CPS: Medium: Addressing Design and Human Factors Challenges in Cyber Transportation Systems
Lead PI:
Chunming Qiao
Co-PI:
Abstract
This project has two closely related objectives. The first is to design and evaluate new Cyber Transportation Systems (CTS) applications for improved traffic safety and traffic operations. The second is to design and develop an integrated traffic-driving-networking simulator. The project takes a multi-disciplinary approach that combines cyber technologies, transportation engineering and human factors. While transportation serves indispensible functions to society, it does have its own negative impacts in terms of accidents, congestion, pollution, and energy consumption. To improve traffic safety, the project will develop and evaluate novel algorithms and protocols for prioritization, delivery and fusion of various warning messages so as to reduce drivers? response time and workload, prevent conflicting warnings, and minimize false alarms. To improve traffic operations, the project will focus on the design of next generation traffic management and control algorithms for both normal and emergency operations (e.g. during inclement weather and evacuation scenarios). Both human performance modeling methods and human subjects? experimental methods will be used to address the human element in this research. As the design and evaluation of CTS applications requires an effective development and testing platform linking the human, transportation and cyber elements, the project will also design and develop a simulator that combines the main features of a traffic simulator, a networking simulator and a driving simulator. The integrated simulator will allow a human driver to control a subject vehicle in a virtual environment with realistic background traffic, which is capable of communicating with the driver and other vehicles with CTS messages. Background traffic will be controlled by a realistic driver model based on our human factors research that accounts for CTS messages? impact on driver behavior. Intellectual Merits: The project explicitly considers human factors in the design and evaluation of CTS safety and operations applications, a topic which has not received adequate attention. Moreover, the proposed integrated simulator represents a first-of-a-kind simulator with unique features that can reduce the design and evaluation costs of new CTS applications. Broader Impacts: The proposed research can improve the safety, efficiency and environmental-friendless of transportation systems, which serve as the very foundation of modern societies and directly affects the quality of life. The integrated simulator will be used as a tool for teenage and elderly driver education and training, and to inspire minority, middle and high school students to pursue careers in math, science, and computer-related fields
Chunming Qiao

 

Professor Chunming Qiao directs the Lab for  Advanced Network Design, Analysis, and Research (LANDER), which conducts cutting-edge research with current foci on  optical networking and survivability/availability in cloud computing, active-safety and infotainment in transportation systems, and low-cost and low-power sensors and mobile (robotic) sensor networks. He has published about 100 and 160 papers in leading technical journals and conference proceedings,  respectively, with an h-index above 50 (according to Google Scholar). He pioneered research on  Optical Internet, and in particular, the optical burst switching (OBS). One of his paper on OBS alone has been cited for more than 2000 times.   In addition, his work on integrated cellular and ad hoc relaying systems  (iCAR), started in 1999, is recognized as the harbinger for today's push towards the convergence between  heterogeneous wireless technologies, and has been featured in BusinessWeek and Wireless Europe,  as well as at the websites of New Scientists and CBC. His Research has been funded by ten NSF grants including two ITR awards, and by major IT and telecommunications companies including Alcatel Research, Fujitsu Labs, Cisco, Google, NEC labs, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Sprint Advanced Technology Lab, and Telcordia, as well as Industrial  Technology Research Institute (in Taiwan).   Dr. Qiao has given a dozen of keynotes, and numerous invited talks on the above research topics.  He has chaired and co-chaired a dozen of international conferences and workshops.  He was an editor of IEEE Transactions On Networking and Trans on Paralle and Distributed Sytems,  and a guest-editor  for several IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC) issues. He was the chair of the IEEE Technical  Committee on High Speed Networks (HSN) and \the IEEE  Subcommittee on Integrated Fiber and Wireless  Technologies (FiWi) which he founded. He was elected to IEEE Fellow for his contributions to optical and wireless network architectures and protocols.
Performance Period: 09/15/2010 - 08/31/2014
Institution: SUNY at Buffalo
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Award Number: 1035733