Novel mathematical model to determine geo-referenced locations for C-ITS communications to generate dynamic vehicular gaps

The study aims at determining geo-reference locations for dynamic cooperative communications to be established, allowing the generation of dynamic vehicular gaps between the Dangerous Goods Vehicles and their surrounding vehicles, such that they could travel via a tunnel as a platoon and in isolation. This will ensure the safety of other road users in line with check-and-allow procedures at the road tunnel on Trans-European Transport Network, as per ADR regulations. The model is verified for different road layouts approaching a road tunnel in the UK, using varying traffic scenarios to determine if the identified geo-referenced location by the model is at suitable distances for gap generation. The results are compared against the simulated real-world tunnel traffic flow with conventional vehicles involving escorting of Dangerous Goods Vehicles via human operators. The mixed traffic and connected vehicles traffic flow scenarios are simulated for dynamic gap generation and compared against real-world tunnel scenario to analyse the improvements in travel time, queues and congestion.