Welcome
Welcome to the virtual presentation of Pittsburgh
Intelligent Transportation Systems (PITTS) Lab – a research and teaching
facility within the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of the
Swanson School of Engineering, at University of Pittsburgh. PITTS Lab is
located in the region with vigorous transportation activity in the most
populous metropolitan area in Western Pennsylvania. Over the recent years
Pittsburgh was transformed from an iconic steel town to an urban innovation hub
hosting some of the major Connected-Automated Vehicle companies. With its
historically important role as a Western Pennsylvania’s railway hub, at the
confluence of Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, and with its variety of urban
transportation modes (the city has a funicular system too!!) Pittsburgh
represents a living lab and diverse environment for researching transportation
problems and improving transportation system while preserving city’s
livability.
PITTS Lab’s research interests include various modes
(private vehicles, public transportation, pedestrians, etc.) and various
aspects of transportation (mobility, accessibility, safety, environment, etc.).
Special emphasis is given to transportation efficiency at the times when
application of advanced technologies (e.g. Intelligent Transportation Systems)
has priority in the national transportation policies over expansion of the
existing infrastructure. In terms of the transportation sub-disciplines PITTS
researchers address traffic operations and management, intelligent
transportation systems, traffic simulation, transportation planning, urban air
transportation and management, and others. The major PITTS’ research emphasis
is on Adaptive Traffic Operations and Management with particular interest in
Adaptive Traffic Signal Control (ATSC) systems. While ATSC systems have been
core of the research interests of the lab’s leadership, the PITTS Lab is
interested in a variety of others traffic operations and management studies.
Ability to adapt to changes is a life-story of the entire human civilization.
Transportation, as one of the primary human activities, whose goal is to move
people, goods and information in space and time, has adapted along with our
society. PITTS Lab, in a multitude of similar labs and facilities, takes an
angle where adaptiveness of the transportation system (as an ability to adapt
to exogenous and endogenous factors that are function of time) is given primary
emphasis when considering transportation’s past, present, and future.
The core of the PITTS Lab is a
Traffic-Management-Center-like facility that is used both for research and
instructional activities. Equipped with the state-of-the-art software,
hardware, and communications the lab serves local, regional, and international
partners in developing new methods and tools in controlling, managing, and
monitoring transportation infrastructure. Some of those partners are: City of
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (Local); Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation, Philadelphia, New Jersey Department of Transportation,
(regional); National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation, Federal
Highway Administration (national); European Cooperation in Science and
Technology, Roads and Maritime Services (Australia), (international). A long
list of PITTS' university partners include University of Utah, University of
Virginia, Northwestern University, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in
Zurich, University of Belgrade, Aalto University, North Carolina State
University, University of Florida, Florida International University, Florida
Atlantic University, University of Maryland, University of Nevada Reno,
University of Minnesota, University of Washington, University of Delaware, New
Mexico State University, University of Idaho, Technical University Munich, Graz
University of Technology, etc.
A. Stevanovic
PITTS Lab Director