Transportation Systems Research Group
The Transportation Systems Research (TSR) group at CE-CERT focuses on a variety of system-level issues related to multi-modal transportation.
Primary research themes include: the prediction of air quality and energy impacts related to transportation, the development of new intelligent transportation system technologies, and the pursuit of advanced vehicle engineering projects. TSR has extensive experience in transportation-related data collection, management, and applications, with particular strength in collecting and analyzing vehicle activity data from probe vehicle experiments and vehicle detection sensory networks.
TSR has worked closely with transportation and air agencies such as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and has had active projects with industry partners such as Nissan, Honda, and Volkswagen.
Over the past two decades, the TSR group has been at the heart of emissions and fuel consumption modeling at different levels of resolution. As part of this research, CE-CERT has developed a comprehensive modeling methodology to evaluate and quantify energy and emissions impacts of transportation programs.
Scientific Statistical Analysis
TSR personnel are proficient in performing a variety of scientific statistical analyses from parametric and nonparametric test to linear and nonlinear estimation. We are familiar with multiple statistical software packages including SAS, SPSS, and R. We also have extensive experience using data visualization tools such as ArcGIS and Google Earth/Map.
Database Skills
The TSR group has in-depth knowledge and extensive working experience with several database tools including MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft Access. As part of our own internal research, we have collected and maintained a large variety of vehicle activity and emissions datasets. As part of this program, we have developed sophisticated database tools for data mining purposes. These databases and the associated tools are implemented in MySQL with user-friendly interfaces that allow data access through the web, and are similar in style to the database techniques used by EPA for MOVES. Also, we are currently utilizing our database skills in the pilot test of the Transportation Secure Data Center (http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/secure_transportation_data.html). In addition, we have utilized our database skills in a number of projects.
MOVES Experience
The TSR group has extensive working experience with MOVES. In fact, TSR personnel have been involved in MOVES development in various roles since the initial design of the model. Specifically:
• Dr. Matthew Barth served as the Co-Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) MOVES workgroup that provided technical feedback on the design and development of MOVES.
• Dr. Kanok Boriboonsomsin served as an expert reviewer for the EPA’s technical report on Draft MOVES2009 Highway Vehicle Population and Activity Data.
• Mr. George Scora did an internship at the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, during which he was heavily involved in developing emission rates for both light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles in MOVES.
In addition, the TSR group has used MOVES extensively in many of our research projects.
