Aurora Arterial Modeler – A Macroscopic Tool for Urban Traffic Signal Control

This paper describes a macroscopic simulation model for urban signal control based on the Aurora Road Network Modeler (RNM) software package. The paper first presents the implementation of pre-timed and actuated signal controllers in a cell transmission model based simulator. Then a case study with wireless sensor traffic data is carried out to test the performance of the model. The results show that the macroscopic model produces good estimates of arterial travel time, as compared to predictions of the Highway Capacity Manual. The actuated controller produces significantly higher delay than its pre-timed counterpart, which agrees with our previous findings using micro-simulation. This research should contribute to the area of arterial traffic signal simulation and control as the proposed model is more computationally efficient than the more widely used microscopic simulation models.