Traffic level of service can be evaluated using microscopic simulation software like PTV Visim, which models individual vehicle behaviors at intersections to analyze congestion and test solutions. The simulation process involves calibrating the model using formulas like Jeff Avers' to ensure accuracy, then evaluating performance metrics such as waiting times against German standards (HBS handbook) where waiting times exceeding 70 seconds indicate poor service quality (Level E). Solutions include implementing variable traffic signal programs that adapt to real-time traffic demand, which can significantly reduce waiting times compared to fixed signal programs. Roundabouts may favor pedestrians and cyclists but can disadvantage motorized vehicles. This simulation approach allows engineers to test multiple scenarios before implementing physical changes, making it a valuable tool for urban traffic planning and optimization.
Le traffic routier de Yaoundé, simulation, évaluation et comparaison.Añadido:
So, welcome to the DT Community platform.
Today we welcome a special guest, engineer Kenier Cueda, who will share his experience with us, revealing secrets through the challenges he overcame, the tips he learned, and the lessons he learned from these challenges.
and he talks to us today in particular about the evaluation of the level of service of traffic by microscopic simulation and comparison to German standards, the case of Yaoundé.
So, as you can see, it's going to be technical.
We will have some good things to share and remember at the community level this summer.
So he will be accompanied by engineer Quaté who will conduct this conference to the end. But it's good to remember the context. So as you can see on the screen, we are on the set of a non-profit residential institution whose vision is to promote academic and professional excellence and to build a benchmark and role models for African youth.
So, Summer Community has already been operating for over 2 years with around a hundred working meetings, more than fifty volunteers, uh, projects launched, others in the process of being launched. So you can see it on the website. Uh, we have a library, and technological projects, including a vending machine. We have digital platform projects to support job seekers and so on, and so we have programs among which the most talked about today is the ET Game School program, which is the competition launched in the major schools in Africa to find the cream of the crop, the top students as they are called in these major schools. So it's the Major League and the idea is to organize field championships in school grounds to celebrate excellence and award prizes and excellence bonuses to the winners. Otherwise, in addition to daily or weekly activities, we have conferences, masterclasses, and conferences like this one on feedback from experience. We would like to remind you that we have held over 100 experience feedback conferences and/or masterclasses.
So, uh, we have already produced, uh, a large amount of educational content for young people. We have field immersion activities where we go to these major schools to meet with distinguished teachers, interview them, visit laboratories, and film machines. So that's what it means to allow young people to experience this reality firsthand. to know when we say that we want to be, uh, an architect or a civil engineer for example, is it a workshop or a civil engineering laboratory? We need to show exactly the reality on the ground. It's not just for schools, we also go to the level of companies to show the realities of the professions. When a young person says they want to be a pilot, do they know what a pilot's daily work life is like? If you know the workload, you can see the returns. So, we need to show young people concretely what this reality on the ground is like, hence the programs we have put in place. So, uh, without further ado, I'm going to hand the floor over to our moderator to conduct the interview. So Quaté, you have the floor. THANKS.
Thank you Jo.
Welcome everyone to this new edition of feedback on Community.
We are pleased to welcome our guest, Mr. Kenier. I am Quaté, a quantum physics engineer at Google.
As I said, we are pleased to welcome our dear and distinguished guest, Mr. K.
Uh, I will let Mr. Kier introduce himself and then we will get down to business with our feedback.
All right. Thank you Mr. Coaté and hello to all those who follow us, or good evening depending on where you are. So, I'm Ken Cuida, a young Cameroonian civil engineer working for the company SAP FS Plano in Hannover, Germany. Uh, I am responsible for the feasibility study of road transport projects, road traffic projects, and also for the planning up to the completion of these projects. So what we do is just establish a certain approach, a project design and also ensure that this project is completed on time and also delivered as required by the client. THANKS.
All right. Thank you for this presentation. So, let's get down to the nitty-gritty of the feedback. So we will continue with your presentation.
Uh, we would like to understand, uh, how the fundamental motivations have shaped you from your childhood to your career, uh, to your current level. We like to know how these fundamentals have progressed over time, what your motivations have been since childhood and how they have evolved to this level?
Well, first of all, I want to say that I was much more motivated to be in a completely different field than the one I am in now. I'm going to be honest. Uh, I hadn't planned on being a civil engineer and uh, so I was prepared for more on the finance side. Uh, I was more interested in the bank, really. As those who know me know, I had always wanted to be a banker. And my biggest motivation, or what really pushed me to reach the level I am at, is my dad, since he himself is a civil engineer. Uh, so that's the challenge, it's just laid out like that. We were on one of these missions and uh I saw how much the construction phases and everything that went with it changed people's daily lives. That means that when he showed me a before and after photo of the project, I was like, wow, how did we go from this to that? So I immediately developed this desire to become what I am and I never gave up because I was always motivated by it, by this way of impacting populations simply by creating a road network between forests. And I mean, really, that was my biggest motivation. That was really the strength I felt when I arrived on the field with him, right up to this point.
