UTC Development

1
UTC Development

• Fabrizio Biora
• Mizar Automazione

2
Urban Traffic Control (UTC)

• Different control strategies
• Fixed time systems
• Traffic Responsive Systems
• Plan Selection Systems
• Plan Generation Systems
• Local Adaptation (generally combined with plan
  selection)
• Traffic Responsive Centralised Systems
• Traffic Responsive Distributed Systems

Continuous evolution
until now efforts to improve the efficiency
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UTOPIA Current scenario
Efficiency and environment quality

• improves private traffic mobility (up to 20
  time savings)
• provides priority to Public Transport (up to 28
  time savings)
• lowers pollution and fuel consumption

4
UTOPIA New challenges

• growing traffic volumes
• cities are facing growing congestions problems
• new attention to safety and VRU
• growing conflicts between vehicles and VRU

Current Traffic Environment
need for plans with a greater complexity

• flexible and simple plans to increase control
  efficiency
• eliminate the conflicts between VRU and vehicles

Key for success
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Quick actuation - elimination of VRUs conflicts

• At intersections, main and secondary movements
  are identified
• Main movements real-time optimisation
• Secondary movements
• optimisation based on local demands
• allow for multiple green windows within the
  cycle

Principles
Simple less stages Safe VRUs served without
conflicts and with short delays Efficient flexibl
e control
Advantages
ready for vehicle-infrastructure co-operative
solutions
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Micro simulation results Rhenen case study

• Scenario
• high traffic volumes
• need for long green time / long cycle time
• need for safety / VRUs dedicated stages

NB base case obtained by signal group
optimisation
Safer, flexible and more efficient !
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Plan selection - triggering

• The plan library constitutes a set of control
  strategies that can manage the area for a given
  traffic scenario
• The system can select and trigger the plans by
  applying in real-time different criteria, handled
  on the basis of a majority logic, such as

8
Plan selection traffic scenario recognition

• Traffic scenario recognition bases on the
  continuous monitoring of the measurement sections
• A traffic scenario is defined as
• a set of reference conditions (demand, occupancy)
  for X measurement sections
• a set of items (sub-areas, intersections) to
  which apply the plan
• the reference plan, out of those included in the
  library, to be triggered
• a priority level
• A specific SW module (scenarios manager) computes
  in real time a function of scenarios
  recognition that assigns a value to an indicator
  associated to each scenario
• This value determines the selection of the
  scenario to be triggered

9
Emergency routes

• Emergency routes is a function currently under
  development in Spot/Utopia to ensure green routes
  for
• Emergency vehicles
• VIP vehicles
• Emergency routes ensure propagation within the
  controlled network of priority requests coming
  either
• by detectors
• by local interaction with equipped vehicles
• remotely by the operator
• Demand is propagated along the intersections
  using configurable timing
• Routes with multiple branches are supported
• Disruption to other traffic is taken into account
  and recovery from emergency demand is part of the
  local optimisation

10
Omnia - overall
Omnia aims to be a flexible, scalable and modular
system for Traffic light controller
monitoring Traffic control actuated timetable/tra
ffic actuated plan selection adaptive Omnia aims
to be the platform to build UTC applications in
the coming years Omnia will incorporate,
integrate and enhance functions today available
in Omnivue / EC-Trak Utopia Omnia shall be open
for integration with other systems and
application in the ITS domain Omnia is currently
going through the internal testing procedure
release for version 1 is planned in June 2007
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User interface

• Web-based user interface
• Full GIS support (multiple maps format,
  geo-referencing for all objects)
• User-Role access to functions
• Update times real-time (groups status)
• Easy multi-language support
• Representation of device status, operating mode,
  main alarms on the same interface
• Object interaction for commands
• Diagram representation for traffic data
• SMS Email alerts on faults or traffic events

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Traffic control

• Local Plans
• Controllers working with loaded signal plans
• Local actuation is supported according to
  controller capabilities
• Configuration with remote panels
• Coordination
• Traditional fixed plans
• Different type of controllers should be
  synchronized
• Timetable based plans
• Plan selection on timetable base (UTOPIA Spot
  required with simplified configuration)
• Traffic based plans
• Plan selection on traffic scenarios (UTOPIA Spot
  required with simplified configuration)
• Adaptive control
• Full UTOPIA-like control with Spot units
• Bus Priority
• Local demands, distributed propagation,
  integrated with AVL/AVM systems
• Emergency routes

13
System architecture

• New interfaces
• The web user interface grants access to the
  system through a web server.
• A relational database stores current status and
  all traffic data being the main source of
  information for the user interface
• Mostly the interface works on periodic refresh
  of dynamic data driven by the client (pull mode)
• Fast refresh (i.e. alarms, groups status) are
  ensured embedding in the web UI a push
  communication system
• A map server manages all geographic mapping and
  dynamic layers representing the status of all
  managed objects
• Existing systems as backend
• Existing systems are connected through gateways
  acting as communication and data adapters
• Existing client applications are maintained and
  made available

Browser based interface
Browser based interface
internet / intranet
WEB SERVER
OMNIA common database
LAYER ENGINE
MAP SERVER
dynamic (layers)
Shp, dwg, jpg (maps)
gateway
gateway
gateway
UTOPIA
OMNIVUE
XXX
client app
client app
client app
communication cloud
outstations
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Application scenario

• The following scenarios are envisaged for Omnia

• New system deployment
• Omnia will be the UTC product for the coming
  years
• Upgrade Ec-TRAK
• New communication network
• New control algorithms available
• Plan selection (timetable/traffic actuated)
• Full adaptive (for future expansions)
• New main user interface
• Upgrade Omnivue
• New control algorithms available
• Plan selection (timetable/traffic actuated)
• Full adaptive (for future expansions)
• New main user interface
• Upgrade Utopia
• New main user interface
• Extended controller monitoring
• Full monitoring with Swarco ITC controllers
• Reduced monitoring with others (Spot extended
  protocol)

15
Research activities

• Mizar is involved in several research activities
  at National and European level on the UTC domain
• (CVIS, SAFESPOT,COOPERS, OpenGate) focusing on

• Cooperative systems
• Interaction between control applications and
  vehicles
• Vehicles used as additional sensors
• Standards for roadside equipment communicaitons
• Standards for roadside open platforms
• Innovative detection solutions
• Wireless and power autonomous solutions
• Low installation and operating costs
• Counting and traffic level measurements
• Incident detection and infrastructure monitoring
• Road side signalling / local control
  (actuators)