Autonomous Vehicle Platoons In Urban Road Networks:A Joint Distributed Reinforcement Learning and Model Predictive Control Approach

In this paper, platoons of autonomous vehicles operating in urban road networks are considered. From a methodological point of view, the problem of interest consists of formally characterizing vehicle state trajectory tubes by means of routing decisions complying with traffic congestion criteria. To this end, a novel distributed control architecture is conceived by taking advantage of two methodologies: deep reinforcement learning and model predictive control. On one hand, the routing decisions are obtained by using a distributed reinforcement learning algorithm that exploits available traffic data at each road junction. On the other hand, a bank of model predictive controllers is in charge of computing the more adequate control action for each involved vehicle. Such tasks are here combined into a single framework:the deep reinforcement learning output(action) is translated into a set-point to be tracked by the model predictive controller;conversely, the current vehicle position, resulting from the application of the control move, is exploited by the deep reinforcement learning unit for improving its reliability. The main novelty of the proposed solution lies in its hybrid nature: on one hand it fully exploits deep reinforcement learning capabilities for decisionmaking purposes;on the other hand, time-varying hard constraints are always satisfied during the dynamical platoon evolution imposed by the computed routing decisions. To efficiently evaluate the performance of the proposed control architecture, a co-design procedure, involving the SUMO and MATLAB platforms, is implemented so that complex operating environments can be used, and the information coming from road maps(links,junctions, obstacles, semaphores, etc.) and vehicle state trajectories can be shared and exchanged. Finally by considering as operating scenario a real entire city block and a platoon of eleven vehicles described by double-integrator models, several simulations have been performed with the aim to put in light the main f eatures of the proposed approach. Moreover, it is important to underline that in different operating scenarios the proposed reinforcement learning scheme is capable of significantly reducing traffic congestion phenomena when compared with well-reputed competitors.

3D Road Network Modeling and Road Structure Recognition in Internet of Vehicles

Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a new system that enables individual vehicles to connect with nearby vehicles,people, transportation infrastructure, and networks, thereby realizing amore intelligent and efficient transportationsystem. The movement of vehicles and the three-dimensional (3D) nature of the road network cause the topologicalstructure of IoV to have the high space and time complexity.Network modeling and structure recognition for 3Droads can benefit the description of topological changes for IoV. This paper proposes a 3Dgeneral roadmodel basedon discrete points of roads obtained from GIS. First, the constraints imposed by 3D roads on moving vehicles areanalyzed. Then the effects of road curvature radius (Ra), longitudinal slope (Slo), and length (Len) on speed andacceleration are studied. Finally, a general 3D road network model based on road section features is established.This paper also presents intersection and road section recognition methods based on the structural features ofthe 3D road network model and the road features. Real GIS data from a specific region of Beijing is adopted tocreate the simulation scenario, and the simulation results validate the general 3D road network model and therecognitionmethod. Therefore, thiswork makes contributions to the field of intelligent transportation by providinga comprehensive approach tomodeling the 3Droad network and its topological changes in achieving efficient trafficflowand improved road safety.

Resilience assessment and optimization method of city road network in the post-earthquake emergency period

The post-earthquake emergency period,which is a sensitive time segment just after an event,mainly focuses on saving life and restoring social order.To improve the seismic resilience of city road networks,a resilience evaluation method used in the post-earthquake emergency period is proposed.The road seismic damage index of a city road network can consider the influence of roads,bridges and buildings along the roads,etc.on road capacity after an earthquake.A function index for a city road network is developed,which reflects the connectivity,redundancy,traffic demand and traffic function of the network.An optimization model for improving the road repair order in the post-earthquake emergency period is also developed according to the resilience evaluation,to enable decision support for city emergency management and achieve the best seismic resilience of the city road network.The optimization model is applied to a city road network and the results illustrate the feasibility of the resilience evaluation and optimization method for a city road network in the post-earthquake emergency period.