All right. Ah, it's cut out. THANKS. Uh, just still in the same vein. Well, given the financial resources that these civil engineering projects can require, we think that maintaining this financial aspect can also be important. Well, we would like to know if, even in your civil engineering profession, you ever make detours into finance. Well, we would like to know if you ever make these detours and rekindle your old passion for finance that you had in the past.
Uh yes, in partiality, I will say that in road project implementation plans, uh you should also normally be in the project costs. This means that we will not achieve and may even exceed the initial cost of the project that was planned from the outset. And we're not going to go and take more money from the customer's pockets. Therefore, it will always be necessary to calibrate the project in such a way that it remains within the client's reach. And so, in carrying out these projects, we always reassure ourselves that we are not exceeding a certain margin. Uh, and then, uh, at the end of each project, we necessarily make what are called project estimates. And when we talk about quotes, we're always talking about finances and all that. And so, I sometimes find myself entering the area where I have to calculate the costs of the project, the taxes that come after the project, really every step from the laying of the first stone until the completion of the entire project.
THANKS. Thank you for sharing. Uh, still in the same vein, we would like to understand, uh, what are good given your background, what are the soft skills, uh, or skills, that is to say, if you have to advise a student or someone who aspires to work in the same field as you, what are the key skills that this student should, uh, emphasize. That's a very good question. Well, what I'm going to say is that I think I listen first. Listening first is very important because we are in a project where we exchange a lot verbally and very often we have 1-hour meetings where you really have to write everything down. You really need to listen to the client's project. And uh, listening means that uh, you already have a bit of an overall view of the project, what the client wants in the end, and you can also easily suggest alternatives to them even without having started. Uh, I remember on a project we did in Delbruck, it was in western Germany. It was therefore necessary to plan a road and connect it to a new road that the city of Delbr intended to build for a residential area it wanted to create.
So in this residential area, they should plan a building for the fire brigade, community centers, a police station, a supermarket, residential buildings, and playgrounds. So, what was the objective?
used a term that was completely new to me because this is my first year, the beginning of my career. Uh, ours will go with it, and these are things that you don't necessarily learn in school. It's when you're matched that you start to get into more technical topics like that.
So, as a result, it was necessary to reassure ourselves that when the water, the runoff water, the rainwater that arrives, perhaps on the road, when it needs to be evacuated, in no case should it enter the new area that is planned and being built. And so it was necessary to find technical solutions to avoid this.
otherwise it would have caused more costs in the planning and even the maintenance of that road. So it was this theme that allowed me to quickly find some small alternatives and also find a quick solution to this problem.
Besides listening, what I'm also going to talk about is uh critical thinking.
I believe that's what's called critical thinking in French. So, uh, always really question yourself when you have a problem on the table, don't directly say "OK, here's what I think, here's what I recommend".
really question yourself twice, sometimes even three times, uh, think openly, think a little bit in several ways, how to say, in all corners, not just question yourself precisely about the problem. In addition to that, I will also add time management. It's very important for project completion, time management, teamwork, uh, really project management, all of that is really important to me.
If you want to reach that level, you must be able to manage all of these skills and soft skills without having any difficulties with them.
All right. THANKS. Uh, along the same lines, we would like to know, uh, understand how the transition from your educational life to your professional life took place. Uh, we imagine, uh, in general, the pace of life, the way of working is not the same. How did you deal with the difficulties you encountered after your graduation when you, uh, when you made that transition?
Uh yeah, it wasn't easy because firstly there's the language barrier, uh there's also the adaptation to the new technical term.
Because at school, as I said, you're not necessarily going to get everything all at once. Well, we're constantly learning.
So from my first year, I would even say the first month, I was confronted several times with problems in certain projects and uh it wasn't easy. And uh, how was I supposed to combine that? Because back then, at school, we only had small projects that had to be completed very quickly, maybe in a month, and then handed in.
And here, we have projects where we have to work perhaps over a period of 1 year. And uh, first of all, there's this language barrier where you have to continually learn the language and at the same time study other guidelines because we have standards in Germany that may not prevail in Cameroon and so on. So what I just have to do is take advice from the older generation, take advice from colleagues, from people who are already somewhat used to the professional environment.
Uh, as I said earlier, I used to talk a lot, I used to talk a lot with my dad who is also in the field.
How did he manage this situation? How did he learn? So all the advice I got from that also allowed me to really integrate into that professional life. Besides that, I always take breaks, I have after-work drinks with colleagues. We go to sports activities, we play football together. Well, sometimes we just have little excursions where we go to cities to discover something new. So it also really helps to get into this world a little more and also to maintain some contact with colleagues.
All right. THANKS. Thank you for sharing.
Uh, and still on this aspect of uh, transition of working methods or uh, yes, way of working, we would like to understand since your graduation how you manage to keep your intellectual background always up to date.
We assume that, uh, work is not necessarily the end of education. We would like to know, once you have obtained your degree, what techniques you use to continually update yourself in your work environment?
