ARTIFICIAL CITY A TRAFFIC SIMULATION

INSPIRATION SimCity 4 CitiesXL 98

INSPIRATION strategy-gaming-with-Transport-Tycoon.html Transport Tycoon GTA IV

INDUSTRY CONTEXT SUMO Transmodeler

BRIEF To build a traffic simulator

BREAKING DOWN Vehicles travel on roads More than one vehicle at a time Vehicles will need to react to each other Multiple road elements Need mechanism to guide vehicles between them You travel to a location Need mechanism to guide to goal

REQUIREMENTS A road network to navigate in relation to Multiple vehicles with separate destinations that can react to each other A means for vehicles to move locate and reach their destination

DESIGN DECISIONS 2D vs. 3D Language? Complexity Grid vs. Free-form Metadata? Network generation?

DESIGN DECISIONS 2D vs. 3D Language? Complexity Grid vs. Free-form Metadata? Network generation? 2D Free-form C# Fixed vehicle attributes Pre-coded Scenarios Not beyond performance

FREE-FORM ROADS Join the Dots Time expensive to design large networks this way System can speed process by calculating roads itself

ROAD “STRIP” Smallest linear component of a road that may be curved Place together to represent curves Two coordinates held in association Use offset values to render as a stretch of tarmac

MULTIPLE DIRECTION ROADS Issues with interpolating the nodes Made worse by sharp corners and multiple lanes Issues with smoothing

SHARP CORNERS Road width increasing at corners

SMOOTHING CORNERS Unequal number of lane elements Loss of relation to node

VEHICLE CONCEPTS Components govern performance Occupant governs behaviours

PERFORMANCE Acceleration/Speed depend on power and weight Cornering depends on brakes and chassis

BEHAVIOURS Stopping Distance Comfortable top speed Severity of Acceleration/Deceleration Depends on Driver Sometimes feelings, such as stress or impatience Other times as preference or habit Lane changing behaviours

BASIC MOVEMENT Move towards target node For example, one from a road “strip”. Don’t collide with other vehicles Try to match pace

MORE COMPLEX INTERACTIONS Attempt to bypass obstructions Beware of new vehicles which might present collision risks

FUZZY LOGIC Multi-value approach to logic Decimal based membership of values Represent Driver as collection of fuzzy sets Supply situational information and de-fuzzify key values to determine decisions

LANE CHANGE EXAMPLE  Driver waits at the back of queue for lights to change  The driver method processes that the adjacent lane has a cars length of space  Potential Space > Car Length  The adjacent lane has no streaming controls, thus the driver can continue on a direct route to their destination from it  Route suitability is true  The driver has a low membership value to the Impatience fuzzy set, but currently possesses a high membership to the Stress set which has been increasing due to not reaching locations as rapidly as the path-finding algorithm expected them to.  The de-fuzzified value combined with the earlier variables passes the threshold value and the car maneuvers into the free space

PREREQUISITES  The more freedom of navigation an automated element is given the greater the scope for error  This can be managed by properly training the automated elements before declaring the simulation finalised  Movement of vehicles with relation to nodes requires a finalised network structure

ROUTE-PLANNING The means of determining the shortest route from point A to point B