Arterial travel time estimation using VII probe data and point-based detection data

This paper presents a promising application of Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration, in which arterial travel time are estimated in real-time. In this application, information collected through the V-I communication is utilized in concert with that collected by conventional point-based detectors. Two VII probe data (VPD) models have been developed and customized for the latest VII probe message standard. The two models associate VII snapshots for single-link travel times and multiple-link travel times, respectively. In parallel, a point-based detection (PBD) model was developed with real-time inputs from inductive loop detectors and traffic signal controllers. Finally, a fusion model was developed based on the single link VPD model and the PBD model. A six-mile-long arterial has been chosen to evaluate the developed models. According to the simulation results for 1% VII penetration rate, the root mean square percent error (RMSPE) for the PBD model is 12.4%. While the single link VPD model performs better than the multiple links VPD model with RMSPE 14.7% and 23.5%, respectively. The fusion model delivered the best performance with RMSPE 5.9%. With the increase of penetration rate over 5%, the RMSPEs of the two VPD models drop drastically to 5.7% and 8.1% respectively, thus making the fusion model less helpful. In conclusion, this paper shows that the developed analytical models work pretty well and are able to produce accurate and reliable estimations along the testbed arterial.