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Settings and parameters

Settings and parameters give model control to the external simulator. This section covers three different types of settings and parameters as given in Table 14. The model settings can be given as command line arguments to control what model components are used in the OTS model. This holds for both background traffic generated by OTS, and vehicles spawned by the external simulator. For specific spawned vehicles different model components can be used. In the Vehicle message there is a parameters field that can be used for this. Any parameter ID that starts with -- is recognized as a setting. Model settings that are part of the Vehicle message are only used for the specific vehicle. Model settings given as command line arguments are used for all vehicles, unless overridden for a specific vehicle in the Vehicle message.

Table 8.14: Setting types.

Settings Description Command line Vehicle message
Transceiver These control the technical operation of the OTS transceiver yes no
Model Settings that enable or disable model components yes yes
Parameters Parameter values used on the model components no yes

To get an overview of all settings, including default values, one can call the transceiver with the --help command line argument. For example:

java.exe -jar OtsTransceiver.jar --help

The following sections show available settings across the different types. The last section explains the relevance of parameter values on vehicles that are externally controlled.

Transceiver settings

Transceiver settings are given as command line arguments and control the technical operation of the OTS transceiver. Depending on the implementation of the transceiver, different settings apply.

General

The settings in Table 8.15 apply to all implementations of the OTS transceiver (AbstractOtsTransceiver).

Table 8.15: Generic transceiver settings.

Setting Description
--gui Whether to show the GUI
--idPrefix Prefix of ID of generated vehicles
--useRoadName Whether to use the road name to identify origins and destinations

The --useRoadName setting applies to the use of an OpenDRIVE network. By default it is assumed that origins and destinations in the OD matrix are defined by road IDs. With this setting the road name can be used instead. Note that OpenDRIVE does not guarantee unique road names.

Sim0mq transceiver

The settings in Table 8.16 apply to the Sim0mq implementation of the OTS transceiver (OtsTransceiverSim0mq).

Table 8.16: Sim0mq transceiver settings.

Setting Description
--federationId Federation ID to receive/sent messages
--otsId OTS ID to receive/sent messages
--clientId Client ID to receive/sent messages
--bigEndian Big-endianness
--port Port number
--logLevel Logging level: OFF, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG or TRACE

Model settings

The settings in Table 8.17 apply to all implementations of the OTS transceiver and govern what model components are used. Some settings are valid depending on the value of the used Fuller implementation. See the java documentation of LmrsFactory for a table indicating this applicability.

When model settings are sent as part of the Vehicle message, the values have to be of the right type.

  • Most settings are of type boolean.
  • Setting --fractionOverEstimation is of type double.
  • Setting --primaryTask is of type String.
  • Settings with given options should be String.

Table 8.17: Model settings.

Setting Description
--carFollowingModel Car-following model: IDM, IDM_PLUS or IDM_PLUS_MULTI
--synchronization Lane change synchronization: PASSIVE, PASSIVE_MOVING, ALIGN_GAP or ACTIVE
--cooperation Lane change cooperation: PASSIVE, PASSIVE_MOVING or ACTIVE
--gapAcceptance Lane change gap-acceptance: INFORMED or EGO_HEADWAY
--incentiveRoute Mandatory lane change incentive for route
--incentiveGetInLane Mandatory lane change incentive to join slow traffic at split and not block other traffic
--incentiveSpeedWithCourtesy Voluntary lane change incentive for speed with courtesy
--incentiveCourtesy Voluntary lane change incentive for cooperative lane changes
--incentiveQueue Voluntary lane change incentive to join the shortest queue
--incentiveStayRight Voluntary lane change incentive for trucks to stay in rightmost two lanes
--incentiveKeep Voluntary lane change incentive to keep to the slow lane
--accelerationSpeedLimitTransition Acceleration incentive to slow down prior to a lower speed limit
--accelerationTrafficLights Acceleration incentive to approach traffic lights
--accelerationConflicts Acceleration incentive to approach intersection conflicts
--accelerationNoSlowLaneOvertake Acceleration incentive to not overtake traffic on the slow lane
--fullerImplementation Implementation of Fuller: NONE, SUMMATIVE, ANTICIPATION_RELIANCE or ATTENTION_MATRIX
--primaryTask ID of primary task under ANTICIPATION_RELIANCE
--anticipation Enables temporal constant-speed anticipation
--estimation Enables estimation of neighboring vehicles
--fractionOverEstimation Fraction of drivers over-estimating speed and distance [0..1]
--carFollowingTask Enables car-following task
--alternateCarFollowingTask Enables alternate car-following task (exponential)
--freeAccelerationTask Enables free acceleration task, useful when updateTimeAdaptation is true
--trafficLightsTask Enables traffic light task
--signalTask Enables signal task
--laneChangingTask Enables lane-change task
--alternateLaneChangingTask Enables alternate lane-changing task (lane change desire)
--cooperationTask Enables cooperation task
--intersectionTask Enables intersection task
--roadSideDistractionTask Enables road-side distraction task
--speedAdaptation Enables behavioral speed adaptation
--headwayAdaptation Enables behavioral headway adaptation
--laneChangeAdaptation Enables behavioral voluntary lane change adaptation
--updateTimeAdaptation Enables behavioral update time adaptation
--socialPressure Enables social pressure exerted to the (potential) leader
--tailgating Enables tailgating due to social pressure towards the leader
--socioLaneChange Enables lane changes due to social pressure from the (potential) follower
--socioSpeed Enables speed increase due to social pressure from the follower

