Control of conventional transportation networks aims at bringing the state of the network (e.g., the traffic flows in the network) to the system optimal (SO) state. This optimum is characterized by the minimality of the social cost function, i.e., the total cost of travel (e.g., travel time) of all drivers. On the other hand, drivers are assumed to be rational and selfish, and make their travel decisions (e.g., route choices) to optimize their own travel costs, bringing the state of the network to a user equilibrium (UE). A classic approach to influence users’ route choice is using congestion tolls. In this paper, we study the SO and UE of future connected vehicular transportation networks, where users consider both the travel cost and the utility from data communication, when making their travel decisions. We leverage the data communication aspect of the decision making to influence the user route choices, driving the UE state to the SO state. We assume the cache-enabled vehicles can communicate with other vehicles via vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connections. We propose an algorithm for calculating the values of the data communication utility that drive the UE to the SO. This result provides a guideline on how the system operator can adjust the parameters of the communication network (e.g., data pricing and bandwidth) to achieve the optimal social cost. We discuss the insights that the results shed on a secondary optimization that the operator can conduct to maximize its own utility without deviating the transportation network state from the SO. We validate the proposed communication model via Veins simulation. The simulation results also show that the system cost can be lowered even if the bandwidth allocation does not exactly match the optimal allocation policy under 802.11p protocol.

中文翻译：

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具有数据缓存的车载多跳网络中的流量控制

传统交通网络的控制旨在使网络状态（例如，网络中的交通流量）达到系统最优（SO）状态。这种最优的特点是社会成本函数的最小化，即所有司机的旅行总成本（例如，旅行时间）。另一方面，司机被假定为理性和自私，并做出他们的旅行决定（例如，路线选择）以优化他们自己的旅行成本，使网络状态达到用户均衡（UE）。影响用户路线选择的经典方法是使用拥堵费。在本文中，我们研究了未来互联车辆交通网络的 SO 和 UE，其中用户在做出出行决策时会同时考虑出行成本和数据通信的效用。我们利用决策的数据通信方面来影响用户路由选择，将 UE 状态驱动到 SO 状态。我们假设启用缓存的车辆可以通过车对车 (V2V) 连接与其他车辆进行通信。我们提出了一种用于计算将 UE 驱动到 SO 的数据通信效用值的算法。该结果为系统运营商如何调整通信网络的参数（例如，数据定价和带宽）以实现最佳社会成本提供了指导。我们讨论了结果对二次优化的见解，运营商可以进行二次优化，以在不偏离 SO 的运输网络状态的情况下最大化其自身的效用。我们通过静脉模拟验证了所提出的通信模型。