Uh, okay. Well, honestly, whether we like it or not, when you're a civil engineer here, you're already learning everything because, well, we're in a country where there are federated or federal states, I don't really know how to say it. And in addition to that, each state has its own guideline, hence Bundesliger, as we say in German. So each state has its own guidelines, standards, and everything. And so each project we have with a city that is in a different state than another, we have to start researching those standards from the ground up. So even if you don't want to, to complete the project on time and according to the client's requirements, you would need to do some research.
Besides that, I also do a lot of training on online platforms, a lot. Uh, there is a platform where I spend the most money, it's Udi, where I train myself a lot more on new working methods in civil engineering, especially BIM, which is Building Information Modeling. Uh, also a little bit about how AI is trying to transform civil engineering.
Exactly. So these are the little things that I am continually learning and that could help me on current or future projects on the side. And I also learn a lot from my colleagues because they are experienced people, most with 10-15 years of experience. So they give me a lot of feedback and I am then able to associate that with what I have already learned on my side in order to apply it to future projects.
All right. THANKS. Uh, just a follow-up question. Uh, you were talking about variations in standards from one state to another. Well, we would like to know if it is possible that there is an overlap between the standards. Well, we assume that for a country to be consistent, these standards must at least not be exclusive in fact. So we like to know, uh, in this transition, uh, if at least there is this guarantee that if you learn in a certain state and perhaps if you are affected in another state, there will not be a very big gap. Well, we like to know how these variations in standards happen.
First of all, it is important to know that in Germany there is first of all a general standard in transport governed by an organization the FKS FA forzel Fassan Fer in a kind of organization which governs the global standards in transport and road traffic in Germany. They are based there. And now, each state uses this standard, how do we say general or global standard of Germany, to write their local standards according to their reality, according to their own culture and also according to their own requirements. So basically, yes, the standards are different depending on the state, but there is always a kind of consistency in some way.
There's always this kind of consistency that makes it easy for you to find your way around very quickly.
You just know that maybe they have different dimensions that they have to respect depending on the traffic. There may be different calculations or assumptions that should be considered. But basically, there isn't a big difference. It's just that sometimes you have to be careful because you might think, no, that's how it is here. Perhaps we want 3m width for cycle paths and yet somewhere in a paragraph they only want 2m because that's how it is in their country. So uh it's just these small variations and perhaps the assumptions of the calculation of the structural layer and so on. So all these little things can vary, but basically there's a kind of coherence to it all.
All right. THANKS. Uh, still on this integration process, we would like to understand, uh, when you arrived in Germany, uh, how did your immigration integration process go during your studies?
OK. So, you're leaving Cameroon for Germany? Yes, yes, yes. Well, I imagine there are many students who aspire to become civil engineers, and doing civil engineering in Germany could be interesting. So we would like to understand how this transition took place and also the integration process.
All right. Well, it happened quite quickly, if I put it that way, because I was already a scholarship holder from Cameroon. That is to say, when I was in Cameroon, uh, after my civil engineering studies at the Catholic University of Boya, uh, I worked a little in the building sector, uh, since it was a little complicated to really find work in the field in which I wanted to work, particularly roads, and then after this little period came the corona period which put a stop to some of the projects we had and it was difficult financially to, uh, get out of it. And then, I had friends here in Germany who told me about Germany. They are live, many will recognize themselves. They told me about Germany, they said, "Come on, what are you doing?
You have a lot of potential.
Come, come, try to work here.
Learn the courses, take the language courses. Come and settle here and you can have a better life."
So uh I didn't put that aside, I took it into consideration and uh so I applied to schools and while doing language courses then uh I came across an opportunity uh the DAAD scholarship, it's the German uh uh dinst it's a kind of scholarship which uh which is annually uh and its purpose is to finance students with an academic background uh well Comes very well and uh bring them to Germany, follow them and it's not just funding because at the same time it's also a kind of training. So during the course of the scholarship, you take courses on how to do better in Germany and also on many other very important aspects in the world in general.
So, uh, that's how it happened, and uh, I arrived in 2022 through this scholarship in April, and after that, I still had to do 6 months of language courses in the city of Dezich in eastern Germany. And after these language courses you are now obliged or have an obligation to provide proof of admission to a university in Germany.
Otherwise, your boss was removed and so in this process, I was able to get three, I think two or three other admissions and I had to make a choice just like that with nothing in mind, I really had no selection criteria and I ended up at the University of the H Schluffy Venhaft College in Hillersim and that's really how my process went. It was so good, I'd say it was really fast. I didn't really experience any difficulties at the embassy level because when you have a scholarship it goes much faster and you don't pay anything, whether it's the fees for staying in the territory or anything like that, it's all managed by the German state. So that's a little bit of the path I've taken to come here to study.
All right. THANKS. Uh, we would really appreciate it if, uh, after the feedback session, you could share more information about the stock market. We, uh, we're going to share this with our online users. So if it's possible afterwards after the experience, uh, that's really going well.
