Self-similar behavior of a single vehicle through periodic traffic lights

Takashi Nagatani

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2005, vol. 347, issue C, 673-682

Abstract: We study the dynamical behavior of a single vehicle moving through a sequence of traffic lights on a single-lane highway, where the traffic lights turn on and off periodically with the synchronized or green-wave strategies. The dynamical model of the vehicle controlled by traffic lights is expressed in terms of the nonlinear map. The tour time of the vehicle exhibits a complex behavior, interacting with the sequence of traffic lights. The dynamical behavior of signal traffic at a low density changes at ts=l/v+τ, where l is the distance between the traffic lights, v the mean speed of the vehicle, and τ the delay of traffic light at the green-wave strategy. When the cycle time ts of traffic lights is less than (l/v+τ), the vehicle exhibits the self-similar behavior, while it shows the periodic behavior for ts>(l/v+τ). The characteristics of the self-similar behavior is clarified.

Keywords: Transportation; Traffic light; Self-similarity; Nonlinear map (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:347:y:2005:i:c:p:673-682

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2004.08.007

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