Project Number:
01-16
Research Project:
Automated Trucks on Dedicated Lanes for Cargo Movement
P.I. Name & Address:
Petros Ioannou
Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies
University of Southern California
EE-Systems
Los Angeles, CA90089-2562
Tel: (213) 740 4452
Fax: (213) 740 4418
Email: Ioannou@rcf.usc.edu
Anastasios Chassiakos
College of Engineering
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA. 90840-5602
Tel: (562) 985-4278
Fax: (562) 985-8022
Email: achassk@engr.csulb.edu
Project Objective:
The objective of this proposal is to design and analyze lateral and longitudinal control systems for automated trucks on dedicated lanes and study their use for transporting cargo between an Intermodal Yardand container terminals.
Project Abstract:
Current ports are in great need for space in order to accommodate the increasing demand for cargo processing from surface to marine mode of transportation and vice versa. Stacking of containers, expansion of terminals using landfills, use of advanced technologies are some of the ideas that have been pursued or researched during the recent years. Another approach is to store the cargo at anIntermodal Yard, an area for storage and processing of cargo, several miles away from the port area. The Intermodal yard, developed in an area where land is less expensive and available, serves as an intermediate areawhere, export cargo could be stored, staged and prepared to be transported to the appropriate terminal to be loaded onto ships and import cargo could be stored until is taken away inland todestination. The transport of cargo between the Intermodal Yard and ships/terminals could be done by train and/or trucks. The train however is not as flexible when compared with trucks. Unlike the train, trucks are individual units and could be routed to follow different paths. If the Intermodal Yard is not far from the terminals and the volume of trucks, is high enough, the use of a dedicated road or lanes between the Yard and terminals for trucks only could be justified.
The purpose of this proposal is to study the development of a system that involves dedicated lanes from an Intermodal Yard to terminals where trucks would go back and forth under full automatic control. The study will concentrate on the development of longitudinal and lateral control systems for trucks as well as control systems for the infrastructure that will provide the appropriate routing and guidance of the automated truck system. We will study the appropriate control, sensor and communication technologies as well as safety considerations, scheduling and dispatching issues associated with the transport of cargo between the two modes of transportation. In addition, we will examine the feasibility of developing such a system in the Long Beach area by using the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) as an example of Intermodal Yard.
Our study will benefit from current studies on automated trucks supported by Caltrans and PATH where the focus is on the development of automated trucks in an automated highway environment as platoons or mixed with manually driven vehicles etc. In such an environment, the safety issues are enormous which in turn raise many liability issues that could easily force the truck manufacturers to shy away or delay the development of automated trucks in such environments. In our approach, the use of dedicated lanes physically isolated from other traffic makes the environment a controlled one where possible catastrophic failures will be limited to property damage. In this sense, the proposed application is a feasible one for near term implementation and could serve as the first step towards the deployment of automated trucks in other environments.
Task Descriptions:
Task 1. Dynamic and Operating Truck Characteristics and Work Tasks 07/01/01 - 11/01/01
Task 2: Design of Longitudinal Controllers 10/01/01 - 05/31/02
Task 3 Design of Lateral Controllers 10/01/01 - 06/30/02
Task 4 Design of the System Controller 02/01/02 - 06/30/02
Task 5: Case Study Evaluation and Simulations 04/01/02 - 06/30/02
Milestones, Dates:
We expect to deliver a final report that describes the development, evaluation, and simulation of the lateral and longitudinal controllers as well as the overall controller. The final report will also include a case study simulation for a terminal and ICTF facility in the Long Beach area.
Total Budget:
$99,937
Student Involvement:
One Research Assistants @ 25% time for 12 months
One Research Assistants @ 50% time for 12 months
Relationship to Other Research Projects:
Extension of research on route guidance 99-7, 00-15, related to 00-16; part of goods movement focus area
Technology Transfer Activities:
Project report will be posted on the website
Potential Benefits of the Project:
More efficient port operations, demonstration of automated trucks.
TRB Keywords:
Goods Movement, Vehicle Guidance
Primary Subject:
Fleet operational management - Technologies that facilitate efficient movement of cargo and people among modes and provide needed information to shippers and travelers
Goals:
Economic growth and trade
Enabling Research:
Computer, information and communication
Modal Orientation:
Highway