Of course it's possible, I will do it.
All right. THANKS. THANKS. Uh, I also talked about a very interesting topic that I think almost all areas of work are affected by.
Uh, you talked about Lia and you're learning about how Lia affects your field of civil engineering. So we would like to understand from your point of view, how you see your way of working, uh, given the increasing importance it occupies in almost all areas of work. How do you see the profile of a civil engineer evolving over the next five years?
Well, uh, I'm not very futuristic, but I think that in the next five years, work will definitely be much easier. I can already feel it, I have more of... I'll just take a small concrete example. Um, I'm working on a road improvement project in Nova. It's a major road of almost 11 km. And uh, when you have finished planning this project, you must therefore make a call for tenders because we also make calls for tenders. Therefore, before issuing calls for tenders, it is necessary to prepare quantitative and cost estimates. And to make these quotes, you need to have a list of current market prices. And uh, not only that, you also have to compare the prices of each, uh, how do you say, producer or seller of each item and everything or each product. And uh, so with uh Lia already uh, I manage to get a sum of all that really in two movements. Something I wouldn't have done if Li hadn't been there. That is to say, it allows me, through a software, to sum up all these different prices, all these different uh items and really list them according to my requirements and also really tell me which is the best product. in terms of value for money. So you see, so you see, so it's a little easier this way. It shortens the project delivery time, the deadlines and all that makes me go faster. So I see in 5 years perhaps this ease in all aspects of the field of civil engineering. Well, I just noted one area here, but even in the design of road projects, uh, already with AI, we have this ease of drawing a little faster, of even already having road variants, maybe three or four variants made directly through certain software without much effort. So in 5 to 10 years maybe we will need less time to waste on project execution and planning thanks to AI. Exactly.
All right. All right. THANKS. And uh, given this variation in the demand for skills that will be due to artificial intelligence, uh, what advice would you give to students who are still in school? Because I imagine 5 years ago, uh, the skills you mentioned, that is, how to do it, well, I don't understand exactly, but I mean, there are quite a few things you mentioned that have been done now.
I mean, there are students who are still in school now, and in 3 years, what they are learning now on the tapes will probably not be required.
So we like to understand, uh, what advice would you give to students who are still in school now and who, potentially in 3 years, uh, will face this variation in skills required in the market.
Uh, the first thing, as you already said, is first, I'll say, is to find out that Lia is going to take all these little aspects into account in the field of civilian guns. And uh, so first of all, getting informed is a good start. Secondly, what I will advise and what I do myself is to understand how to work with this tool because, certainly, it will take many positions, many areas may disappear, but we will always need a bit of the human aspect in road projects.
Of course, we will always need a bit of that human decision-making and that exchange with customers, and I really think it's important.
uh, first, find out about this tool, uh, work on the aspects that the tool will replace with the tool because even if it will replace, we will still need the engineer there or maybe not always, but we will still need the engineer there for quite some time to be able to maintain the tool so that it works well, so that it can process the data in a realistic way. So what does that mean? I would therefore advise working with the tool, knowing how to work with the tool, how to write prompts, how to give them prompts that can give them really consistent or even almost realistic results. So, we also need to be careful because AI doesn't only have positive aspects. Well, that also has a lot of negative aspects, it's very sleepy. That is to say, if at some point we leave everything to AI, we lose that ability to think and say, "OK, what can we do on this type of project?" and not always write everything down and have information before giving it back to the client. So, be careful not to become addicted to this tool, but to use it precisely to improve your work method and move a little faster in the process.
Okay. Thank you. Uh, we think it's very important given the voraciousness of these tools. In fact, it's important to stay informed and up-to- date. So, once an engineer is operational, we like to know how your aspirations in the professional world have evolved since you graduated.
And, uh, basically, how do these aspirations evolve?
Uh, so, since graduating... Yes, since graduating. How do you see... How will your career evolve? Okay, let's say the next three years. Well, you might say, "Well, you said you're not a futurist, actually." Let's limit the horizon to three or four years.
No, when I say I'm not a futurist, it's like I can't really predict, but I can still give an idea or an opinion. Uh, yes, but professional aspirations, I mean even before graduation, uh, honestly, I'm going to say something that might be a little shocking: I just wanted to have a stable job. I just wanted to have a really stable job, uh, to be able to work, do what I love, and make the most of my potential, to give back to the people who need it, to the companies that need it. And why do I say just have a stable job? Because when I came to Germany, I heard a lot of feedback about how complicated it is to find a job after studying.
Really, sometimes it's difficult. Uh, sometimes it can last two years. And it's not that I have I just heard, I also saw people who really struggled to get jobs, even star jobs. And so I was thinking, "Ah, so I've done another 2 years of studying and I'm going to have these problems." "What can I really do?" So I was basing my approach on the feedback from these people to improve some skills or aspects that I thought were necessary to get a job, even though I was n't sure it would help because I thought maybe even those others tried but didn't succeed. And what was really important, what might help, was to never stop asking questions. What helped me—and I'm saying this, it might shock some people—is that I don't really have any experience with job applications. Like, really applying for jobs and getting responses and rejections and all that.