Spatial Structure,Hierarchy and Formation Mechanisms of Scientific Collaboration Networks:Evidence of the Belt and Road Regions

Scientific collaboration has become an important part of the people-to-people exchanges in the Belt and Road initiative,and remarkable progress has been made since 2013.Taking the 65 countries along the Belt and Road(BRI countries)as the research areas and using collaborated Web of Science(WOS)core collection papers to construct an international scientific collaboration matrix,the paper explores the spatial structure,hierarchy and formation mechanisms of scientific collaboration networks of 65 countries along the Belt and Road.The results show that:1)Beyond the Belt and Road regions(BRI regions),Central&Eastern Europe,China and West Asia&North Africa have formed a situation in which they all have the most external links with other countries beyond BRI regions.China has the dominant role over other BRI countries in generating scientific links.The overall spatial structure has changed to a skeleton structure consisting of many dense regions,such as Europe,North America,East Asia and Oceania.2)Within the Belt and Road regions,Central&Eastern Europe has become the largest collaboration partner with other sub-regions in BRI countries.The spatial structure of scientific collaboration networks has transformed from the‘dual core’composed of China and the Central&Eastern Europe region,to the‘multi-polarization’composed of‘one zone and multi-points’.3)The hierarchical structure of scientific collaboration networks presents a typical‘core-periphery’structure,and changes from‘single core’to‘double cores’.4)Among the formation mechanisms of scientific collaboration networks,scientific research strength and social proximity play the most important roles,while geographical distance gradually weakens the hindrance to scientific collaboration.

Road and Tunnel Extraction from SPOT Satellite Images Using Neural Networks

Road extraction from the satellite images can be used in producing road maps as well as managing and developing geospatial databases. In this work, the extraction of roads from SPOT satellite images using artificial neural network has been studied. Then the location of tunnel is extracted from image using digital elevation information. Also it is tried to enhance the precision of the road extraction method using spectral information as well as texture and morphology. The method was implemented on SPOT satellite images of Tabrizand Miyaneh (Iran). The results of this research indicate that it would be possible to promote the precision of road extraction by using texture and morphology in image classifycation using neural networks. Finally the location of tunnel was extracted by digital elevation information. Junctions of roads and mountains have high potential in locating the tunnel. For this reason, in this study, the junctions of roads and mountains were also detected and used.

Seismic damage to road networks subjected to earthquakes in Nepal,2015

The Gorkha earthquake in Nepal led to many landslides and severe damage to the transportation infrastructure. After careful comparison of the aerial photographs and satellite images before and after the earthquake, partially verified by a field study, more than 2,064 landslides and many road failures were observed. Many bridges, especially steel-truss and suspension bridges, suffered little damage from inertia loads during the earthquake, but were severely damaged due to rockfalls. Potential geological hazards hindered the delivery of supplies in mountainous areas, and road closures impeded the overall speed of rehabilitation.

Effects of aggregating forests, establishing forest road networks, and mechanization on operational efficiency and costs in a mountainous region in Japan

We investigated forest road networks and forestry operations before and after mechanization on aggregated forestry operation sites. We developed equations to estimate densities of road networks with average slope angles, operational efficiency of bunching operations with road network density, and average forwarding distances with operation site areas. Subsequently, we analyzed the effects of aggregating forests, establishing forest road networks, and mechanization on operational efficiency and costs. Six ha proved to be an appropriate operation site area with minimum operation expenses. The operation site areas of the forest owners＇ cooperative in this region aggregated approximately 6 ha and the cooperative conducted forestry operations on aggregated sites. Therefore, 6 ha would be an appropriate operation site area in this region. Regarding road network density, higher-density road networks increased operational expenses due to the higher direct operational expenses of strip road establishment. Therefore, road network density should be reduced to approximately 200 m.

Privacy Protection with Dynamic Pseudonym-Based Multiple Mix-Zones Over Road Networks

In this research we proposed a strategy for location privacy protection which addresses the issues related with existing location privacy protection techniques. Mix-Zones and pseudonyms are considered as the basic building blocks for location privacy; however, continuously changing pseudonyms process at multiple locations can enhance user privacy. It has been revealed that changing pseudonym at improper time and location may threat to user's privacy. Moreover, certain methods related to pseudonym change have been proposed to attain desirable location privacy and most of these solutions are based upon velocity, GPS position and direction of angle. We analyzed existing methods related to location privacy with mix zones, such as RPCLP, EPCS and MODP, where it has been observed that these methods are not adequate to attain desired level of location privacy and suffered from large number of pseudonym changes. By analyzing limitations of existing methods, we proposed Dynamic Pseudonym based multiple mix zone(DPMM) technique, which ensures highest level of accuracy and privacy. We simulate our data by using SUMO application and analysis results has revealed that DPMM outperformed existing pseudonym change techniques and achieved better results in terms of acquiring high privacy with small number of pseudonym change.

