USDOT to hold Adaptive Signal Control webinar

The US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) ITS Joint Program Office, Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), has announced that it will be hosting a webinar that will introduce a generic validation process and tools to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic signal operation. The webinar, which will take place on September 18, is part of the FHWA Every Day Counts initiative to encourage DOTs and other agencies to make use of Adaptive Signal Control Technology (ASCT). Uncertainty about the benefits of adaptive control has frequently been identified as a barrier to the deployment of ASCT systems. The new validation process was developed to address this barrier by creating traceability between agency needs and objectives and the performance measures used to validate their achievement.

The validation technique introduces a new generic process and tools to address the challenges in verifying the impact of ASC. The methods will allow agencies to determine if a selected system has met its stated requirement after implementation, including the validation of the system’s performance objectives and goals. The process and tools can also be applied to normal signal timing methods. The webinar will be hosted by Ed Fok of the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Technical Service, and will be presented by Dr Douglas Gettman of Kimley-Horn & Associates and Edward Smaglik from the Northern Arizona University.

4 September 2012