Controller Interface Device exhibited at annual TRB meetingATAC's Controller Interface Device (CID) was highlighted in January at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, the nation's largest meeting of transportation professionals. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Research Council and its annual meeting draws more than 9,500 transportation professionals from around the world.
Birst presented information on ATAC's CID and illustrated how the CID may be used to accurately model complex traffic signal operations in conjunction with the VISSIM traffic simulation model. In addition, Birst and associate research fellow Jason Baker also demonstrated the CID at the TRB's exhibit hall. The device was featured by the Federal Highway Administration in an exhibit also featuring its Adaptive Control Software (ASC) Lite initiative. "This meeting represents the best of transportation research from around the world. Presenting and demonstrating the CID at TRB indicates how innovative and useful this approach is to traffic modelers," Birst says. The presentation and demonstrations were very well received by advanced simulation users and controller vendors who see value in the device for testing traffic controllers. ATAC's CID was initially developed by students and is built using off-the-shelf technology. ATAC developed several software components to perfect the CID interface between the simulation program and signal controller. The device is easy to set up and use, is relatively small, easy to upgrade and has Ethernet connectivity allowing users to run analysis using CID/controller combinations from virtually any location in the world. With this capability, ATAC is promoting a concept of a virtual traffic lab to allow collaboration among researchers and traffic engineers across the U.S. |
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ATAC research fellow Shawn Birst, presented information on the CID at the Traffic Signal Systems Simulation Subcommittee. Members of that subcommittee had been discussing ways to improve how traffic signal operations are modeled in traffic simulation, including using "hardware-in-the-loop" approaches.