Using global positioning system for bus priority in London: traffic signals close to bus stops

London's bus network is one of the largest and most comprehensive urban transport systems in the world. The contribution of buses is recognised by implementing a series of initiatives including bus priority at traffic signals. London has a long history of the implementation of bus priority at traffic signals. It has kept pace with the development of new technologies by updating its bus priority system. Now, London is moving towards a bus management system based on global positioning system (GPS), which will also be used to provide bus priority at traffic signals. The authors describe theoretical work carried out by TRG on behalf of Transport for London Bus Priority Team to tackle the challenge posed by locational error associated with GPS where a traffic signal is close to a bus stop     

Bus accident analysis of routes with/without bus priority

This paper summarises findings on road safety performance and bus-involved accidents in Melbourne along roads where bus priority measures had been applied. Results from an empirical analysis of the accident types revealed significant reduction in the proportion of accidents involving buses hitting stationary objects and vehicles, which suggests the effect of bus priority in addressing manoeuvrability issues for buses. A mixed-effects negative binomial (MENB) regression and back-propagation neural network (BPNN) modelling of bus accidents considering wider influences on accident rates at a route section level also revealed significant safety benefits when bus priority is provided. Sensitivity analyses done on the BPNN model showed general agreement in the predicted accident frequency between both models. The slightly better performance recorded by the MENB model results suggests merits in adopting a mixed effects modelling approach for accident count prediction in practice given its capability to account for unobserved location and time-specific factors. A major implication of this research is that bus priority in Melbourne's context acts to improve road safety and should be a major consideration for road management agencies when implementing bus priority and road schemes.     

Factors affecting the probability of bus drivers being at-fault in bus-involved accidents

Previous research has provided little insight into factors that influence the probability of bus drivers being at-fault in bus-involved accidents. In this study, an analysis was conducted on accident data compiled by a bus company that include an assessment on whether the bus driver was deemed by the company to hold primary responsibility for accident occurrence. Using a mixed logit modelling approach, roadway/environmental, vehicle and driver related variables that were identified to be influential were road type, speed limit, traffic/lighting conditions, bus priority, bus age/length and driver's age/gender/experience/historic at-fault accident record. Results were indicative of possible confined road-space issues that bus drivers face along routes with roadside traffic friction and point to the provision of exclusive right of way for buses as a possible way to address this. Results also suggest benefits in assigning routes comprising mainly divided roads as well as newer and shorter buses to less experienced drivers.     

Social impacts of road traffic: perceptions and priorities of local residents

The assessment of the social impacts of road traffic is usually based on objective indicators or on expert judgement, without input from the affected communities. This paper considers the perceptions and priorities of local residents about traffic impacts and possible mitigation measures, using as a case study a rural area that will be affected by traffic associated with the construction of a nuclear power station. The study consisted of a qualitative phase followed by a stated preference survey. Econometric models were used to measure the relative priority of different impacts and mitigation measures. The most impactful aspects were noise, vibration and increased car or bus travel times. The most preferred measures were night-time restrictions to HGVs, parking restrictions and safety measures for pedestrians and cyclists. There were significant differences in preferences according to residence location, gender, employment status and household composition. The results provide information about aspects that tend to be aggregated in existing assessment frameworks, separating the reduction in the utility of some activities (like walking and driving) and the suppression of those activities.     

基于希尔伯特变换的信号优先级排序法在车内异响源识别中的应用

在一个多输入-单输出系统中,若输入信号之间非独立,相互存在因果关系或线性影响,可能导致故障原因判断不明。利用基于希尔伯特变换的优先级排序法对相关输入信号进行考察,检验因果关系,确定优先级最高、对输出影响最大的输入。以空调压缩机壳体、压缩机吸气口、膨胀阀低压端、发电机四个主要测点振动信号作为非独立输入,以驾驶员右耳处声信号作为输出,将开空调时车内产生异响频率作为考察目标,利用该方法确定优先级最高信号为压缩机吸气口振动。该方法比传统方法更快捷、高效,易于为企业所采纳。     

Travel time prediction under heterogeneous traffic conditions using global positioning system data from buses

Travel time information is a vital component of many intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications. In recent years, the number of vehicles in India has increased tremendously, leading to severe traffic congestion and pollution in urban areas, particularly during peak periods. A desirable strategy to deal with such issues is to shift more people from personal vehicles to public transport by providing better service (comfort, convenience and so on). In this context, advanced public transportation systems (APTS) are one of the most important ITS applications, which can significantly improve the traffic situation in India. One such application will be to provide accurate information about bus arrivals to passengers, leading to reduced waiting times at bus stops. This needs a real-time data collection technique, a quick and reliable prediction technique to calculate the expected travel time based on real-time data and informing the passengers regarding the same. The scope of this study is to use global positioning system data collected from public transportation buses plying on urban roadways in the city of Chennai, India, to predict travel times under heterogeneous traffic conditions using an algorithm based on the Kalman filtering technique. The performance of the proposed algorithm is found to be promising and expected to be valuable in the development of APTS in India. The work presented here is one of the first attempts at real-time short-term prediction of travel time for ITS applications in Indian traffic conditions.     

