Evaluating Effectiveness of Wireless Communication Technologies in Arterial Traffic Operations

Effective traffic monitoring requires a reliable telecommunication infrastructure to transmit information throughout the road network. Fiber optic cables are considered the industry standard infrastructure for transferring traffic data. However, some locations may not be in the existing fiber optics network, leading to breaks or gaps in communication. Supplementing these locations with wireless technologies could help improve the road network’s communication system and provide total coverage at a substantially reduced cost over fiber optics. This study proposes a novel hybrid data-driven framework for evaluating the effectiveness of wireless communication technologies in arterial traffic operations. Different traffic operations-related performance measures along with product-specific communication loss assessment metrics are incorporated to formulate a hybrid data-driven framework using high-resolution events data. The framework is tested for three study areas in the City of Phoenix. The proposed evaluation framework aids transportation agencies to estimate and compare the cost-effectiveness of alternative wireless communication devices based on a device’s total life-cycle cost, including maintenance and usability.