.

Two Network Structure Indicators for Conventional Public Transit

The significance of network structure indicators for the planning and management of conventional public transit is widely acknowledged.In order to improve and enrich the conventional public transit assessment system,two network structure indicators are proposed.Firstly,according to the obvious defects lying in the traditional no-linear coefficient,the realistic no-linear coefficient γRNL,a modified no-linear coefficient indicator,is put forward,which takes into account the effects of barriers in a city.Secondly,to cover the gap of an indicator which can reflect the coverage homogeneity of a transit network,the length dimension LDis proposed on the basis of Fractal Theory.Finally,a case study is applied to verify the validity and practicability of the two indicators in problem diagnosis using regression analysis.The results validate that γRNLcan evaluate the detour of bus lines more reasonably than the previous no-linear coefficient because it reflects the layout of bus lines,and LDcan represent the rate of change of the network density,adding a new member to the scheme of network structure indicators for public transit.

Distributed game strategy for unmanned aerial vehicle formation with external disturbances and obstacles

We investigate a distributed game strategy for unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)formations with external disturbances and obstacles.The strategy is based on a distributed model predictive control(MPC)framework and Levy flight based pigeon inspired optimization(LFPIO).First,we propose a non-singular fast terminal sliding mode observer(NFTSMO)to estimate the influence of a disturbance,and prove that the observer converges in fixed time using a Lyapunov function.Second,we design an obstacle avoidance strategy based on topology reconstruction,by which the UAV can save energy and safely pass obstacles.Third,we establish a distributed MPC framework where each UAV exchanges messages only with its neighbors.Further,the cost function of each UAV is designed,by which the UAV formation problem is transformed into a game problem.Finally,we develop LFPIO and use it to solve the Nash equilibrium.Numerical simulations are conducted,and the efficiency of LFPIO based distributed MPC is verified through comparative simulations.