Solution to the user equilibrium dynamic traffic routing problem using feedback linearization

In this paper, the Dynamic Traffic Routing problem is defined as the real-time point diversion of traffic during non-recurrent congestion. This dynamic traffic routing problem is then formulated as a feedback control problem that determines the time-dependent split parameters at the diversion point for routing the incoming traffic flow onto the alternate routes in order to achieve a user-equilibrium traffic pattern. Feedback linearization technique is used to solve this specific user-equilibrium formulation of the Dynamic Traffic Routing problem. The control input is the traffic split factor at the diversion point. By transforming the dynamics of the system into canonical form, a control law is obtained which cancels the nonlinearities of the system. Simulation results show that the performance of this controller on a test network is quite promising. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.