For Immediate Release
January 13, 1995

SIMULATED ADVANCED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER COULD HELP MAKE THE COMMUTE OF THE FUTURE LESS CONGESTED

Tomorrow's advanced traffic management center exists today at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The interactive, simulated center is the heart of a research program that will answer human factors questions related to operational centers being built to monitor traffic in the world's busiest cities. Development of the center also will benefit drivers, said Mike Kelly, head of the Georgia Tech Research Institute's (GTRI) Human Factors Branch.

Researchers observe traffic flow on one of Atlanta's interstate highways in GTRI's simulated traffic management center.

"Traffic congestion has been estimated to cost society over $100 billion per year in accident damages, wasted time, wasted fuel, and added pollution in the United States alone," Kelly said. "It's no longer economically feasible to eliminate congestion by adding traffic lanes. A more viable approach is to manage traffic better on the existing roads by introducing high technology sensing, computer and communications devices. But," he cautioned, "high technology usually brings with it a new set of human problems."

The simulated advanced traffic management center is the site of a series of experiments addressing human factors issues in traffic and incident management. The work is sponsored by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

Before designing their prototype, researchers visited operational traffic management centers around the world to identify human factors issues of critical interest. Among the main human factors dilemmas researchers observed during their visits were one person staffing a console designed for several people, and one person monitoring dozens of television screens.

The researchers also found information displays that were difficult to read, automated systems that operators would not use, and user-system interfaces that increased the likelihood of operator error.

"These problems can increase the center operator's workload and can result in errors that increase road congestion," Kelly said.

The researchers used these findings and the input of traffic engineering visionaries to design the simulated center. It is housed in a 20x20-foot room with a large screen projection display as its focal point. Four operators can be arranged in any configuration required by the experiment in progress. During some experiments, individual operators perform the entire traffic management job. In others, up to four operators must cooperate.

The height of each desk is adjustable so that operators may use them either sitting or standing. A network of seven Silicon Graphics Indigo2 workstations runs the traffic model and displays traffic status, via color-coded maps, to the operators. Operators manage the simulated traffic using keyboards and touchscreens.

In addition, 486-based computers at each station simulate any hardwired control panel an operator might use -- a communication panel to alert firefighters or police to an accident, for example. An area from which researchers observe, collect data, and create traffic scenarios is hidden behind a windowed wall in the rear of the center.

The center's innovative simulated closed-circuit television system mimics the view of live traffic that operators in a real center see each day. Footage from any of 38 different roadside "cameras" can be projected onto the large center screen, onto four television monitors, or onto the Silicon Graphics workstations. Operators can pan, tilt and zoom to get the view they need, using joysticks or other controllers.

The footage locations are of actual interstates and intersections in metro Atlanta. Georgia Tech's Interactive Media Technology Center created the footage by taking 360-degree photos of specified locations from 50 feet in the air using bucket trucks. The Center digitized the roads, landscapes and buildings in the photos, but erased the vehicles from them. Animated cars, pick-up trucks, tractor trailers, tow trucks, ambulances, police cars and fire trucks now traverse the digitized roads, with the help of a Silicon Graphics Onyx Reality Engine2 system.

Researchers can program simulated accidents, traffic jams or other road problems into the footage for operators to address as part of experiments. When an operator sees a traffic snarl developing, either on a color-coded map display or on video monitors, he calls for assistance, and can change displays on variable message signs along the digitized roads. The operator then sees emergency vehicles and personnel respond on the screen and witnesses the solving of the traffic problem.

"Our simulator is unusual in that it allows this much interaction between the model and the operator," Kelly said.

Among the issues researchers are addressing with the simulated center are those related to automation, information presentation, training, job design, team performance, controls/displays, and operator workload, said senior research engineer Deborah Mitta.

"One of our challenges has been to design a set of human factors experiments that will encompass and answer the greatest number of critical human factors questions," Mitta said. "We have worked extremely hard to develop a comprehensive experimental plan -- one that is technically solid."

Kelly, Mitta and their colleagues have extensive experience researching defense-related human factors issues. They are finding that advanced traffic management issues are similar to military challenges.

"In addressing human factors issues associated with advanced traffic management systems, we confront many of the same problems that typically present themselves whenever a human operator is required to interact with a complex system," Mitta said.

Noted Kelly: "The main difference is that in the military, the people using your designs are predominantly young, fit males 18 to 24 years old. The driving population includes teenagers through octogenarians, many of whom who have physical or mental impairments. That's one key issue in human factors -- identifying who uses the system, so you can design it to fit the user."

The researchers are already getting calls from around the world expressing interest in their findings and asking for advice. The results of the project will be published in a comprehensive handbook of human factors guidelines and recommendations for center designers.

Kelly and Mitta are on the editorial board of Human Factors, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society's technical journal. They are editing a special issue on human factors in intelligent transportation systems, to be published in 1996.

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WRITER: Lea McLees