Analysis of AVCS Maglev's Automated Highway Network Operation

<title/> AVCS maglev, which is the synergistic combination of Advanced Vehicle Control Systems and high-speed magnetic levitation technology, would operate on ordinary highways and streets under manual control as well as on instrumented highways (magways) under automatic control. In this paper the important aspects of fully-automated highway network operation of AVCS maglev are investigated, which include mainline longitudinal control, entrance ramp control, speed transition control and peak-period optimization strategy. To select a suitable longitudinal control alternative, block control, vehicle-follower control and point-follower control concepts are investigated. To find an entrance ramp operation strategy, the average delay of a ramp vehicle in position to be merged, the ramp capacities and the ramp queue lengths are calculated. The magway is envisaged to consist of three types of sections - restricted capacity section (RCS), speed transition section (STS) and unrestricted capacity section (UCS). The speed transition section is always located between UCS and RCS to adjust the speeds between these two types of sections. During the speed transition operation it is crucial to ensure stability within the platoon of vehicles operating with small spacings. For this purpose a suitable vehicle-following model is investigated. Lastly, the peak-period optimization strategy to maximize the throughput of a magway system is investigated using a linear programming model.