Coordinated control method of variable speed limit in on⁃ramp area considering safety distance

To improve the problem of traffic congestion in merging area, the paper describes the lane changing characteristics and trajectories of vehicles in on-ramp area, the calculation model of minimum safe spacing for vehicles meeting the demand of vehicle merging is proposed. First, the calculation model is incorporated into the control framework of variable speed limit. The coordinated control method and model of variable speed limit in on-ramp area under the intelligent network environment are constructed by applying model predictive control method. Then, the simulation environment is built by using cellular automata to realize the speed control of connected vehicle in upstream control area. Finally,the ramp and main road vehicle arrival rate is set in 27 scenarios according to low, medium and high, and traffic volume, speed, density and travel time are selected as evaluation indexes. The traffic conditions of on-ramp area under control are analyzed through simulation. The simulation results show that the on-ramp vehicle arrival rate affects the implementation effect of the control strategy. When the density is low, the effect is not significant; when the density is medium, the advantage of the control strategy is reflected; when the density is high, the strategy is invalid. © 2022, Jilin University Press. All right reserved.