Freeway traffic flow simulation using the Link Node Cell transmission model

Abstract

This paper illustrates the calibration and imputation procedure implemented to specify the inputs to the Link-Node Cell Transmission model used for simulating traffic flow in freeways. Traffic flow and occupancy data from loop detectors is used for calibrating these models and specifying the inputs to the simulation. In addition, flow data from ramps are often found to be missing or incorrect. A model based iterative learning technique is used to impute these ramp flows by minimizing the error between simulated and measured densities. The simulation results using the calibrated parameters and imputed flows indicate good conformation with loop detector measurements.