OBJECT-BASED ADVANCED TRAFFIC SIMULATION MODELLING
Latest technology in software engineering and powerful computer platforms have aided the development of TexSIM Microscopic Network Traffic Simulation Model. This powerful software environment allows researchers to study a wide variety of scenarios and non-conventional control strategies. This paper attempts to describe some of the more aggressive efforts at formalizing traffic simulation opportunities - pointing to a future implementation that can drive the industry to far better traffic analysis and research. This paper draws much from the architecture, design process and implementation of TexSIM. The versatility of object-based traffic modelling is presented by specific examples, and a detailed attempt is made to recommend features that can dramatically enhance the traffic professional's capabilities.
Determining whether a new software development technique is useful and usable is a challenging taste. Various flavors of empirical study may be used to help with this task, including surveys, case studies, and experiments. Little guidance is available within the software engineering community to help choose among these alternatives when assessing a new and evolving software development technique within some cost bounds. We faced this challenge when assessing a new programming technique called aspect-oriented programming. To assess the technique, we chose to apply both a case study approach and a series of four experiments because we wanted to understand and characterize the kinds of information that each approach might provide. We describe and critique the evaluation methods we employed, and discuss the lessons we have learned. These lessons are applicable to other researchers attempting to assess new programming techniques that are in an early stage of development.