ETI: Design and Evaluation of a Hierachical Highway Network Structure and a Decision Support System with Surveillance Information to Enhance Business Partnerships in the E-Market

University Of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman OK

Investigators

Abstract

This Exploratory Research on Engineering the Transport Industries (ETI) award is to investigate the effectiveness of grid-based multi-tier network architecture for the highway system, which will be expandable to include other transport modes. Two subnetworks, backbone and access networks, represent the highway system. Interstate highways forming grid boundaries define the backbone network. Each grid has its own access network connected by border gateways (interface nodes). A framework for a decision support system (DSS) is developed to provide support for B2B and B2C transportation as well as support for highway monitoring. Advanced sensors are used to collect traffic and vehicular data. On the backbone network, locations where sensors are currently available are identified. New locations are selected for sensor deployment and sensor types are defined for these locations. The data collected from various sensors will be converted into knowledge to be used by decision models and route planning algorithms. Efficient optimization methods for hub location selection, synchronized load routing and consolidation, and for congestion and flow control will be investigated. The multi-tier highway representation allows for scalability in design. If research results are found promising, the model can be expanded to represent inter-modal transport by adding levels to the architecture. Tactical decisions on the backbone network are critical to operations of any transport company and can be shared by all. Seamless integration of surveillance data with the decision support system to provide efficient load consolidation and routing schedules over the multi-tier highway network architecture is novel and will lead to enhanced B2B relations in the e-marketplace. Deployment of sensor technology on the backbone network can also be used for other decisions such as highway safety and maintenance.