Parameters

An overview of all supported parameters is given in Table 8.18. When parameter values are given in a vehicle message this should be in the form of a key-value pair, where the Parameter column value is the key as a String and the value is any object of the correct type as in the Type column. The Default column gives the default values for the parameters. There are a few parameters for which the OTS transceiver will assign a random value from a distribution. These are:

  • vGain: LogNormal(mu = 3.379, sigma = 0.4). This value is only randomly drawn in case of social interactions. Otherwise this parameter receives the value as in the table.
  • sigma: Triangular(min = 0.0, mode = 0.25, max = 1.0)
  • fSpeed: Normal(mu = 123.7/120.0, sigma = 0.1)
  • fSpeedGtu: Normal(mu= 85.0/80.0, sigma = 2.5/80.0). This reflects typical truck speeds.

Table 8.18: Sim0mq transceiver settings.

Parameter Type Default Description
s0 Length 3.0 m Car-following stopping distance
a Acceleration 1.25 m/s2 Maximum (desired) car-following acceleration
b Acceleration 2.09 m/s2 Maximum comfortable car-following deceleration
bCrit Acceleration 3.5 m/s2 Maximum critical deceleration, e.g. stop/go at traffic light
b0 Acceleration 0.5 m/s2 Maximum adjustment deceleration, e.g. when speed limit drops
Tmin Duration 0.56 s Minimum car-following headway
Tmax Duration 1.2 s Maximum car-following headway
tau Duration 25.0 s Headway relaxation time
t0 Duration 43.0 s Look-ahead time for mandatory lane changes
x0 Length 295.0 m Look-ahead distance
fSpeed Double 1.0 Lane speed limit adherence factor
fSpeedGtu Double 1.0 GTU type speed limit adherence factor
vCong Speed 60.0 km/h Speed threshold below which traffic is considered congested
lcInfo Length 2.0 km Length over which lane change information is considered
delta Double 4.0 Acceleration flattening exponent towards desired speed
dFree Double 0.365 Free lane change desire threshold
dSync Double 0.577 Synchronized lane change desire threshold
dCoop Double 0.788 Cooperative lane change desire threshold
vGain Speed 69.6 km/h Anticipation speed difference at full lane change desire
socio Double 1.0 Sensitivity level for speed of others
alpha Double 0.8 Fraction of primary task that can be reduced by anticipation reliance
beta Double 0.6 Fraction of auxiliary tasks that can be reduced by anticipation reliance
TScrit Double 0.8 Critical task saturation
TSmax Double 2.0 Maximum task saturation
TC Double 1.0 Task capability
over_est Double 1.0 Over estimation (1.0) or under estimation (-1.0)
h_exp Duration 3.83 s Exponential decay of car-following task by headway
beta_T Double 1.0 Maximum adaptation headway scaling
beta_v0 Double 1.0 Maximum adaptation desired speed scaling
SAmin Double 0.5 Minimum situational awareness
SAmax Double 1.0 Maximum situational awareness
TRmax Duration 2.0 s Maximum reaction time
dt_min Duration 0.3 s Minimum update time
dt_max Duration 2.0 s Maximum update time
beta_d Double 1.0 Voluntary lane change desire scaling
tau_min Duration 0.32 s Minimum perception delay
tau_max Duration 1.19 s Maximum perception delay
td_scan Double 0.0279 Scanning task demand
td_signal Double 0.2 Signal task demand
x0_d Length 119.98 m Distance discount range for task demand
td_b Double 0.75 Maximum task demand due to ego distance to intersection
beta_yl Length 25.12 m Exponential decay of conflict task by ego distance
td_c Double 0.25 Maximum task demand due to time-to-conflict-point of conflicting vehicle
beta_con Duration 12.13 s Exponential decay of conflict task from time-to-conflict-point

Parameters for externally controlled vehicles

It is important to carefully consider what parameters to use on vehicles that are externally controlled (HYBRID or EXTERNAL mode). For HYBRID mode this influences the suggested behavior. In any case parameters determine interactions with surrounding traffic. For example, an externally controlled vehicle with a low fSpeed and high vGain value will not be perceived to exert social pressure on its leader, regardless of distance. Interactions are complex and dependent on many factors, both inter- and intra-driver. The following points are guidelines to understand and influence the interactions. Whether these interactions occur depends on the used model components. In particular whether social interactions and behavioral adaptations within the perception model are used. Furthermore interactions depend on circumstances in traffic.

  • fSpeed/fSpeedGtu determine the base-level desired speed, a higher value causes more social pressure (and tailgating).
  • vGain reflects a driver's insensitivity to its own speed gain, a lower value causes more social pressure (and tailgating) and less response to social pressure from a follower.
  • sigma indicates sensitivity to social pressure, a higher value causes an increased desired speed and lane change desire in case of social pressure.
  • Social effects on desired headway, desired speed and lane change desire may be diminished in case of task over-saturation. The strength of this diminishing is governed by circumstances and sensitivities beta_T, beta_v0 and beta_d.