Junction parameter calibration for mesoscopic simulation in Vissim

In this paper, we present a mesoscopic simulation method with a special focus on the calibration of the junction control parameters. Mesoscopic simulation methods are popular for their fast run times compared to microscopic simulations methods. However, there are some simpler behavioral assumptions in the mesoscopic simulation, which will be described in the paper along with the basic algorithms of the mesoscopic simulation. Hereby, we also describe the main differences in the implementations of microscopic and mesoscopic simulation as being implemented in the traffic simulator software PTV Vissim. The main focus of this paper is directed towards parameter calibration for junctions. The influence of parameter variation is demonstrated for different types of intersections and ranks of movements, namely this concerns the follow-up and critical gap and the maximum waiting time. More specifically, it can be shown that adjusting these three parameters allows to closely match illustrative exhibits between conflicting volumes and the potential capacity in the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). Due to the simplifications compared to microscopic algorithms junction modelling in mesoscopic simulation is based on the same gap parameters as the analytic approach in the HCM. Consequently, default values for these parameters in Vissim form a suitable basis for parameter calibration to local situations.