An Analysis of Probe Data for Delay Time Feedback Control of Traffic Signals

Abstract

This study evaluated the precision of vehicle probe data used to estimate average delay times due to traffic signal control. The data that were collected and processed by a private company are to be used to evaluate a developing delay time feedback control system for traffic signals by traffic simulation. Average delay times as evaluation criteria were calculated based on the times when stop lines were crossed by vehicles that were matched by license plate numbers at a rate of 70 to 80% from video images acquired at 14 intersections on Komazawa-Dori Street and its vicinity during a morning peak. As a result, the sample rates of the probe data were a few percent to a dozen, and the root mean square errors and mean absolute errors of the average delay times were less than 60 and 40 seconds per vehicle respectively. On the other hand, the precision of the delay time estimates was potentially decreased due to probe vehicles that detoured atypically heavy traffic congestion. In addition, delays in transmission and processing of the probe data were estimated to be at most 5 minutes.