Modeling Information Flow Dynamics upon Traffic Flow Dynamics

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication via DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) provides real-time information for traffic prediction and management, but we need tools to trace information availability. The team developed a mathematical simulation framework (see Figure 6) to trace V2V information propagation dynamics built upon traffic flow dynamics. Through multiple journal papers, we made the contributions as follows.

1. Developed mathematical formulations to characterize the connectivity, broadcast capacity, and interference of V2V communications in a traffic flow on road segments.
2. Invented novel mathematical techniques to capture information propagation delay on a long-stretch of road, considering intermittent transmission resulting from traffic flow dynamics [21]; developed the information and traffic flow coupled cell transmission model (IT-CTM) to trace V2V information spreading dynamics on a road segment.
3. Modeled V2V information dissemination dynamics at an arterial or ramp intersection (IFNM-a(r)), integrated IFNM-a(r) and IT-CTM to trace information dissemination across a road network, and predicted information propagation dynamics to capture traffic congestion and events.

Figure 6. (a) Information wavefront spreading over roadway network. (b) IT-CTM on a road segment. (c) Intermittent information propagation in a cell.

Funding source: NSF award CMMI-1817346; First Nayar Prize at IIT; Toyota Donors