You are hereby invited to our first "Evolution, Complexity
and Cognition (ECCO)" seminar of 2005:
"Self-organizing traffic lights" by Carlos Gershenson
(ECCO/CLEA, VUB)
The seminar will take place in room 3C204 (building C, 3rd
floor) on the VUB campus Oefenplein, this week Friday, Jan. 28, at
17:30 h.
Abstract:
Steering traffic in cities is a very complex task, since
improving
efficiency involves the coordination of many actors. Traditional
approaches attempt to optimize traffic lights for a particular density
and configuration of traffic. The disadvantage of this lies in the
fact that traffic configurations change constantly. Traffic seems to
be an adaptation problem rather than an optimization problem. We
propose a simple and feasible alternative, in which traffic lights
self-organize to improve traffic flow. We use a multi-agent simulation
to study three self-organizing methods, which are able to outperform
traditional rigid and adaptive methods. Using simple rules and no
direct communication, traffic lights are able to self-organize and
adapt to changing traffic conditions, reducing waiting times, stopped
efficiency involves the coordination of many actors. Traditional
approaches attempt to optimize traffic lights for a particular density
and configuration of traffic. The disadvantage of this lies in the
fact that traffic configurations change constantly. Traffic seems to
be an adaptation problem rather than an optimization problem. We
propose a simple and feasible alternative, in which traffic lights
self-organize to improve traffic flow. We use a multi-agent simulation
to study three self-organizing methods, which are able to outperform
traditional rigid and adaptive methods. Using simple rules and no
direct communication, traffic lights are able to self-organize and
adapt to changing traffic conditions, reducing waiting times, stopped
cars, and increasing average speeds.
More info and simulation at:
http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~cgershen/sos/index.html#sotl
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More info on the "Evolution, Complexity and Cognition
(ECCO)" research group:
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ECCO/
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Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
Francis Heylighen
"Evolution, Complexity and Cognition" research group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html