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.

Application Strategy of Green Transportation Concept in Urban Road Design

Urban traffic and urban environmental pollution are important issues that must be taken into account in the process of urbanization,especially in China.Modernization has enabled many developed countries in the west to carry out rational city traffic planning.At the same time,the concept of green transportation has also emerged,integrating low-energy consumption,low pollution,comfort,and safety into urban traffic to effectively solve issues pertaining to traffic and pollution.The concept of green transportation has been widely adopted in China and made popular in many cities,thereby promoting the sustainable development of cities.

Automatic Extraction of Urban Road Centerlines from High-Resolution Satellite Imagery Using Automatic Thresholding and Morphological Operation Method

The commercial high-resolution imaging satellite with 1 m spatial resolution IKONOS is an important data source of information for urban planning and geographical information system (GIS) applications. In this paper, a morphological method is proposed. The proposed method combines the automatic thresholding and morphological operation techniques to extract the road centerline of the urban environment. This method intends to solve urban road centerline problems, vehicle, vegetation, building etc. Based on this morphological method, an object extractor is designed to extract road networks from highly remote sensing images. Some filters are applied in this experiment such as line reconstruction and region filling techniques to connect the disconnected road segments and remove the small redundant. Finally, the thinning algorithm is used to extract the road centerline. Experiments have been conducted on a high-resolution IKONOS and QuickBird images showing the efficiency of the proposed method.

Express way and Urban Road Interchange Design Strategy

Highway is an important kind of infrastructure which the transportation sector depends on.The rationality of the interchange design between urban roads and expressways is related to the relieving of urban traffic pressure.Based on the status quo of interchange design between urban roads and expressways,this paper discusses the types and applications of interchange design,hoping to provide reference for the design and construction of highway projects and ensure the rationality of interchange design.

Design of Special-shaped Interchange between Expressway and Urban Road in Mountainous Cities

Driven by the rapid economic development,the development of transportation in China has begun to move towards mountainous areas.The climate environment,topography and landform of mountainous cities are different from those of plain areas.In mountainous cities,the area of opposite interchanges between expressways and urban roads is generally large,which has a certain contradiction with the topographic conditions of mountainous cities.Therefore,it is necessary to reasonably design the opposite interchanges between expressways and urban roads in mountainous cities.The author explores and analyzes the factors restricting the special-shaped interchange between expressway and urban road in mountainous cities and the main fbnns of special-shaped interchange,and puts forward a reasonable design scheme,hoping to make a smooth development of the special-shaped interchange in mountainous cities.

Strategies for the Application of BIM Technology in the Collaborative Planning and Design of Urban Roads and Pipelines

Urban road construction and the laying of underground pipelines are both important elements in the improvement of urban infrastructure,while the construction of the two may affect and restrict each other if they are not planned systematically.Therefore,a synergistic design of urban roads and pipelines is needed to ensure the synergy of urban road construction and underground pipeline laying.This paper mainly analyzes the necessity of building information modeling(BIM)technology application in the collaborative planning and design of urban roads and pipelines,and explores the application strategy of BIM technology.

The Application of“Humanized”Concept in Urban Road Design

In order to promote the development of urban roads,enhance urban road design,and fully maximize the role of urban roads,this study first discusses the fundamental requirements of urban road design,the“humanized”concept in urban road design,and the importance of“humanized”urban road design,as well as proposes several“humanized”design strategies for urban roads as references.

Integrated reliability of travel time and capacity of urban road network under ice and snowfall conditions

In order to evaluate and integrate travel time reliability and capacity reliability of a road network subjected to ice and snowfall conditions,the conceptions of travel time reliability and capacity reliability were defined under special conditions.The link travel time model(ice and snowfall based-bureau public road,ISB-BPR) and the path choice decision model(elastic demand user equilibrium,EDUE) were proposed.The integrated reliability was defined and the model was set up.Monte Carlo simulation was used to calculate the model and a numerical example was provided to demonstrate the application of the model and efficiency of the solution algorithm.The results show that the intensity of ice and snowfall,the traffic demand and supply,and the requirements for level of service(LOS) have great influence on the reliability of a road network.For example,the reliability drops from 65% to 5% when the traffic demand increases by 30%.The comprehensive performance index may be used for network planning,design and maintenance.

Microclimate Regulation of Urban Road Landscapes and PM 2.5 Control Measures

This paper proposed through systematic analysis that road tail gas is an important source of PM2.5,and elaborated the infl uence of urban road space forms and road landscapes on urban microclimate,on the basis of which gave corresponding landscape design suggestions for PM2.5 control.

Traffic Signals Control with Adaptive Fuzzy Controller in Urban Road Network

An adaptive fuzzy logic controller (AFC) is presented for the signal control of the urban traffic network. The AFC is composed of the signal control system-oriented control level and the signal controller-oriented fuzzy rules regulation level. The control level decides the signal timings in an intersection with a fuzzy logic controller. The regulation level optimizes the fuzzy rules by the Adaptive Rule Module in AFC according to both the system performance index in current control period and the traffic flows in the last one. Consequently the system performances are improved. A weight coefficient controller (WCC) is also developed to describe the interactions of traffic flow among the adjacent intersections. So the AFC combined with the WCC can be applied in a road network for signal timings. Simulations of the AFC on a real traffic scenario have been conducted. Simulation results indicate that the adaptive controller for traffic control shows better performance than the actuated one.

