A novel assistive on-ramp merging control system for dense traffic management

On-ramps are area of frequent traffic congestion. Proper traffic guidance around on-ramp merging areas exerts a positive effect on the relief of traffic congestion. The objective of this paper is to design an assistive ramp-merging control (ARMCON) system. It utilizes knowledge about professional driver behavior and the dynamical relationship among the on-ramp vehicles, to produce timely information so as to guide the on-ramp drivers when merging with the main traffic flow. Under the guidance of ARMCON, disruption of the main traffic on the express way is minimized while a certain merging rate is maintained.