Development of a Computer System for Simulation of Traffic Models

Abstract

In this paper, a computer system named Advanced Emulator (AE), which is developed for simulation of traffic models, is presented. Unlike traditional transportation programs such as PARAMICS and VISSIM, AE has no built-in concrete traffic models. Instead, AE implements a specialized scripting language, the AE language, through which researchers write scripts defining logic of concrete traffic models to be simulated by themselves, and a runtime virtual machine, the AE virtual machine, which interpret and execute scripts written in the AE language to fulfill simulation. Thus, AE provides researchers a platform on which they can build customized simulation packages for various traffic models from the ground up. Using AE, researchers can virtually simulate any traffic model from car following and lane changing to ramp metering. Therefore, AE could be a useful tool in research fields of traffic model comparison, prototyping, and validation.