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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

 
SUMMARY REPORT
This summary report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
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Publication Number:  FHWA-HRT-16-075    Date:  December 2017
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-16-075
Date: December 2017

 

Exploratory Advanced Research Program

The Potential of Multiple Connected and Federated Simulators and Models for Highway Transportation Research

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Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

 

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.

FHWA-HRT-16-075

2. Government Accession No. 3 Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle

The Potential of Multiple Connected and Federated Simulators and Models for Highway Transportation Research

5. Report Date

December 2017

6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s)

Donald Fisher, Nate Deshmukh Towery, Melissa Wong, Elizabeth Machek, Gina Melnik, and Maura Lohrenz

8. Performing Organization Report No.

 

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

U.S. Department of Transportation
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
55 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02142

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

11. Contract or Grant No.

Contract DTFH61-14-V-00025

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Federal Highway Administration
Office of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, Virginia 22101-2296

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Final Report
January 3, 2016–July 5, 2016

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

 

15. Supplementary Notes

The Contracting Officer’s Representative was Terry Halkyard (HRTM-30), and the Technical Contact was David Kuehn (HRTM-30).

16. Abstract

Understanding the choices that drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians make is critical to improving the safety and efficiency of the Nation’s roadways. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) seeks to understand the technological challenges of advancing the use of federated simulation and modeling and the different uses that researchers and practitioners envision for this technology. This report examines the current state of the practice in connected simulators and related models and the challenges that remain. FHWA also looked at the potential uses for this technology—connecting simulators with simulators, simulators with models, or models with models—and the types of transportation research to which it can potentially be applied to advance research in the areas of safety, operations, planning, and policy. This could lead to decreases in crashes, congestion, and carbon emissions.

 

An important research tool has been the use of driving simulators to observe and record traveler behavior under a variety of simulated situations. There have been rapid developments in the simulators and related models used that could be applied to highway transportation research. These developments have the potential to advance research in the areas of safety, operations, planning, and policy, which could lead to decreases in crashes, congestion, and carbon emissions. This report addresses these limitations and documents the developments in the simulators that would be beneficial to many in the highway transportation industry.

17. Key Words

Simulators, simulation models, driving simulators, modeling, connected driving simulators, driver choices, human factors, safety, operations, advanced research

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.
http://www.ntis.gov

19. Security Classification
(of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classification
(of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages

43

22. Price
Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

3D

three-dimensional

ADS

automated driving suite

CAD

computer-aided design

DHS

Department of Homeland Security

DIS

distributed interactive simulation

EAR

Exploratory Advanced Research

FAA

Federal Aviation Administration

FHWA

Federal Highway Administration

HERS

Highway Economics Systems Requirements

HLA

high-level architecture

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

ITS

intelligent transportation system

IUPUI

Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis

LTAP

left turn across path

MPO

metropolitan planning organization

NADS

National Advanced Driving Simulator

OST-R

Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Research

OSU

Ohio State University

SHRP2

Second Strategic Highway Research Program

TFHRC

Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center

TRB

Transportation Research Board

UAS

unmanned aircraft system

V2V

vehicle-to-vehicle

VPN

virtual private network

VRML

Virtual Reality Markup Language

 

 

Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000
Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center | 6300 Georgetown Pike | McLean, VA | 22101