Stochastic Optimal-Control Approach to Automatic Incident-Responsive Coordinated Ramp Control

Abstract—This paper presents a stochastic optimal-control-based ap-proach to real-time incident-responsive coordinated ramp control. The proposed coordinated ramp-control methodology includes two major functions, i.e., 1) identification of control-zone-based congestion patterns using the modified generalized-sequential-probability-ratio-testing tech-nology and 2) group-based ramp control using stochastic optimal con-trol coupled with extended Kalman filtering technologies. With the aid of the Paramics microscopic traffic simulator, numerical studies under various simulated incident-induced congestion conditions were conducted. Corresponding numerical results indicate the feasibility of the proposed ramp-control method in responding to diverse lane-blocking incident-induced traffic-congestion conditions. Index Terms—Coordinated ramp controls, incident management, stochastic optimal control. I