A Novel Network Screening Methodology for Rural Low-Volume Roads

Low-volume roads (LVRs) are an integral part of the rural transportation network providing access to remote rural areas and facilitating the movement of goods from farms to markets. These roads pose unique challenges for highway agencies including those related to safety management on the highway network. Specifically, traditional network screening methods using crash history can be effective in screening rural highways with higher traffic volumes and more frequent crashes. However, these traditional methods are often ineffective in screening LVR networks due to low traffic volumes and the sporadic nature of crash occurrence. Further, many of the LVRs are owned and operated by local agencies that may lack access to detailed crash, traffic and roadway data and the technical expertise within their staff. Therefore, there is a need for more efficient and practical network screening approaches to facilitate safety management programs on these roads. This study proposes one such approach which utilizes a heuristic scoring scheme in assessing the level of risk/safety for the purpose of network screening. The proposed scheme is developed based on the principles of US Highway Safety Manual (HSM) analysis procedures for rural highways and the fundamentals in safety science. The primary application of the proposed scheme is for ranking sites in network screening applications or for comparing multiple improvement alternatives at a specific site. The proposed approach does not require access to detailed databases, technical expertise, or exact information, making it an invaluable tool for small agencies and local governments (e.g. counties, townships, tribal governments, etc.).

Joint Optimization of Latency and Energy Consumption for Mobile Edge Computing Based Proximity Detection in Road Networks

In recent years, artificial intelligence and automotive industry have developed rapidly, and autonomous driving has gradually become the focus of the industry. In road networks, the problem of proximity detection refers to detecting whether two moving objects are close to each other or not in real time. However, the battery life and computing capability of mobile devices are limited in the actual scene,which results in high latency and energy consumption. Therefore, it is a tough problem to determine the proximity relationship between mobile users with low latency and energy consumption. In this article, we aim at finding a tradeoff between latency and energy consumption. We formalize the computation offloading problem base on mobile edge computing(MEC)into a constrained multiobjective optimization problem(CMOP) and utilize NSGA-II to solve it. The simulation results demonstrate that NSGA-II can find the Pareto set, which reduces the latency and energy consumption effectively. In addition, a large number of solutions provided by the Pareto set give us more choices of the offloading decision according to the actual situation.

Automatic Matching of Multi-scale Road Networks under the Constraints of Smaller Scale Road Meshes

In this paper,we propose a new method to achieve automatic matching of multi-scale roads under the constraints of smaller scale data.The matching process is:Firstly,meshes are extracted from two different scales road data.Secondly,several basic meshes in the larger scale road network will be merged into a composite one which is matched with one mesh in the smaller scale road network,to complete the N∶1(N>1)and 1∶1 matching.Thirdly,meshes of the two different scale road data with M∶N(M>1,N>1)matching relationships will be matched.Finally,roads will be classified into two categories under the constraints of meshes:mesh boundary roads and mesh internal roads,and then matchings between the two scales meshes will be carried out within their own categories according to the matching relationships.The results show that roads of different scales will be more precisely matched using the proposed method.

Hierarchical Area Partitioning Method of Urban Road Networks Matching

In view of the “Node-Arc” data model of road network in the aspect of structured expressing the deficiencies, the hierarchical area partitioning of road network based on the principle of stroke, which made road network space structure characteristics of the expression with the hierarchical feature was designed. Based on road hierarchy and connected relationship with the area domain boundaries, the road in the area was hierarchically divided. A hierarchical model was established based on “whole-part-object” data model. Finally, the model of urban road network matching is proposed, which used consistency evaluation model selected matching objects from high-grade road to the low-level road. The experiment results indicated that the method was suitable to solve the road matching problem with typical urban features.