My first job, for example, was just a conversation with my teacher. We had a project, a presentation, and I was the only one presenting in the room with my two teachers, and they thought that I was having trouble expressing what I felt or what I knew about the project, but I knew exactly what I wanted to say. And then, uh, they told me, "Listen, we understand what you're saying, it's true, you're going all the way, you just have your language problems and we understand, it's not a big deal." But we understood the message and then he asked me, "I feel you're motivated, and uh, where are you currently working?" What are you doing? Because in reality, normally in master's programs, most students have what we call student jobs, working student programs, I'll say, if we can put it that way, working student programs, and uh they work at the same time, they study, and I didn't have that. So he was thinking maybe I work somewhere. I say no, I'm already on a scholarship, it's difficult because the scholarship does n't allow me to work and earn a certain amount. So I avoid working, earning a certain amount so as not to have problems, they told me no, it is possible to work but not earn much. So, just having some experience in your field will allow you to have fewer difficulties when expressing yourself for or within a project. And I said okay, I would really like to have an opportunity to work because it's something I aspire to, and they told me okay, write me an email and we'll see about it. And that's how the conversation ended. So I wrote the email, I sent my CV and everything. Well, he didn't take me back on the spot, obviously, but so I came back again. I said, uh, I don't know if he received my email, I really would like to work and everything.
So he told me, "Oh yeah, he forgot and everything." He sent me an interview, we talked and everything, and then it happened like that. And to this day, I am still with the same company. So after I finished my studies, just before I finished, he asked me, "So, come on, we want you to stay because we like your way of working. Maybe people get along well with you, can you stay and work with us?"
So that's why I say, I haven't necessarily had that problem or that experience of finding a job and all that. However, that was a fear I had initially. And so today after that, what I can say is that uh the objectives have changed obviously uh today it is just to be able to work in an environment that leads me to always surpass myself, that motivates me and that leads me to always learn continuously and above all to work on a project that can really impact the world or perhaps populations in general.
All right. THANKS.
Thank you for sharing this in this first phase. As is customary at Community, our guests always prepare gifts for us, and this is the case for our guest. Uh, our guest has a special gift for this edition. So I'll leave it to our guest to present the gift he has planned for our audience in this edition.
OK. So, I'll have to share my screen then.
Yeah, that's right.
Uh, I think, I don't know if it's noticeable yet.
Uh, not on my end.
Yes, that's good.
It's good, it's good. For my part, uh, I hope that... I don't know if you're sorry, if it's okay, I can start.
Okay, I'm just waiting, it's all good on my end. I'm just going to reassure myself that it's visible to everyone.
All right.
And that's good, you just give me the signal because I can't see you anymore.
I'm already on the presentation page.
All right.
Yeah.
OK, that's good. Uh, I think we can begin.
OK. All right. Uh, so I'm going to talk a little bit about what I do on a daily basis, sometimes at work, or what we do as planning engineers. uh, in the road projects. Uh, and here we will try to evaluate the level of service of traffic, for example, at a crossroads, by microscopic simulation, and we will take references to German standards, that is to say, to German guidelines. And there, I took a special case in Yaoundé. And this project, or rather this simulation, will therefore be done with the PTV Visim software, which I will present. So, so what exactly are we going to talk about here? Um, let's introduce the software a little bit.
What is PTV SIM software?
Why are we actually simulating the traffic? Um, the types of simulation that exist.
What is it, why is it, what are the different types? And so we will take a case, uh, just one case in Yaoundé at the entrance to Cité Verte.
Uh, it's not a real problem, or maybe it doesn't really reflect the problem that exists there.
So I just wanted to take a case, create a problem, find solutions and interpret the results we get at the end. So, I will base my calculations on the numbers of German uhs and to have the solutions that could be given to a client. So that's basically how a client comes with their projects and says, "OK, I may have this or that situation, please find me some solutions and really, uh, offer me some truly sustainable solutions." And then we will conclude in general terms on the project.
So, uh, the software is PTV Visim.
Uh, how? OK. Yeah. Uh, PTV Visims.
So it's a software developed by the PTV group, it's Plano Transport Onfer.
It's a German group based in Casco. So, it's a microscopic simulation software for road traffic and it therefore allows for the analysis, planning, optimization, and improvement of urban and inter-human transport systems. What does that do? This therefore creates a kind of realistic reproduction of the movements of vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. And with this, we can therefore evaluate the functioning of their road network under different traffic conditions and really provide different traffic parameters. So, we already have a bit of an idea of that. The first image is, uh, a kind of simulation, uh, at the entrance of a large, uh, a large performance hall. There you see the feet, the visitors or spectators who are at the entrance just to enter the door, uh, or the front door. The green areas are the areas that are slightly less used.