基于设计事理学的公交系统体验设计研究

目的 针对现有的公交系统体验问题,以设计事理学为理论基础,对公交系统进行优化设计改进,提高乘客乘坐的满意度。方法 首先运用事理学的系统性思维方法对乘坐公交的“事”系统进行外部因素的分析,并从事因驱动的角度提炼乘车各阶段的设计要素,通过因子量化分析划分内部因素的设计维度,建立公交系统体验设计的目标思维模型;其次为了验证该模型的科学与合理性,应用结构方程模型分析其内部因素影响乘客满意度的作用机制,根据运算结果,确定公交系统中体验设计要素的优先级并指导设计;最后采用系统可用性量表,来评估设计方案的合理性。结论 构建了基于事理学和结构方程模型的设计流程,并将此设计流程应用于公交系统体验设计中,提高了乘客的乘车体验感,为其他体验设计研究提供参考。     

Risky behavior of bus commuters and bus drivers in Karachi, Pakistan.

Buses account for a disproportionate number of road traffic accident fatalities in Karachi, Pakistan and other developing countries. Potentially dangerous bus driving and commuting practices that increase risk of road accidents and the effect of traffic police on bus behavior are evaluated. A total of 250 episodes each of disembarking and embarking commuters, buses stopping and moving on the road at ten of Karachi's highest risk intersections for traffic injuries were observed. Of the disembarking passengers, 33% did not wait for the bus to stop; 54% stepped off in the center of the road and 84% did not look out for traffic. Among the embarking commuters, 38% got on moving buses; 73% climbed on buses filled to their outer foot boards and 83% waited for buses on the street. Males were more likely than females to jump off a moving bus (43% versus 1.6%, P < 0.001), get on a moving bus (49% versus 12%, P < 0.001), and run to catch a bus (45% versus 8%, P < 0.001). At the bus stops, 30% of the buses did not stop completely; 46% stopped away from the stop and 79% stopped in the center of the road. Where traffic police were present buses were more likely to race (9% versus 3%, P = 0.05) and to cut off other vehicles (13% versus 2%, P = 0.001) than where police were absent. Risky behavior is common among both Karachi bus drivers and bus commuters. The traditional efforts to regulate bus traffic through traffic police is ineffective.     

基于VXI总线的多通道多采样率数据采集系统实现

介绍一个多通道多采样率的数据采集系统。该系统输入64个模拟量均要转换成数字信号,数据采集卡为基于VXI总线的E1413,多通道之间的变采样率通过特殊的采样列表实现。文中给出了硬件组成、软件设计和测试结果。该系统已用于对飞机燃油试验台的测控。     

Automatic vehicle location tracking system based on GIS environment

Recently, automatic vehicle location (AVL) has become more widely used, affordable and popular than ever before. AVL is used for different tracking purposes, especially for those related to tracking one vehicle or a fleet of vehicles. Tracking system technology was made possible by the integration of three new technologies: navigational technologies such as global positioning system (GPS), database technologies such as geographic information system (GIS) and communication technology such as general packet radio service (GPRS). The proposed software design dasiatracking systemdasia is used to pinpoint the position, ground speed and fuel level of a given vehicle. This improves fleet management by making it secure and more efficient. The system has the ability to detect the optimal path between source and destination, depending on many factors such as travel time, jam, topography and number of traffic lights. The authors applied greedy techniques (GT) such as Dijkstradasias and Kruskaldasias algorithms to a graph weight depending on the proposed cost function (CF). The geofencing technique is applied to the system based on real coordinates and grants security and safety to the fleet of vehicles. The designed software offers more flexibility in loading digital maps. This proposed software has the ability to visualise the real position of vehicles on maps and to take decisions according to real-time information.     

