Intelligent Weather-Responsive Traffic Management

加拿大严酷的冬季气候会对加拿大人生活的各个方面造成重大影响（例如，增加的事故风险和焦虑以及降低的旅行和紧急服务的可靠性）和国家的经济（例如，生产力下降和经济活动无法完成）。拟议研究计划的目标是解决与冬季运输相关的几个关键问题，包括驾驶员行为、状态监测、估计和预测以及交通管理。我的研究重点特别是开发模型和工具，以改善交通机构和道路使用者的决策。拟议的研究计划包括以下三个研究主题：1）冬季天气条件下的旅行者行为：目标是定量了解旅行者如何在宏观（例如，出行、模式和路线选择）和微观水平（例如，车辆跟驰和间隙接受），这是智能系统规划和交通管理的基础; 2）道路和交通状况的估计和预测：本主题的重点是研究固定和移动的数据源，以生成维护操作员、旅行者和交通管理人员所需的可靠路面和交通状况信息; 3）天气响应交通管理：主要目标是开发交通控制模型和算法，对高速公路和信号城市街道的道路天气和交通变化做出响应。该研究将特别关注如何应用前两个研究主题的结果来解释各种系统组件（如天气，道路环境和交通状况以及驾驶员）的固有随机性，并使用一些最新的优化技术来解决实际的交通控制问题。拟议的计划包括基础和应用研究部分，具有为加拿大产生重大经济，环境和技术效益的高潜力。它也非常适合培养高素质的人才。

Canada's harsh winter climate can cause significant impacts on all aspects of Canadians' life (e.g., increased accident risk and anxiety and reduced reliability of travel and emergency services) and the nation's economy (e.g., reduced productivity and unfulfilled economic activities). The goal of the proposed research program is to address several key issues related to winter transportation, including driver behaviour, condition monitoring, estimation and prediction, and traffic management. My research focuses particularly on developing models and tools for improving the decision-making of transportation agencies and road users. The proposed research program consists of three research themes as follows: 1) Traveler behaviour under winter weather conditions: The objective is to develop quantitative understanding of how travelers respond to adverse winter weather and road conditions at both macroscopic (e.g., trip-making, mode and route choice) and microscopic levels (e.g., car-following and gap acceptance), which is fundamental for intelligent system planning and traffic management; 2) Estimation and prediction of road and traffic conditions: The focus of this theme is on investigating both fixed and mobile data sources for generating reliable road surface and traffic condition information that is needed by maintenance operators, travelers, and traffic managers, and 3) Weather responsive traffic management: The main objective is to develop traffic control models and algorithms that are responsive to road weather and traffic variation for both freeways and signalized urban streets. The research will focus specifically on how to apply the results from the previous two research themes to account for the inherent stochastic nature of various system components such as weather, road environment and traffic conditions, and drivers, and to solve practical traffic control problems using some of the latest optimization techniques. The proposed program entails both basic and applied research components with high potential for generating significant economic, environmental and technical benefits for Canada. It is also eminently suitable for training highly qualified personnel.