Chief Investigator:

Dr. YEUNG Chi Ho

Project Year:

2014-2015

Description:

Traffic congestions are common in global cities. While road expansion is not always feasible and is not a sustainable approach, optimizing and coordinating traffic flows become the only solution. Unlike existing navigation methods which suggest several alternative routes for individual users to choose, a traffic coordination system will assign a path to each individual such that a global objective, e.g. congestion mitigation, is achieved. It is a computationally difficult task since the routes of all vehicles have to be determined and coordinated simultaneously. In this research project, we will tackle the problem through statistical physics. Simple models of transportation network will be constructed, simulated and analyzed, and existing static path coordination methods will be applied. A new algorithm for dynamical path coordination will be derived by considering repeated network adaptation. The algorithms will be tested on real datasets to examine its effectiveness in real applications. We will also reveal the impact of failures on transportation networks, and adaptation at individual and system levels. Unlike conventional heuristics approaches, laws governing traffic dynamics will be identified and then developed into useful applications. The results will have important environmental, social and economical impacts, and will contribute to the sustainability of existing infrastructures.