Performance of pheromone model for predicting traffic congestion

Abstract

Social insects perform complex tasks without top-down-style control, by sensing and depositing chemical markers called "pheromone". We have examined applications of this pheromone paradigm towards realizing intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Many of the current traffic management approaches require central processing with the usual risks of overload, bottlenecks and delay. Our work points towards a more decentralized approach that may overcome those risks. We use new category of the ITS infrastructure called the probe-car system. The probe-car system is an emerging data collection method, in which a number of vehicles are used as moving sensors to detect actual traffic situations. In this paper, a car is regarded as a social insect that deposits multi-semantics of (digital) pheromone on the basis of sensed traffic information. We have developed a basic model for predicting traffic congestion in the immediate future using pheromone. In the course of our experimentation, we have identified the need to properly tune the model to achieve acceptable performance. Therefore, we refined the model for practical use. We evaluate our method using real-world traffic data and results indicate applicability to prediction. Furthermore, we describe the practical implications of this method in the real world.

Traffic-Congestion Forecasting Algorithm Based on Pheromone Communication Model

“…Our method is an effective way of forecasting congestion in which each road agent generates pheromone information on its own road unit and exchanges this information with its neighboring agents. In a related study, Ando et al investigated the forecasting of congestion in a local area a short time after pheromones had evaporated and diffused [11]. However, all drivers need to have the same probe-car system installed in their vehicles.…”

Mobile ACORoute—Route Recommendation Based on Communication by Pheromones

“…Currently, many methods have been proposed, many of them using collective intelligence, based on the idea that societies of insects perform complex tasks using decentralized communication based on pheromones. In this context, pheromones are considered as a means to provide information [16], [3], [5], [6], [17] among others.…”

“…In this paper we propose congestion identification using the technique of communication based on pheromones (ACORoute), which was also proposed by [16], [3] and [5] in their works. Different from the adopted in our work, they use the infrastructure provided by local transport system and/or devices installed in vehicles to collect, process and store data related to traffic.…”

A Decentralized Approach for Anticipatory Vehicle Routing Using Delegate Multiagent Systems

“…The deposited information can be used to label roads as congested, and this information can be transmitted back to vehicles. The use of pheromones in [24] resembles the approach in [25] in that it uses pheromones to represent the current traffic situation in a virtual environment. How the pheromones are applied in [24] differs from [22], but the view that they provide on the traffic network is similar.…”