The Utilization of Artificial Neural Networks for Multisensor System Integration in Navigation and Positioning Instruments

Inertial-navigation system (INS) and global position system (GPS) technologies have been widely applied in many positioning and navigation applications. INS determines the position and the attitude of a moving vehicle in real time by processing the measurements of three-axis gyroscopes and three-axis accelerometers mounted along three mutually orthogonal directions. GPS, on the other hand, provides the position and the velocity through the processing of the code and the carrier signals of at least four satellites. Each system has its own unique characteristics and limitations. Therefore, the integration of the two systems offers several advantages and overcomes each of their drawbacks. The integration of INS and GPS is usually implemented utilizing the Kalman filter, which represents one of the best solutions for INS/GPS integration. However, the Kalman filter performs adequately only under certain predefined dynamic models. Alternatively, this paper suggests an INS/GPS integration method based on artificial neural networks (ANN) to fuse uncompensated INS measurements and differential GPS (DGPS) measurements. The proposed method suggests two different architectures: the position update architecture (PUA) and the position and velocity PUA (PVUA). Both architectures were developed utilizing multilayer feed-forward neural networks with a conjugate gradient training algorithm.     

A BP neural network based information fusion method for urban traffic speed estimation

Obtaining comprehensive and accurate information is very important in intelligent traffic system (ITS). In ITS, the GPS floating car system is an very important approach for traffic data acquisition. However, in this system, the GPS blind areas caused by tall buildings and tunnels could affect the acquisition of traffic information and depress the system performance. Aiming at this problem, we developed a novel method employing a back propagation (BP) neural network to estimate the traffic speed in the GPS blind areas. When the speed of one road section is lost, we can use the speed of its related road sections to estimate its speed. The complete historical data of these road sections are used to train the neural network, using Levenberg-Marquardt learning algorithm. Then, the current speed of the related roads is used by the trained neural network to get the speed of the road section without GPS signal. We compare the speed of the road section estimated by our method with the real speed of this road section, and the experimental results show that the speed of this road section estimated by our method is better.     

Offshore wind farm with centralised power conversion and DC interconnection

The study of a hypothetical large offshore wind farm based on centralised power conversion and interconnected to the grid using a multiterminal parallel high voltage direct current (HVDC) link is presented. The 300 MW wind farm consists of 60 squirrel-cage based 5 MW generators connected to a common DC bus using ten voltage source converters (VSCs). The transmission system converters provide variable speed generator control, and therefore individual converters are not required for each wind generator, implying savings in wind farm costs. The paper studies the technical and economical benefits of the proposed topology, as well as the selection of the main components. A detailed analysis of the control circuits for both generator and grid facing converters, with respect to primary control functions, is also given. PSCAD/EMTDC simulation of the proposed concept is presented for realistic wind signals. The results confirm operation at an average optimum coefficient of performance at each respective generator group, as well as satisfactory stability even for severe wind speed changes. The proposed concept reduces the costs associated with DC interconnection and may simplify integration of large offshore wind farms at substantial distances.     

Remote Sensing and Control of an Irrigation System Using a Distributed Wireless Sensor Network

Efficient water management is a major concern in many cropping systems in semiarid and arid areas. Distributed in-field sensor-based irrigation systemsoffer a potential solution to support site-specific irrigation management that allows producers to maximize their productivity while saving water. This paper describes details of the design and instrumentation of variable rate irrigation, a wireless sensor network, and software for real-time in-field sensing and control of a site-specific precision linear-move irrigation system. Field conditions were site-specifically monitored by six in-field sensor stations distributed across the field based on a soil property map, and periodically sampled and wirelessly transmitted to a base station. An irrigation machine was converted to be electronically controlled by a programming logic controller that updates georeferenced location of sprinklers from a differential Global Positioning System (GPS) and wirelessly communicates with a computer at the base station. Communication signals from the sensor network and irrigation controller to the base station were successfully interfaced using low-cost Bluetooth wireless radio communication. Graphic user interface-based software developed in this paper offered stable remote access to field conditions and real-time control and monitoring of the variable-rate irrigation controller.     

The performance comparison between GPs and BeiDou‐2/compass: A perspective from Asia

Abstract

The next decade promises drastic improvements to global navigation satellite systems. The USA is modernizing GPS, Russia is refreshing GLONASS, Europe is moving ahead with its own Galileo system, and The People's Republic of China is expanding its BeiDou‐1 system from a regional navigation system to a full constellation global navigation satellite system known as BeiDou‐2/Compass, which consists of thirty five satellites including geostationary satellites, MEO satellites and geosynchronous satellites in the coming year. Extra satellites will make possible improved performance for all applications, and especially where satellite signals can be obscured, such as in urban canyons, under tree canopies or in open‐pit mines. The benefits of the expected extra satellites and their signals can be evaluated in terms of availability, accuracy, continuity, and reliability issues.