The yellow zones are where there are a few more people, where there is a concentration of people. The red zones are therefore the areas where there is an even higher concentration of people. Through this software, we can simulate the movement of spectators and perhaps calculate from this the number of entrance doors that we should perhaps recommend or that we should have in such a hall. Then, here we have a tram line, a tram line that we could also simulate or for a project that we plan to have, that is to say a project that we are planning or if we would like to simulate and optimize an already existing project perhaps because there are some problems on the tram line. Here we have, for example, a football stadium, and you can see here we are trying to simulate the different entrances to this football stadium with an event such as perhaps a big football match, perhaps a Champions League final, or perhaps a concert. We are trying to calculate the level of service of this football stadium, the entries, the exits. Can the number of entries and exits therefore record the number of people who come, spectators and everything? Here we have a large intersection that we can also simulate, and perhaps if there are traffic jams or the tram line is very slow or we are very late, how can we optimize these small problems? H here are the parking lots.
We have a parking lot entrance/exit.
We are trying to simulate whether the flow of cars entering and exiting is recorded by these entrances or these gantries that are there. Do we need more of a gantry? Do we need less? And so on. And finally, we also have a simulation.
So that's still microscopic.
We have two intersections that follow each other and here we try to coordinate the signaling program in such a way that one intersection will not necessarily affect another in order to have little traffic congestion and to have such a high level of service or well, uh, so to continue, we need to know why we are actually simulating. So, the first step is to find out the causes of the traffic jams.
Sometimes on certain groups, uh, it happens that traffic jams are caused because the traffic is not well done, the road signs are not well done, or the traffic lights are not very well coordinated or configured, and this creates huge waiting times, uh, and this creates hostages. So, based on this, we try to assess the performance of the road network before any project is undertaken. We are testing several development scenarios without directly intervening on the ground. We are also optimizing the intersections; this is an existing intersection. We try to optimize traffic lights, traffic plans and we help with decision-making in mobility projects. So this is an advantage that even before intervening directly on the ground, we can already have an overview of the problem in a modeled way and already produce or propose solutions to address these problems. Don, we're now going to move on to the type of simulation. Well, to begin with, we have macroscopic simulations.
It is a kind of analysis in a somewhat global way of a project or a place, an environment or an area without however always representing the vehicle individually, therefore without giving individual behaviors to the vehicle.
And this allows, for example, the evaluation of average speed and traffic density in a motorway project. That is to say, for example, on the road, the highway, we try to see what impact this new highway will have on the road network through a macroscopic simulation. We can quickly get this information, and then we have mesoscopic simulations.
So this one is a bit smaller. Uh, it's very often in, we can say, a city or a district of a city, and as you can see in the image, we can say, for example, that we group together a certain number of vehicles with the same type of behavior. And here it's a little less detailed than the microscopic simulation we'll see later. Uh, the calculation time is so fast. Uh, for example, we can evaluate the effects of a lane change. or a change of direction. That is to say, if we have a road, like perhaps the road from Mélè to Obili in Yaoundé, which has two directions, and we say, "OK, let's try making it one-way, what impact will that have on the local network?"
So, in that area, through a mesoscopic simulation, we can understand exactly what impact it will have. Then, we have the last type, which is the microscopic simulation.
Here, however, it's a bit more detailed. Each vehicle has its own specific behavior, and this reproduces its behavior in traffic. That is to say, you can decide that the vehicle will even behave poorly on the road, and you give it that parameter, and it behaves poorly on the road. For example, it might make a U-turn on a solid line, and so on. So it really depends on what result you want. So it's very detailed, it's realistic, and it takes into account changes in behavior. On a lane, perhaps on a road. Uh, maybe lane changes, accelerations, braking, uh, interactions between vehicles, for example, simulating a very congested intersection. And that's kind of what we're going to do in a little while. We're going to look at how it works.
So here, we have the Cité Verte entrance. And as I said, it's not a real problem. Uh, it's a problem that's been raised, and I've just relayed a problem I've already worked on here. And I just want to show exactly how we receive problems, how we process them, how we evaluate them, and how we give recommendations. So the Cité Verte entrance is a neighborhood, uh, or Cité Verte is a neighborhood in Yaoundé.
Uh, and we have the problem that uh, there's heavy traffic congestion between 5 and 6 pm, so the evening rush hour. And that creates Traffic jams create major bottlenecks between vehicles coming from the city center via Mokolo and vehicles coming from Colbisson and Mélène. So, around here, we have so much congestion between 5 and 6 PM. And what's the consequence? Major slowdowns, long queues, and a general disruption to traffic flow. So, if you leave work at, say, 4:50 PM in Montcolo and you want to go home to Yumaban, Mélène, or Colbison, and you're there between 5 and 6 PM, you'll probably have a long wait ahead of you. Maybe a few extra minutes, or sometimes even half an hour. And that's what the city wants to avoid. And the first thing we do is enter the parameters into The SIM software. Uh, so if you see here, we have Schreen, which are the lanes.
