Simulation Model for Studying Impact of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Wireless Communications on Traffic Network Operations

This paper describes the design and implementation of a simulation code supplement to a commercial microsimulation system that makes efficient use of traffic information data that can be disseminated via wireless vehicular ad hoc networks. The transmitted information elicits timely responses to driver behavior for speed or path changes in a realistic way. A simulation model developed by following the prescribed design was used in a case study application to simulate vehicle dynamic route diversion and variable speed limits following a severe incident in a small network. Simulation results indicate that the model results are sensitive both to different market penetration levels of vehicles equipped with wireless communications capabilities and to various control strategies, which therefore gives credibility to the utility of the system design.