Microscopic simulation model calibration and validation - Case study of VISSIM simulation model for a coordinated actuated signal system

Microscopic simulation models have been widely used in both transportation operations and management analyses because simulation is safer, less expensive, and faster than field implementation and testing. While these simulation models can be advantageous to engineers, the models must be calibrated and validated before they can be used to provide meaningful results. However, the transportation profession has not established any formal or consistent guidelines for the development and application of these models. In practice, simulation model-based analyses have often been conducted under default parameter values or best-guessed values. This is mainly due to either difficulties in field data collection or lack of a readily available procedure for simulation model calibration and validation. A procedure was proposed for microscopic simulation model calibration and validation and an example case study is presented with real-world traffic data from Route 50 on Lee Jackson Highway in Fairfax, Virginia. The proposed procedure consisted of nine steps: (a) measure of effectiveness selection, (b) data collection, (c) calibration parameter identification, (d) experimental design, (e) run simulation, (f) surface function development, (g) candidate parameter set generations, (h) evaluation, and (i) validation through new data collection. The case study indicates that the proposed procedure appears to be properly calibrating and validating the VISSIM simulation model for the test-bed network.