Vehicle acceleration noise: A solution for real-time highway traffic estimation based on low-speed floating vehicles

Highway traffic estimation based on floating vehicle data is one of the major methods in measuring traffic conditions now. Under normal circumstance, average vehicle speed data, which is used to determine traffic conditions, is mainly obtained from taxis and other small vehicles which travel at a speed similar to the road´s free traffic flow speed. But for intercity highways and suburban roads that are less traveled by taxis, coach buses and hazmat cargo trucks, which are traveling at a much slower speed compared to the road´s free traffic flow speed, are required to compute traffic conditions. This paper introduced a new method in which the traffic condition is estimated using acceleration noise algorithm and a speed classification system, along with the above mentioned low-speed floating vehicle data and verified it by calculating the traffic condition of expressway.