A PINN approach for traffic state estimation and model calibration based on loop detector flow data

We analyze the performances of a Physics Informed Neural Network (PINN) strategy applied to traffic state estimation and model parameter identification in realistic situations. The traffic dynamics is modeled by a first order macroscopic traffic flow model involving two physical parameters and an auxiliary one. Besides, observations consist of (averaged) density and flow synthetic data computed at fixed space locations, simulating real loop detector measurements. We show that the proposed approach is able to give a good approximation of the underlying dynamics even with poorer information. Moreover, the precision generally improves as the number of measurement locations increases.