Two projects helping people travel around Sydney more efficiently and sustainably are in line for recognition at the prestigious ITS Australia Awards.
The international transport modelling and analytics experts at Aimsun have been nominated for the Smart Transport Infrastructure Award for the M4 Managed Motorway – Congestion Reduction System. This system was delivered for Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) to help traffic operators take a more proactive approach to fixing congestion.
The M4 Managed Motorway project, delivered with Johnson Controls International, combines live traffic data, analytics, and transport modelling to provide a real-time transport management decision support system. The system predicts traffic conditions over the next hour and, if it detects a risk of congestion, analyses the most appropriate mitigation strategy or strategies to clear traffic jams before they even form. If an incident occurs, the system alerts the network manager and simulates a series of alternative response plans, allowing the operator’s response to be more effective.
A second Aimsun traffic management project in Sydney has been nominated in the Excellence in Research and Development category. The Victoria Road Decision Support System R&D project is developed under the Premier’s Innovation Initiative (PII) by Aimsun in partnership with analytics industry experts Data61 and TfNSW. It leverages the participants’ industry-leading expertise in multimodal transport modelling and artificial intelligence, developed specifically for one of Sydney’s busiest corridors.
The fusion of two advanced methodologies develops a capability that predicts future transport conditions and assesses up to four alternative response plans automatically. The solution gives the network operator a clear and accurate picture of the optimal response to daily traffic congestion and non-recurrent events in both live and planning environments.
“The efficiency of Aimsun software, the speed of cloud-based simulation, and excellent real-time data made it possible to deliver the complex modelling required”, explains Aimsun Australia’s Managing Director, Scott Aitken. “We make two predictions: one through advanced analytics, machine learning and AI, which provides a pattern-matching prediction; we then use that as an input into the simulation model, which provides the accurate prediction of the future traffic conditions for the future and the response plans, so the operator can take steps to mitigate congestion before it occurs.”
A similar Aimsun project won awards in the UK last year. The Oxfordshire NEVFMA project used transport modelling and air quality monitoring to moderate traffic congestion and improve air quality, winning the ITS (UK) Innovative Use of Technology Award and the TechWorks Green Technology Award.
The ITS Australia Awards take place in Melbourne on 17 February.
(Picture – Aimsun)
