Abstract
This paper introduces a binary neural network-based prediction algorithm incorporating both spatial and temporal characteristics into the prediction process. The algorithm is used to predict short-term traffic flow by combining information from multiple traffic sensors (spatial lag) and time series prediction (temporal lag). It extends previously developed Advanced Uncertain Reasoning Architecture (AURA) k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) techniques. Our task was to produce a fast and accurate traffic flow predictor. The AURA k-NN predictor is comparable to other machine learning techniques with respect to recall accuracy but is able to train and predict rapidly. We incorporated consistency evaluations to determine whether the AURA k-NN has an ideal algorithmic configuration or an ideal data configuration or whether the settings needed to be varied for each data set. The results agree with previous research in that settings must be bespoke for each data set. This configuration process requires rapid and scalable learning to allow the predictor to be set-up for new data. The fast processing abilities of the AURA k-NN ensure this combinatorial optimisation will be computationally feasible for real-world applications. We intend to use the predictor to proactively manage traffic by predicting traffic volumes to anticipate traffic network problems.
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- Variable:
-
One feature of a traffic data vector, for example the flow value from a sensor
- Attribute:
-
One time slice of one variable, for example the flow value from a sensor 5 min ago
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Acknowledgments
The work reported in this paper forms part of the FREEFLOW project, which is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the UK Department for Transport and the UK Technology Strategy Board. The project consortium consists of partners including QinetiQ, Mindsheet, ACIS, Kizoom, Trakm8, City of York Council, Kent County Council, Transport for London, Imperial College London and University of York.
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Appendix
Appendix
1.1 WEKA MLP configuration
Settings in italic were changed from the WEKA defaults but not changed between runs, and settings in bold/italic were varied for each run to tune the MLP.
gui | false |
autoBuild | true |
debug | false |
decay | true |
hiddenLayers | t (number of hidden layers = numAttribs + numClasses) |
learningRate | 0.4 |
momentum | 0.3 |
nominalToBinaryFilter | true |
normaliseAttributes | true |
normaliseNumericClass | true |
reset | true |
seed | 0 |
trainingTime | 500 |
validationSetSize | 30 |
validationThreshold | 20 |
1.2 WEKA SVM configuration
Settings in italic were changed from the WEKA defaults but not changed between runs, and settings in bold/italic were varied for each run to tune the SVM.
complexity | 50.0 |
debug | false |
fileType | Normalise training data |
kernel | RBFKernel -C 250007 -G 0.01 |
regOptimizer | RegSMOImproved -L 0.0010 -W 1 -P 1.0E−12 -T 0.0010 -V |
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Hodge, V.J., Krishnan, R., Austin, J. et al. Short-term prediction of traffic flow using a binary neural network. Neural Comput & Applic 25, 1639–1655 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-014-1646-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-014-1646-5