Uh, we divide the lanes for each type of vehicle, and the lanes—so in Germany, for example, it's 3.25 meters for vehicle lanes and generally 2 meters for pedestrians and cycle paths. And if you see the black, or rather gray, lines there, those are those lanes. And, uh, across the main lines, we have the crossing zones for pedestrians and cyclists.
Then, we create slowdown zones to make the project a bit more realistic. If you see, there are orange or yellow rectangles here.
Uh, these are slowdown zones, what we call langs here.
It's to make the project even more realistic. What does it do? It means that, uh, for example, someone coming out of the green city and who He's going to Mokolo, he might be traveling at 50 km/h, which is still the speed limit. As I said, the speed limit here is 50 km/h for vehicles. He might be traveling at 50 km/h and he might not have seen a child crossing the road.
The child might not have paid attention to the traffic light, or even if he did, he might have crossed the road unexpectedly. So this slowdown zone allows the vehicle, when it arrives there, to wait a little. So it reduces its speed to perhaps 15 km/h for light vehicles and 10 km/h for heavy vehicles, or to allow the child to cross safely before continuing. Then we have conflict zones.
If you see the red and green lines there, those are these conflict zones. What does that mean? It means that if two vehicles meet At this point, for example, the vehicle coming from Mokolo going straight ahead and the vehicle coming from Cité Verte also going to Mokolo, if they happen to be here at some point in the simulation, the vehicle coming from Mokolo going straight ahead has priority.
So the one coming from Cité Verte will have to wait for the one over there. And then, we have the signage, as you can see, the road markings, the traffic lights, and the road signs. All of this is important in the simulation to make a project as realistic as possible.
Next, we'll establish a signage program, and here we'll start with a fixed signage program. And that's very common in Cameroon.
What is a fixed signage program? It means that we have a set time for each individual or each vehicle at the intersection.
So, the vehicle coming from Cité Verte, perhaps, has its waiting time and its signal time. Green.
Uh, and so no matter what happens at the intersection, it will always have a fixed time. There won't be a point where, if it had 6 seconds, at a given moment it has 7 seconds. That's what we call a fixed signaling program. And so we try to establish that and we give that to each individual. If you see here, perhaps K10, that's the one coming from a straightaway, that's K10. So from the 6th second until the 30th or 50th second, the light is green, then there's a 3-second yellow light, and then the red light. So that's pretty much what we plan exactly. We try to make it real to first understand the problem before finding solutions, and then we also establish and configure the traffic volume. If you see here the number of vehicles we allocate to each lane, for each... we call that... arm, It's at each intersection entrance. And, uh, so we're just trying to make some assumptions. Okay, let's say there are 244 vehicles here coming from and perhaps going from there and going straight ahead.
So these are figures, this is a traffic volume per hour since we're between 5 PM and 6 PM. So we'll just report for one hour.
So after doing that, uh, we'll configure the simulation and, uh, we'll calibrate the model again. Why calibrate the model? Because we want to check if the model accurately represents reality. Uh, it's important to be sure that this is also the case. So, to do this, we use a formula by Jeff Avers, or 70 if I'm not mistaken. He's a British engineer in transport and traffic modeling. He developed this formula to evaluate the quality of a simulation or traffic model, and it allows us to compare traffic volumes. with the volumes actually observed on the ground to truly reflect reality. So we have M, which represents the simulated traffic volume, and Z, which represents the measured traffic volume, which is the analysis we did on the ground. These are the parameters we provided and the results we obtained after a simulation test, because we're going to run a simulation test to see if the model calibration is correct. And there's a green grain, which is a limit we shouldn't exceed to have a simulation that accurately represents the level. So, the " drop-chouffle" (or "drop-chouffle," as we say in German) is defined as a GEA (Global Area Efficiency) of -5 on each displacement. When you see W there, that's the west, from west to east. So, these are the displacements, and for each displacement, we must have a GH that is less than 5, and also for the sum of the displacements, we must also have a GH that is less than 5. 5. And here, it draws a sort of diagonal line, and the points represent all the displacements, and all these points must be as close as possible to this line. When we reach this level, we can already say that we have a good calibration of the model. And then what we do is evaluate the number of simulations required to also obtain a statistically reliable result. And for that, we also use a formula, as it is written there, for simulation. This formula is found in a book, the HVMS, the AMVS, which is the handbook on Microscope Simulation. It's a kind of guideline, I'll put it that way, or a calculation note that is used in Germany for road traffic simulation. So this formula tells us the number of simulations needed to achieve a somewhat reliable result.
And for that, we have these parameters. I'll start with n, which is the minimum number required. T represents So, the statistical value comes from the Student's t-distribution. This depends on the chosen confidence level, and we also obtain this value in the same book, the HMVS, which is this one. So, depending on the confidence level chosen in Germany, we recommend a confidence level of 85% to 95%. And you also have to choose a number of test simulations to run first. For that, we start with 10. And when we reach 95%, we get 81, and that gives us this value here.
