Modelling Study

Currently within the empirical modelling repository there are two models from which ideas can be drawn upon. The first, and most closely related, is ‘trafficlightMendis1997’ which models a T-junction containing traffic light and shows how the traffic builds up in each direction. This is a statistical analysis of the traffic build up problem. The second is a car-parking simulator: ‘carparkingsimMcHale2003’, where car parking is modelled in a 3D environment. The concepts that can be drawn from this is from the initial stages of its development where a 2D view from the car was implemented. A similar view could be used to show the traffic light perspective of a road junction. The model for the research paper is planned to have elements of both these models along with additional extensions to enable the situation described in the paper to be modelled. The model will contain a cross junction with sets of traffic lights for controlling the flow of traffic. Differing from the traffic light model by making use of the different filter options for particular directions if appropriate for the situation. Further extensions to the model will include having another junction linked to the previous, with another set of traffic lights to model the behaviour of these as they often appear in the real world. With the model a user would be able to investigate what affects changing environmental variables could have on the traffic flow for the scenario. This can include setting the frequency of which an individual or group of lights and also changing the frequency of the vehicles approaching from a particular direction. All these features may not be implemented in the first version of the model, but there will be scope for the extension of the model to include these features. From the world, dependencies can be constructed within the model between the vehicles themselves, reacting in a certain way based on other vehicles and between traffic lights and vehicles, that a vehicle should stop or go depending on the state of the traffic light ahead (red/green). Dependencies will also exist between the traffic lights at a particular junction as the timings for each one will be sequenced that the situation of two opposing lights are not both allowing traffic through at the same time. The observables of the model will be to ascertain the affect of altering the model agents (e.g. traffic lights) on the flow of traffic through the junctions.