Neural network approach to classification of traffic flow states

The classification of traffic flow states in China has traditionally been based on the Highway capacity manual, published in the United States. Because traffic conditions are generally different from country to country, though, it is important to develop a practical and useful classification method applicable to Chinese highway traffic. In view of the difficulty and complexity of a mathematical and physical realization, modern pattern recognition methods are considered practical in fulfilling this goal. This study applies a self-organizing neural network pattern recognition method to classify highway traffic states into some distinctive cluster centers. A small scale test with actual data is conducted, and the method is found to be potentially applicable in practice.