Traffic Organization Optimization of Urban Road Combined Intersections

With the development of the economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the number of vehicles in cities is increasing rapidly, which greatly increases the pressure on urban traffic. Solving traffic accidents and problems to keep smooth travel and safe travel has become a top priority in road construction. In this paper, how to optimize the traffic at the intersection of the urban road was discussed with the aim of reducing traffic accidents and problems to keep peoples’ smooth travel and safe travel.

Foliar Particulate Matter Distribution in Urban Road System of Beijing, China

Particulate matter(PM), one of the most important pollutants of traffic emission, threatens the health of urban ecosystems and citizens. Roadside trees play an important role in trapping PM, and the foliar PM load is a useful indicator for air PM pollution in road systems. To detect the relationships of foliar PM load with road structures, urbanization, and meteorology in road systems, we studied a widely-planted tree Sophora japonica L. in 100 roads and 10 yards of Beijing, China, and found that the foliar PM loads increased with the distances from the urban centre(DUC) linearly, while decreased with the road density. All-subsets regression analysis indicated that DUC, average monthly relative humidity, average monthly wind speed, and mean annual wind speed were the most important factors in predicting foliar PM load, rather than general situation of buildings and road cleanliness. The monthly relative humidity and monthly wind speed had a negative correlation to foliar PM, while the annual relative humidity and annual wind speed had a positive correlation to foliar PM. Suburban areas and these effective factors should be highlighted in PM control in Beijing.

Evolvement regularity of signal control parameters of urban road in cold region

In snow-icy road environment, the survey data indicate that the largest decrease in traffic flow running characters occurs when snow and ice begin to accumulate on the road surface. Saturation flow is decreased by 16%, speed is decreased by 30%, and start-up lost time is increased by 27%. Based on the signal control theory of HCM and Webster, the character values of traffic flow in different urban road environments were investigated, and the evolvement regularity of signal control parameters such as cycle, split, green time, offset, yellow time and red time in snow-icy road environment was analyzed. The impact factors and the changes in the scope of signal control parameters were achieved. Simulation results and practical application show that the signal control plan of road environment without snow and ice will increase the vehicle delay, stop length and traffic congestion in snow-icy road environment. Thus, the traffic signal control system should address a suitable signal control plan based on different road environments.

Maintenance Measures of Urban Road Landscaping

Functions of urban road greening were analyzed firstly,and then problems in the maintenance of urban road greening were discussed. Finally,measures to strengthen the maintenance of urban road greening were put forward,such as strictly controlling design and construction,strengthening greening supervision,enhancing greening maintenance and management and improving maintenance measures,and strengthening the prevention and control of pests and diseases in road greening.

Relationship Between Urban Road Traffic Characteristics and Road Grade Based on a Time Series Clustering Model： A Case Study in Nanjing, China

With the increasing number of vehicles in large-and medium-sized cities challenges in urban traffic management, control, and road planning are being faced. Taxi GPS trajectory data is a novel data source that can be used to study the potential dynamic traffic characteristics of urban roads, and thus identify locations that show a notable lack of road planning. Considering that road traffic characteristics on their own are insufficient for a comprehensive understanding of urban traffic, we develop a road traffic characteristic time series clustering model to analyze the relationship between urban road traffic characteristics and road grade based on existing taxi trajectory data. We select the main urban area of Nanjing as our study area and use the taxi trajectory data of a single month for evaluating our method. The experiments show that the clustering model exhibit good performance and can be successfully used for road traffic characteristic classification. Moreover, we analyze the correlation between traffic characteristics and road grade to identify road segments with planning designs that do not match the actual traffic demands.

Diversity and Application of Herbaceous Flowers in Urban Road Greening in Hefei City

In urban road greening,the planting of ground cover flowers is essential,and herbaceous flowers are an important part.Through the investigation on the diversity of herbaceous flowers in urban road green spaces of Hefei City,the types,colors,application frequency and planting of herbaceous flowers in urban road green spaces were statistically analyzed,and the application forms of herbaceous flowers in the road greening of Hefei City were studied.The characteristics and problems of herbaceous flowers in the road greening of Hefei City were found,and some development suggestions were put forward.

Bi-objective optimization models for mitigating traffic congestion in urban road networks

Traffic congestion in road transportation networks is a persistent problem in major metropolitan cities around the world.In this context,this paper deals with exploiting underutilized road capacities in a network to lower the congestion on overutilized links while simultaneously satisfying the system optimal flow assignment for sustainable transportation.Four congestion mitigation strategies are identified based on deviation and relative deviation of link volume from the corresponding capacity.Consequently,four biobjective mathematical programming optimal flow distribution(OFD)models are proposed.The case study results demonstrate that all the proposed models improve system performance and reduce congestion on high volume links by shifting flows to low volumeto-capacity links compared to UE and SO models.Among the models,the system optimality with minimal sum and maximum absolute relative-deviation models(SO-SAR and SO-MAR)showed superior results for different performance measures.The SO-SAR model yielded 50%and 30%fewer links at higher link utilization factors than UE and SO models,respectively.Also,it showed more than 25%improvement in path travel times compared to UE travel time for about 100 paths and resulted in the least network congestion index of1.04 compared to the other OFD and UE models.Conversely,the SO-MAR model yielded the least total distance and total system travel time,resulting in lower fuel consumption and emissions,thus contributing to sustainability.The proposed models contribute towards efficient transportation infrastructure management and will be of interest to transportation planners and traffic managers.