Real-time control of traffic diversion during non-recurrent congestion continues to be a challenging topic. Especially, with the advent of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), the need for models and algorithms that will control the diversion in real-time, responding to the current traffic conditions has become evident. Several researchers have tried to solve this on-line control problem by adopting different approaches such as, expert systems, feedback control, and mathematical programming. In order to ensure the effectiveness of real-time traffic diversion, an implementation framework capable of predicting the impact of the incident on the traffic flow, generating feasible alternate routes in real-time, and controlling traffic in order to achieve a pre-set goal based on a system optimal or a user equilibrium concept is required. In this dissertation, a framework that would satisfy these requirements is adopted consisting of a "diversion initiation module", a "diversion strategy planning module", and a "control and routing module" which determines the route guidance commands in real-time. The incident duration data collected by the Northern Virginia incident management agencies is analyzed to determine major factors that affect the incident clearance duration. Next, prediction/decision trees are developed for different types of incidents. Based on the validation of these trees using the data that is not employed for the development of the trees, it is found that they perform well for the majority of the incidents. A simple deterministic queuing approach is used to predict the delays that will be caused by the incident for which the clearance duration is predicted using the prediction/decision trees. The diversion strategy planning module, Network Generator, is developed as a knowledge based expert system that uses simple expert rules in conjunction with historical and realtime data to determine the incident impact zone, and to eliminate links that are not suitable for diversion. Finally, it generates alternate routes for diversion using this modified network. Network generator is tested using simulation on a small portion of the Fairfax network. Finally, feedback control models for dynamic traffic routing models, both in distributed and lumped parameter settings, are developed. Methods for developing controllers for these models are also discussed. Two heuristic and analytic feedback controllers for the space discretized lumped parameter models are developed and their effectiveness for realtime traffic control is shown by simulating several scenarios on a simple network. An analytic feedback controller is also designed using a feedback linearization technique for the space discretized model. This controller also performed very well during simulations of various scenarios and proved to be an effective solution to this feedback control problem. / Ph. D.

Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire de thèse s’inscrivent dans le cadre des Systèmes de TransportIntelligents (STI). Bien que les premières études sur ces systèmes ont commencé dans les années 60, leurdéveloppement reposant sur les techniques de l’information et de la communication, a atteint sa maturitédans le début des années 80. Les STI, sont composés de différents systèmes et intègrent différents concepts(systèmes embarqués, capteurs intelligents, autoroutes intelligentes, . . .) afin d’optimiser le rendementdes infrastructures routières et répondre aux problèmes quotidiens des congestions. Ce mémoire présentequatre contributions dans le cadre du trafic routier et aborde les problèmes de l’estimation et de lacommande afin d’éliminer les problèmes de congestions « récurrentes ». Le premier point traite unproblème crucial dans le domaine des STI qui est celui de l’estimation. En effet, la mise en oeuvre delois de commande pour réguler le trafic impose de disposer de l’ensemble des informations concernantl’évolution de l’état du trafic. Dans ce contexte, deux algorithmes d’estimation sont proposés. Le premierrepose sur l’emploi du modèle METANET et les techniques de modes de glissement d’ordre supérieur. Lesecond est basé sur les CTM (Cell Transmission Models). Plusieurs études comparatives avec les filtresde Kalman sont proposées. La seconde contribution concerne la régulation du trafic. L’accent est mis surle contrôle d’accès isolé en utilisant les algorithmes issus du mode de glissement d’ordre supérieur. Cettecommande est enrichie en introduisant une commande intégrée combinant le contrôle d’accès et le routagedynamique. L’ensemble des résultats, validé par simulation, est ensuite comparé aux stratégies classiquesnotamment le contrôle d’accès avec l’algorithme ALINEA. La troisième contribution traite des problèmesde coordination. En effet, l’objectif est d’appliquer le principe de la commande prédictive pour contrôlerplusieurs rampes d’accès simultanément. L’ensemble des contributions ont été validées en utilisant desdonnées réelles issues en grande partie de mesures effectuées sur des autoroutes françaises. Les résultatsobtenus ont montré un gain substantiel en termes de performances tels que la diminution du trajet, dutemps d’attente, de la consommation énergétique, ainsi que l’augmentation de la vitesse moyenne. Cesrésultats permettent d’envisager plusieurs perspectives nouvelles de développement des recherches dansce domaine susceptibles d’apporter des solutions intéressantes. / The works presented in this PhD dissertation fit into the framework of Intelligent TransportationSystems. Although the beginnings of these systems have started since the 60s, their development, basedon information and communication technologies, has reached maturity during the early 80s. The ITS usesthe intelligence of different systems (embedded systems, intelligents sensors, intelligents highways, etc.)in order to optimize road infrastructures performances and respond to the daily problems of congestions.The dissertation presents four contributions into the framework of road traffic flow and tackles theestimation and control problems in order to eliminate or at least reduce the “recurrent" congestionsphenomena. The first point treats the problem of traffic state estimation which is of most importance inthe field of ITS. Indeed, the implementation and performance of any control strategy is closely relatedto the ability to have all needed information about the traffic state describing the dynamic behavior ofthe studied system. Two estimation algorithms are then proposed. The first one uses the “metanet"model and high order sliding mode techniques. The second is based on the so-called Cell TransmissionModels. Several comparative studies with the Kalman filters, which are the most used in road traffic flowengineering, are established in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches. Thethree other contributions concern the problem of traffic flow control. At first, the focus is on the isolatedramp metering using an algorithm based on the high order sliding mode control. The second contributiondeals with the dynamic traffic routing problem based on the high order sliding mode control. Such controlstrategy is enriched by introducing the concept of integration, in the third contribution. Indeed, integratedcontrol consists of a combination of several traffic control algorithms. In this thesis the proposed approachcombines an algorithm of on-ramp control with a dynamic traffic routing control. The obtained results arevalidated via numerical simulations. The validated results of the proposed isolated ramp metering controlare compared with the most used ramp metering strategy : ALINEA. Finally, the last contributiontreats the coordination problems. The objective is to coordinate several ramps which cooperate andchange information in order to optimize the highway traffic flow and reduce the total travel time in theapplied area. All these contributions were validated using real data mostly from French freeways. Theobtained results show substantial gains in term of performances such as travel time, energetic consumptiondecreasing, as well as the increasing in the mean speed. These results allow to consider several furtherworks in order to provide more interesting and efficient solutions in the ITS field.