Locating sensors on traffic networks: Models, challenges and research opportunities

The problem of optimally locating sensors on a traffic network to measure flows has been object of growing interest in the past few years, due to its relevance in transportation systems. Different locations of sensors on the network can allow, indeed, the collection of data whose usage can be useful for traffic management and control purposes. Many different models have been proposed in the literature as well as corresponding solution approaches. The proposed existing models differ according to different criteria: (i) sensor types to be located on the network (e.g., counting sensors, image sensors, Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) readers), (ii) available a-priori information, and (iii) flows of interest (e.g., OD flows, route flows, link flows). The purpose of this paper is to review the existing contributions and to give a unifying picture of these models by categorizing them into two main problems: the Sensor Location Flow-Observability Problem and the Sensor Location Flow-Estimation Problem. For both the problems, we will describe the corresponding computational complexity and the existing results. After describing various models and identifying their advantages and limitations, we conclude with several promising directions for future research and discuss other classes of location problems that address different objectives than the ones reviewed in the paper.

► We review the existing contributions for optimally locating sensors on traffic networks. ► We categorize the problems into two main classes. ► We describe for each class the computational complexity and the existing results. ► We describe various models and identify their advantages and limitations. ► We conclude with several promising directions for future research.