Relationships Between Fractal Road and Drainage Networks in Wuling Mountainous Area:Another Symmetric Understanding of Human-Environment Relations

Symmetrical relationships between humans and their environment have been referred to as an extension of symmetries in the human geographical system and have drawn great attention.This paper explored the symmetry between physical and human systems through fractal analysis of the road and drainage networks in Wuling mountainous area. We found that both the road and drainage networks reflect weak clustering distributions. The evolution of the road network shared a significant self-organizing composition, while the drainage network showed obvious double fractal characteristics The geometric fractal dimension of the road network was larger than that of the drainage network. In addition, when assigned a weight relating to hierarchy or length, neither the road network nor drainage network showed a fractal property. These findings indicated that the fractal evolution of the road network shared certain similarities with fractal distribution of the drainage network. The symmetry between the two systems resulted from an interactive process of destroying symmetry at the lower order and reconstructing symmetry at the higher order. The relationships between the fractal dimensions of the rural-urban road network, the drainage network and the urban system indicated that the development of this area was to achieve the symmetrical isomorphism of physical-human geographical systems.

Intelligent extraction of road cracks based on vehicle laser point cloud and panoramic sequence images

In light of the limited efficacy of conventional methods for identifying pavement cracks and the absence of comprehensive depth and location data in two-dimensional photographs,this study presents an intelligent strategy for extracting road cracks.This methodology involves the integration of laser point cloud data obtained from a vehicle-mounted system and a panoramic sequence of images.The study employs a vehicle-mounted LiDAR measurement system to acquire laser point cloud and panoramic sequence image data simultaneously.A convolutional neural network is utilized to extract cracks from the panoramic sequence image.The extracted sequence image is then aligned with the laser point cloud,enabling the assignment of RGB information to the vehicle-mounted three dimensional(3D)point cloud and location information to the two dimensional(2D)panoramic image.Additionally,a threshold value is set based on the crack elevation change to extract the aligned roadway point cloud.The three-dimensional data pertaining to the cracks can be acquired.The experimental findings demonstrate that the use of convolutional neural networks has yielded noteworthy outcomes in the extraction of road cracks.The utilization of point cloud and image alignment techniques enables the extraction of precise location data pertaining to road cracks.This approach exhibits superior accuracy when compared to conventional methods.Moreover,it facilitates rapid and accurate identification and localization of road cracks,thereby playing a crucial role in ensuring road maintenance and traffic safety.Consequently,this technique finds extensive application in the domains of intelligent transportation and urbanization development.The technology exhibits significant promise for use in the domains of intelligent transportation and city development.

Road Distance Computation Using Homomorphic Encryption in Road Networks

Road networks have been used in a wide range of applications to reduces the cost of transportation and improve the quality of related services.The shortest road distance computation has been considered as one of the most fundamental operations of road networks computation.To alleviate privacy concerns about location privacy leaks during road distance computation,it is desirable to have a secure and efficient road distance computation approach.In this paper,we propose two secure road distance computation approaches,which can compute road distance over encrypted data efficiently.An approximate road distance computation approach is designed by using Partially Homomorphic Encryption and road network set embedding.An exact road distance computation is built by using Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption and road network hypercube embedding.We implement our two road distance computation approaches,and evaluate them on the real cityscale road network.Evaluation results show that our approaches are accurate and efficient.

Development of a support system for creating disaster prevention maps focusing on road networks and hazardous elements

As a disaster prevention measure based on self-assistance and mutual assistance,disaster prevention maps are being created with citizen participation throughout Japan.The process of creating disaster prevention maps is itself a disaster prevention measure that contributes to raising awareness of disaster prevention by promoting exchange and cooperation within the region.By focusing on relations between road networks and hazardous elements,we developed a system to support disaster prevention map creation that visualizes roads at high risk during a disaster and facilitates the study of evacuation simulations.This system leads to a completed disaster prevention map in three phases.In the first phase,we use a device with GPS logging functions to collect information related to hazardous elements.In the second phase,we use Google Maps(“online map,”below)to visualize roads with high evacuation risk.In the final phase,we perform a regional evaluation through simulations of disaster-time evacuations.In experimental verifications,by conducting usability tests after creating a disaster prevention map in the target area,we evaluated the system in terms of simple operability and visibility.We found that by implementing this series of processes,even users lacking specialized knowledge regarding disaster prevention can intuitively discover evacuation routes while considering the relations between visualized road networks and hazardous elements.These results show that compared with disaster prevention maps having simple site notations using existing WebGIS systems,disaster prevention maps created by residents while inspecting the target area raise awareness of risks present in the immediate vicinity even in normal times and are an effective support system for prompt disaster prevention measures and evacuation drills.

