السبيل الاسرع الى الشاطيء - تنظيم حركة السير .. الحاسبات تعمل

The fastest way to the beach - Traffic management .. Computers work

The fastest way to the beach

The above-mentioned computer system assumes that drivers know in advance which way they will take to their destination. The computer does not try to direct traffic in certain directions, but only aims to facilitate traffic as much as possible on the roads chosen by drivers. However, the information stored in the computer about the traffic conditions in the entire area enables it to find the easiest way between any two places.

(Driver guidance system diagram)

(The computer displays the expected time it will take to reach the beach via each of the three roads at the next intersection. Based on this information, the driver decides which road to take, or may prefer to turn back).

Let's assume, for example, that thousands of drivers intend to drive their cars from a large city to the beach, and that they may take different roads that connect to each other at several points. These meeting points are called decision points, at which point the driver decides which road to take. The computer in this system displays comprehensive information at decision points about traffic congestion on various roads to enable drivers to choose the fastest way to the beach.

The required system is very similar to the aforementioned traffic light control system in its handling of electrical signals and in the exchange of information between the two computers. The same traffic detectors are used, but they may be prepared to determine vehicle speeds and not just to count them. However, the main difference is in the information displayed at the decision points, which may show in minutes the expected time to reach the beach via the various roads at each decision point.

Example of calculating the shortest time

Let's take a road network like the one shown below, where the letters indicate decision points and the numbers in minutes represent the expected times to travel the road between each two decision points.

Let's start by calculating the times for the points closest to the beach: The times to reach the beach from point "A" are 5 minutes directly and 3.1310 minutes passing through point "B", so the shortest time is 5 minutes. Also the arrival times from point “B” are 853 minutes passing through point “A”, 10 minutes direct and 141.4 minutes passing through point “C”, so the shortest time is 8 minutes, and so on for the remaining points. The decision times are displayed at each point as shown below. If we start from point “W”, the shortest time is 26 minutes, passing through points ( (E)), ( (D)), ( (B)) and ( (1)) .