• VehicleInsertion
VehicleInsertion

Loading#

Vehicles are either loaded from XML inputs or added at runtime via TraCI. When loading from XML, not all vehicles are loaded at once. Instead, vehicles are loaded in chunks, the size of which can be configured with the option --route-steps. This is done to conserve memory when performing long simulations.

Once vehicles are loaded they can be accessed and manipulated via TraCI (to some degree). Using the functions 'move to' or 'move to XY' they can even be forcefully inserted into the network.

Insertion (Departure)#

In order for a vehicle to be inserted into the road network, some necessary constraints must be fulfilled:

  • The vehicle (from its rear to its front position + minGap) must not intersect with other vehicles (including their minGap
  • The vehicle must be at a safe distance to any leader vehicles according to its carFollowModel
  • Any follower vehicles must be at a safe distance according to their carFollowModel
  • The vehicle must be able to brake for any upcoming non-prioritized intersections along its route
  • The vehicle must be able to brake for any scheduled stops along its route

If a vehicle cannot be inserted due to any of the above reasons its insertion is delayed (see below). This departDelay is recorded in the tripinfo-output and can also be inspected in sumo-gui via the vehicle parameter dialog.

The precise nature of insertion in regard to position, speed and depart time depend on many parameters as well as on the current state of the road network.

Delayed Departure#

If there is insufficient space for inserting the vehicle at its designated departure time, that vehicle is put into an insertion queue and insertion is repeatedly attempted in subsequent simulation steps. If the option --max-depart-delay <TIME> is used, vehicles are discarded if they could not be inserted after the specified <TIME> in seconds.

There are two methods for inserting vehicles into the simulation:

  1. try to insert every vehicle in every simulation step
  2. for every edge with vehicles to insert, abort trying to insert vehicles after one of the vehicles could not be inserted

In an uncongested networks these methods behave similar but in a congested network with lots of vehicles which cannot be inserted variant 2) is much faster. In older version of sumo 1) was the default and one could switch to 2) using the option --sloppy-insert. Since version 0.18.0, variant 2) is the default and one may switch to 1) using the option --eager-insert.

Caution

If there are many edges with delayed insertion, the additional insertion attempts in every simulation step can slow down a simulation

Investigating insertion delay#

Using sumo-gui several options exist for showing insertion delay:

  • Color vehicles by insertion delay
  • Color Streets by insertion backlog
  • Opening Vehicle statistics lists the number of insertion-backlogged vehicles for the whole network.
  • The parameter Dialog for individual vehicles lists desired depart and depart delay

Effect of simulation step-length#

Insertion attempts can only happen in every simulation step. This may cause artifacts in insertion spacing because at the default step-length of 1s is (usually) too short for vehicles to be inserted in successive steps on the same depart location. By default, the next attempt happens 2 seconds after the first vehicle has departed and this gap may be much larger then mandated by the carFollowModel. There are multiple ways to avoid this effect:

  • the step-length can be reduced
  • the insertion location must be modified by any of the following methods
    • specifying a specific departPos
    • using departPos="last"
    • setting option --extrapolate-departpos

Forcing Insertion / Avoiding depart delay#

The following remedies are generally recommended to improve insertion flow:

  • On multi-lane roads, make sure that all lanes are used for insertion i.e. by setting departLane="random" (or free or best). The highest insertion capacity is achieved with departLane="best_prob" which tends to put faster vehicles on the overtaking lane (see capacity comparison)
  • set option --extrapolate-departpos
  • insert with departSpeed="avg" or departSpeed="last" (see capacity comparison)

For specialized use cases the following tips may help to achieve even more insertions:

  • alternatively: Use departPos="last" in combination with departSpeed="desired" : vehicle position will be adjusted to the maximum position behind the leader vehicle that allows driving with the desired speed
  • insert with a fixed departSpeed (numerical value) and set option --ignore-route-errors. Vehicles will be inserted with unsafe speeds at the specified time if emergency-braking would still allow collision-free dynamics
  • disable some or all insertion checks using attribute insertionChecks
  • use traci.vehicle.moveTo or traci.vehicle.moveToXY to force the vehicle into the network at the specified time and place.

Global options that affect Departure#

  • --random-depart-offset <TIME>: randomly delays departure time for all vehicles
  • --max-num-vehicles <INT>: limits the total amount of vehicles that may exist in the network. Setting this may cause delayed insertion
  • --max-depart-delay <TIME>: removes vehicles from the insertion queue after a set amount of time
  • --eager-insert <BOOL>: tries to insert all vehicles that are insertion-delayed on each edge. By default, insertion on an edge stops after the first failure in each time step
  • --step-length <FLOAT>: the frequency of insertion attempts can be raised and also the number of possible headways (for a fixed departPos) is increased by setting a lower step-length.
  • --extrapolate-departpos <BOOL>: Moves the default depart position of a vehicle downstream if its departure time is a fraction of the simulation step-length. The offset in depart position is proportional to the depart delay from step-length discretization.

Miscellaneous#