The advent of a hybrid GNSS constellation has drawn a lot of attention to study compatibility and interoperability. A number of performance analyses have been conducted on a global scale with respect to availability, reliability, accuracy and integrity in different simulated scenarios (such as open sky and urban canyons) for each system individually as well as for combined systems with all the possible combinations. Since the BeiDou‐2/Compass has gained more attention from GNSS communities, the main objective of this paper is to study the performance of BeiDou‐2/Compass comparied to GPS in the greater Asia region; and also to explore whether the combination of BeiDou‐2/Compass with GPS would yield performance improvements in this region.

The performance analysis can be analyzed by either the signal or the geometrical conditions. However, the scope of this study is limited to investigating the impact of current and future GNSS based on geometrical conditions. Therefore, the satellite visibility and DOP (Dilution of Precision) values of each system or possible combinations between them are used as the major indices for performance evaluation with the emphasis on the addition of Compass. In addition, those indices are further analyzed in terms of their spatial and temporal distributions with the emphasis on the greater Asia region. Moreover, the spatial performance analyses are conducted on both global and regional scales to provide more insightful comparisons to illustrate the importance of future Compass for users in the greater Asia region.     

公交车辆停靠站位置对交通噪声的影响分析

以交通仿真为手段,结合日本ASJ道路交通噪声排放模型,研究不同状态下的公交停靠站位置对交通噪声的影响。结果表明当道路处于拥堵状态时,公交停靠站位置对交通噪声影响较小;当道路处于非拥堵状态下时,公交停靠站位置对交通噪声LA eq值影响约为1～2 dB、对TNI指标的影响高达15～17 dB。     

基于CAN总线的TT-FPS调度算法研究及其性能分析

针对CAN总线中消息在固定优先级调度（FPS）算法下传输不可预知、低优先级消息容易被阻塞的问题，提出了一种基于时间触发机制的固定优先级调度（TT-FPS）算法，给出了最糟糕响应时间的计算方法。然后以纯电动汽车消息系统为例进行了TT-FPS的性能分析，验证了TT-FPS 较FPS有更好的性能。     

公交专用道对交通噪声的影响分析

首先对研究路段车流量、车速等交通流数据进行实测并拟合得出它们服从的分布规律。然后运用Monte Carlo仿真产生服从相应分布规律的多组交通流数据,进而运用微观交通流仿真技术对道路设置外侧式和不设置公交专用道两种情况进行仿真,对仿真数据运用单车噪声排放模型和噪声传播模型计算出观测点的噪声及其分布规律。对观测点噪声进行统计分析表明,与不设置公交专用道相比,道路设置外侧式公交专用道时,观测点噪声均值、不确定度和污染级均有明显的增加。     

Fast acquisition implementation for high sensitivity global positioning systems receivers based on joint and reduced space search

In Global Positioning Systems (GPS), unique pseudorandom codes allow different satellites to share available frequency spectra without interference. In receivers, the locally generated codes (replicas) are correlated with received signals to extract a particular satellite?s signal and wipe-off its pseudorandom code. The signals received are generally misaligned with replicas. As a result, receivers search for signals using different codes, code phases, and additional residual sinusoidal demodulations at several possible frequencies. This search is called acquisition and it is computationally challenging for receivers operating under weak signal conditions. Software GPS receivers have been developed over the past several years and continue to be an area of extensive research. Faster, less complex, and more efficient algorithms are required for software GPS receivers. We present a fast algorithm for accelerating acquisition. Several frequency domain approaches proposed by authors earlier are combined to reduce computational complexity. These are (i) joint code, code delay and frequency search; (ii) limited code-phase search; and (iii) a shifting replica approach. Significant gains in arithmetic complexity are achieved. A novel method for restoring correlation degradation introduced by limited code phase search is also presented in this paper. Overall performance of the acquisition is illustrated on different platforms.     

Evaluation of prioritization methods for effective pavement maintenance of urban roads

Priority analysis is a multi-criteria process that determines the best ranking list of candidate sections for maintenance based on several factors. In this paper, two methods for priority ranking of road maintenance, viz. (a) ranking based on subjective rating and (b) ranking based on economic indicator, are evaluated. The subjective ranking was done using maintenance priority index which is a function of road condition index, traffic volume factor, special factor and drainage factor. The second ranking method was based on economic indicator in which NPV/Cost ratio was calculated for each pavement section using the HDM-4 software.