Bitmap lattice index in road networks

A novel technique called the bitmap lattice index(BLI) is proposed, which combines the advantages of a wireless broadcasting environment with a road network. Existing road networks are based on the on-demand method: a server's workload increases as the query request increases when a server sends a client information. To solve this problem, we propose the BLI. The BLI denotes an object and a node as 0 and 1 in the Hilbert curve(HC) map. The BLI can identify the position of a node and an object through bit information; it can also reduce the broadcasting frequency of a server by reducing the size of the index, thereby decreasing the access latency and query processing times. Moreover, the BLI is highly effective for data filtering, as it can identify the positions of both an object and a node. In a road network, if filtering is done via the Euclidean distance, it may result in an error. To prevent this, we add another validation procedure. The experiment is conducted by applying the BLI to kNN query, and the technique is assessed by a performance evaluation experiment.

基于Deep Q Networks的交通指示灯控制方法

交通指示灯的智能控制是当前智能交通研究中的热点问题;为更加及时有效地自适应动态交通,进一步提升街道路口车流效率,提出了一种基于Deep Q Networks的道路指示灯控制方法;该方法基于道路指示灯控制问题描述,以状态、行动和奖励三要素构建道路指示灯控制的强化学习模型,提出基于Deep Q Networks的道路指示控制方法流程;为检验方法的有效性,以浙江省台州市市府大道与东环大道交叉路口交通数据在SUMO中进行方法比对与仿真实验;实验结果表明,基于Deep Q Networks的交通指示灯控制方法在交通指示等的控制与调度中具有更高的效率和自主性,更有利于改善路口车流的吞吐量,对道路路口车流的驻留时延、队列长度和等待时间等方面的优化具有更好的性能。

Monitoring subsidence rates along road network by persistent scatterer SAR interferometry with high-resolution TerraSAR-X imagery

Ground subsidence is one of the key factors damaging transportation facilities, e.g., road networks consisting of highways and railways. In this paper, we propose to apply the persistent scatterer synthetic aperture radar interferometry （PS-InSAR） approach that uses high- resolution TerraSAR-X （TSX） imagery to extract the regional scale subsidence rates （i.e., average annual sub- sidence in mm/year） along road networks. The primary procedures involve interferometric pair selection, interfer- ogram generation, persistent scatterer （PS） detection, PS networking, phase parameterization, and subsidence rate estimation. The Xiqing District in southwest Tianjin （China） is selected as the study area. This district contains one railway line and several highway lines. A total of 15 TSX images covering this area between April 2009 and June 2010 are utilized to obtain the subsidence rates by using the PS-InSAR （PSI） approach. The subsidence rates derived from PSI range from -68.7 to -1.3 mm/year. These findings show a significantly uneven subsidence pattern along the road network. Comparison between the PSI-derived subsidence rates and the leveling data obtained along the highways shows that the mean and standard deviation （SD） of the discrepancies between the two types of subsidence rates are 0.1 and 4-3.2 mm/year, respectively. The results indicate that the high-resolution TSX PSI is capable of providing comprehensive and detailed subsidence information regarding road networks with millimeter-level accuracy. Further inspections under geo- logical conditions and land-use categories in the study area indicate that the observed subsidence is highly related to aquifer compression due to groundwater pumping. Therefore, measures should be taken to mitigate groundwater extraction for the study area.

Short-Term Traffic Flow Prediction Based on Road Network Topology

Accurate short-term traffic flow prediction plays a crucial role in intelligent transportation system (ITS), because it can assist both traffic authorities and individual travelers make better decisions. Previous researches mostly focus on shallow traffic prediction models, which performances were unsatisfying since short-term traffic flow exhibits the characteristics of high nonlinearity, complexity and chaos. Taking the spatial and temporal correlations into consideration, a new traffic flow prediction method is proposed with the basis on the road network topology and gated recurrent unit (GRU). This method can help researchers without professional traffic knowledge extracting generic traffic flow features effectively and efficiently. Experiments are conducted by using real traffic flow data collected from the Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PEMS) database in San Diego and Oakland from June 15, 2017 to September 27, 2017. The results demonstrate that our method outperforms other traditional approaches in terms of mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE).