Perimeter Traffic Control via Remote Feedback Gating

Recent studies demonstrated the efficiency of feedback-based gating control in mitigating congestion in urban networks by exploiting the notion of network fundamental diagram (NFD). The employed feedback regulator targets an operating NFD point of maximum throughput to enhance the mobility in the urban road network during the peak period, under saturated traffic conditions. In previous studies, gating was applied directly at the border of the protected network (PN), i.e. the network part to be protected from over-saturation. In other words, to implement gating, the usual traffic light settings have been modified at (one or more) junctions at the boundary of the PN. in this work, the recently developed feedback-based gating concept is applied at junctions located further upstream of the PN. This induces a time-delay, which corresponds to the travel time needed for gated vehicles to approach the PN. The resulting extended feedback control problem can be tackled by use of a PI (Proportional-Integral) regulator, albeit with different gain values compared to the case without time-delay. The reported results show a stable behaviour and improved mobility of the overall network in terms of mean speed and travel time. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.