Traffic Congestion Control by PDE Backstepping

This monograph explores the design of controllers that suppress oscillations and instabilities in congested traffic flow using PDE backstepping methods. The first part of the text is concerned with basic backstepping control of freeway traffic using the Aw-Rascle-Zhang (ARZ) second-order PDE model. It begins by illustrating a basic control problem – suppressing traffic with stop-and-go oscillations downstream of ramp metering – before turning to the more challenging case for traffic upstrea...