science

STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System

STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System rather than just read about it. In short: STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System is an enterprise traffic management system designed to operate in the Microsoft Windows environment. Like most traffic management systems, STREAMS is an array of institutional, human, hardware, and software components designed to monitor, control, and manage traffic on streets and highways.

Key takeaways

STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System is an enterprise traffic management system designed to operate in the Microsoft Windows environment. Like most traffic management systems, STREAMS is an array of institutional, human, hardware, and software components designed to monitor, control, and manage traffic on streets and highways. Advanced traffic management systems come under the banner of ITS (intelligent transport systems). ITS is the application of information and communications technology to transport operations in order to "reduce operating costs", "improve safety" and "maximize the capacity of existing infrastructure". STREAMS provides traffic signal management, incident management, motorway management, vehicle priority, traveler information, flood monitoring and parking guidance within a single integrated system is what the product says. STREAMS is developed by Transmax.

History In 1969, the Department of Main Roads (Queensland) installed the first Intelligent Transport System in Australia (located at Surfers Paradise). In 1985, a second-generation traffic management system was installed in Cairns, Australia. This was known as the TRAC System, or Traffic Responsive Adaptive Control System. Progressive installation of the TRAC system followed at several more sites around Queensland including the capital city, Brisbane. In 1988, a traffic management system was installed for the South East Freeway in Brisbane, Australia. The features included were ramp metering and graphical displays of traffic conditions. It also provided automatic incident detection. In 1992, a new integrated intelligent transport system development was commenced. The objectives were to lower ongoing costs while providing increased performance and opportunity for future ITS applications. The resulting system was STREAMS. In 2002, the division of Department of Main Roads (Queensland) responsible for continuing development of STREAMS was reorganized to form Transmax. The company remains 100% owned by the Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads. In April 2007, Transmax in partnership with VicRoads implemented a coordinated ramp metering trial in Melbourne, Victoria on a 15 km section of the Monash Freeway. Later that year, in December, VicRoads installed STREAMS to manage another six ramps. These developments were part of a much larger M1 Upgrade Project that continued over the next three years, eventually winning the 2010 National ITS Australia Award. The project to upgrade the 75-kilometre M1 Freeway, increased the capacity and safety of the Monash Freeway, the CityLink Tollway (Southern Link) and the West Gate Freeway utilising STREAMS as the Integrated Control System.

Software Architecture STREAMS employs a distributed computing software architecture. Field hardware such as intersection controllers, video cameras and speed detectors are connected via field processors back to a central application server. Users connect to the application server via the workstation software. Field communications are via Optical Fibre, DSL, or Wireless connections. The software is built in distinct modules for each distinct area of traffic / transport control and monitoring. The workstation software communicates to the application server software via a publisher / subscriber model (i.e. workstations subscribe to specifically requested streams of data which are published by the application server). The software architecture model is designed to support the software's claim of being an "integrated" Advanced Traffic Management System. The transport network data is set up via a GIS (Geographic Information System). The GIS allows for a graphical user interface displaying transport network data overlaid on street maps and updating in real-time.

Adaptive Traffic Management STREAMS implements adaptive traffic management through a feature called "Dynamic Plan Selection". Depending on the density of traffic (occupancy) and the dominant direction of traffic (for example, inbound, outbound, or bidirectional) on a road, nearby signalised intersections are operated using several predefined traffic plans. A user sets up the signal timing and picks the traffic density levels and direction that they apply to. Selecting the appropriate signal timing is then automatic. When a time-based traffic plan schedule would be inappropriate because of varying traffic levels, STREAMS Dynamic Plan Selection can adapt to unexpected traffic levels as they arise. With help from the academic community, STREAMS Smart Freeways offers the coordinated ramp-metering algorithm suite ALINEA/HERO. The modular architecture of STREAMS allows Transmax to integrate new algorithms as they become available. STREAMS applies the computed metering rates using ramp signal controllers deployed at the roadside. Controlling multiple consecutive ramps, ideally the whole freeway, makes it possible to maintain a more consistent freeway flow and prevent flow breakdown. Using HERO, STREAMS is able to balance queues across multiple ramps and maximise freeway performance.

See also Traffic Management System Intelligent Transport Systems SCATS BLISS Geographic Information System ITS Australia

References

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System

In research: STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Government-owned companies of Queensland, Intelligent transportation systems, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System in simple terms?

Why does STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on STREAMS Integrated Intelligent Transport System.