Integrated route guidance and ramp metering within MPC framework

This paper is to present a new integrated traffic control model for urban freeways using model-based predictive control (MPC) framework, where the effect of traffic information on drivers' en-route diversion behavior is explicitly modeled using an adaptive Kalman filtering theory. This captures the effect of traffic information on drivers' real-time en-route diversion behavior, based on on-line traffic surveillance data. The integrated control task is formulated as a dynamic, nonlinear, discrete time optimal control problem with constrained control variables. Feedback control is realized by solving the optimization problem for each control interval over a long future-time horizon. Simulation results for a case study show that the proposed integrated MPC model takes in consideration of the time-dependent traffic characteristics and drivers' actual behavior and can significantly enhance the traffic efficiency and reduce the cost of traffic system.