Faculty/School

Faculty of Engineering

School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Centre for Robotics

Primary Supervisor

Dr Guilherme Froes Silva
Position
Lecturer in Electrical Engineering (Aerospace and Control)
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Engineering

Overview

This project enhances road safety by mitigating traffic shockwaves, which are the main cause of read-end collisions. We will design, compare and evaluate Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) applied to highway vehicle speed control via 1) centralised Variable Speed Limits (VSL) affecting all vehicles, and 2) decentralised Individual Speed Advisories (ISA) sent to a subset of connected vehicles. This topic is interdisciplinary as it uses control theory applied to traffic engineering problems and is associated with an existing collaboration between the School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Research engagement

The student will engage with Literature Review and Design/Development of a Simulation Environment (SUMO-based)

Research activities

The student will be supporting the development of a SUMO-based Simulation Environment, working alongside a dedicated Research Assistant and the main supervisor, Dr Guilherme Froes Silva.

Research skills

Students will get familiar with Python, SUMO, Control Theory, and Microscopic and Macroscopic Simulation of Traffic.

Outcomes

A benchmarking platform published on GitHub that supports testing of control algorithms to improve traffic safety/efficiency on many highway scenarios. Subsequently, this work will be submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Skills and experience

The student must have familiarity with coding. The ideal candidate has a strong mathematical background and is interested in transportation systems (vehicle platoons, autonomous vehicles, intelligent transportation systems, etc).

Start date

2 November, 2026

End date

19 February, 2027

Location

Gardens Point, S Block, Level 11 (Centre for Robotics)

Keywords

Contact

Guilherme Froes Silva

0731382423

g.froessilva@qut.edu.au