Exploring Link Covering and Node Covering Formulations of Detection Layout Problem

Abstract

The primary data input used in principal traffic models comes from origin–destination (O-D) trip matrices, which describe patterns of traffic behavior across a network. O-D matrices are a critical requirement in advanced traffic management or information systems that are supported by dynamic traffic assignment models. However, because O-D matrices are not directly observable, current practice adjusts an initial seed matrix from link flow counts that are provided by an existing layout of traffic-counting stations. The adequacy of the detection layout is critical to determining the quality of the adjusted O-D matrix. The usual approaches to the detection layout problem assume that detectors are located at network links. This paper proposes a modified set that formulates the link detection layout problem with side constraints and presents a new metaheuristic tabu search algorithm with high computational efficiency. Emerging information and communication technologies (ICT), especially those based on the detection of the electronic signature of onboard devices (such as Bluetooth devices), allow the location of sensors at intersections. To take into account explicitly how these ICT sensors operate, this paper proposes a new formulation of a node-covering problem with side constraints, which for practical purposes can be efficiently solved with standard professional solvers such as CPLEX.