Computational Modelling Group

Aimsun

Aimsun is a commercially available transport microsimulation package developed by TSS, Transport Simulation Systems. Like other traffic microsimulation tools, Aimsun provides a temporospatial simulation of vehicle behaviour in road networks - meaning that vehicles are modelled moving through the network obeying existing models of car following, lane changing and gap acceptance behaviour. Barcelo (2010) provides a useful overview of the intrinsic models used by Aimsun in comparison to other available tools and is recommended to anyone reviewing approaches to traffic simulation.

From a modelling and simulation perspective, the exceptional aspect of Aimsun is the powerful API which allows modellers to vary individual vehicle routes, speeds and lanes. This means that new route choice or car following models can be easily inserted in to a traffic microsimuation.

For queries about this topic, contact James Snowdon.

View the calendar of events relating to this topic.

Projects

An investigation in to the effects of information provision on driver learning

Ben Waterson, Hans Fangohr (Investigators), James Snowdon

This work aims to better understand and model the role of individual learning and experience on driver route choice. We intend to demonstrate that vehicle-driver agent based models stand alone in being able to capture the complex reciprocal interactions between drivers and their environment, and allow us to incorporate the effects of prior knowledge from previous trips and advice from official information sources and social networks.

People

Hans Fangohr
Professor, Engineering Sciences (FEE)
Ben Waterson
Lecturer, Civil Engineering & the Environment (FEE)
James Snowdon
Postgraduate Research Student, Civil Engineering & the Environment (FEE)
Petrina Butler
Administrative Staff, Research and Innovation Services