Model predictive control for ramp metering of motorway traffic: A case study

A real-life motorway in Belgium is studied and a comparison is made between a simulation of a morning rush hour situation without control and a simulation of a morning rush hour situation with ramp metering implemented. Two types of controllers are compared: a traditional ALINEA based controller and a model predictive control based ramp metering controller. In order to evaluate the controllers in a realistic framework, the simulations presented in this paper are based on real-life traffic measurements, and constraints on the maximal allowed queue lengths at the on-ramps are imposed. The presented simulations are indicative for the reduction in the total time spent (on the studied motorway and on the on-ramps) that can be achieved by ramp metering during a typical morning rush hour.