In COSMOS, the MOTION UTC system has been enhanced to include incident and congestion detection and management. The result is a powerful tool covering the main tasks for on-line signal control and for incident detection used for traffic management. Currently, the enhanced system is deployed in the city centre of Piraeus, Greece. Traffic flow management systems, like MOTION, help to overcome traffic jams and congestion. One major need is flexible and adaptive traffic flow management, especially concerning incident detection. By optimising the signal programs in the network on-line, traffic flow and travel times are improved and traffic related emissions are reduced. Good results in the test network of Piraeus (with 20 intersections) show improved travel times on routes in the network and a reduction in network congestion.
There is a worldwide market, defined by cities with Urban Traffic Control systems (UTC) and demand for adaptive traffic management systems due to growing individual traffic and negative environmental effects.
Right now most of the intersections in urban areas are controlled with fixed time programs without optimisation of the traffic control process. Simultaneously, there are traffic jams every day during the morning and evening peaks. Due to growing road traffic world wide, there is a need for improving traffic control and using the capacity that is still in the road network. Another point for intelligent UTC systems like MOTION is the reduction of congestion in urban areas, which have got benefits for the drivers (less travel time) and the residents (less emission). For these reasons, MOTION has a positive and increasing business perspective during the next years.
The main features of the MOTION system are:
- Network Monitoring: the traffic flow within the region covered by detectors can be monitored. New modules detect incidents and congestion in the road network;
- MOTION Signal Control: signal programs are calculated on-line on the basis of detector data in order to optimise the traffic flow in the network;
- Incident and Congestion Management: in case of detected incidents and congestion the system automatically calculates new signal programs to reduce congestion.