Then we have S, which is the standard deviation of the results. It 's a kind of measure; it measures the variation between the simulations. Yes. That's because the simulations aren't always exact. There's always that small difference in the results. So it's a kind of standard deviation on the simulation measurements, a kind of Standard deviation, if I can explain it that way. And we get it directly in the simulation tests. So we have the values coming from the VIM software, and we enter them into an Excel document where we put the formulas, and it calculates for us.
And then we have C, which is the desired confidence interval. It represents the maximum acceptable error. That is to say, we would like to have a certain error. And this error is also given by the PT for SIM software, which is the simulation software. So for each displacement, there is this maximum acceptable error, and if we have 10 seconds, and so on. So the formula allows us to have reliable results, and it ensures that the errors remain very minimal. So now we're going to go into the simulation, and I'm going to have to present a simulation sequence now.
I hope you can still see my screen. I've switched to a video now. If you can confirm, see... The screen.
OK, alright, it works. Uh, so this is kind of how it looks. Here we have a map of the green city entrance. You might get a preview later. It's fast because that's how the destination usually is; they need to speed up a bit so we don't have to wait too long. So you see exactly how it works: when the light is red, the vehicles wait. When it's green, they go through, and pedestrians too; when they have red, they go through. So this is kind of how these simulations happen; they really try to make it as realistic as possible so that we can really detect what the problem is, or what the cause of the problem is, and how we can come up with a solution. And so, uh, I'm going to stop here; I'm going to move on to another video that shows the simulation with a fixed simulation program. This is a video about it, and I'm just going to show you how it works. In reality, you see that the waiting time Here it's long, that's where the vehicles are waiting. Okay, it's going fast here because I accelerated normally in the signal in the simulation program. But in reality, if I were to use normal second times, you'd see that these are waiting a really long time.
Uh, and you can see that it's very long. And even for those down here, they're waiting a really long time.
They have a long queue. The same goes for those coming out of the green city. So here are those coming out of Mokolo, those coming out of Debison, and those coming out of... you can clearly see that they're waiting a long time. And that's just because we're starting at a certain level here. So we don't necessarily start there. Otherwise, you'll see that even here the queues are still enormous. And the same goes for there if we go further, and the same to the left if we go even further left. So, uh, after doing that, uh, if I can return to my presentation, uh, we have results to go a little faster, we also have results that we obtain by The simulation software uses a fixed program. And these results are shown here.
Leareng, sorry if it's a bit in German, it's already programmed that way. I 'll try to translate it. Taoenging, so that's the traffic jam distance, the congestion distance, and it's in meters. You'll see that West Host, that's what comes from Colbison to Mokolo, and they have a traffic jam length of about 44 meters and a waiting time of 54 seconds.
And for that, they have a value of D.
How is D obtained? It's also thanks to a guideline given by [name of organization], which is used in Germany, it's the HBS, the Philippe Bemon FRL handbook.
It's a kind of guideline where we have these green grams, these limits not to be reached or to be respected to ensure that the traffic... well, the traffic is in a state. Okay, so when we see the KFZ Ferm and all that, and that's in seconds, all that's in seconds. KFQ, so that's for light and heavy vehicles. Uh, to have a level of service of A, or quality of service of A, we have less than 20 seconds to wait. Uh, B, and so on, 35 for C, D is 70. So you'll see that here we have -70, between 50 and 70 we have D. And in Germany, when we have a level from E onwards, that means we're in a poor quality situation and we should find a solution to that. So if you look closely, you'll see that the West line, the line that goes from Colon to enter the C entrance, green to E because they're at 82 seconds. There, that's already bad. The line that leaves Mokolo for the CV entrance, green, same. Uh, the line that leaves the entrance, green To get to Colisson.
Same thing. So these are values obtained after the simulation. And so we have a high waiting time.
What does that mean? It means that sometimes, even if the intersection is good, the road is good, sometimes the high waiting time is such that users don't behave well on the road and so they will either get angry or look for alternative routes. And if there aren't any, it can create traffic jams; nobody will want to respect the rules and wait so long to cross. So these are the little problems that we try to solve and find solutions for. Here we have the FGA. Fenga is for pedestrians and RF is for cyclists. The EPN F of Zonda Strifen here are buses or tram lines, but they have special lanes specifically dedicated to them, and you will see that for the F ganger, or for pedestrians and cyclists, they have a quality A service of B because they don't wait long, uh, maybe also because there aren't many of them.
Uh, so there's just the one leaving from north to south, so the one leaving the green entrance who crosses to the other side of the road, waiting up to 7 seconds before getting the green light. So the problem is solved, must be solved now, at the level of the vehicles, uh, KFZ Faker, in light and heavy vehicles. So now we're going to try to change the traffic and switch to a signaling system with a program that depends on the traffic in question. That is to say, here we won't have fixed signaling anymore, but we'll have a kind of... in German we say "fair case upig," uh, uh, that means it depends on the volume of traffic present on the road. And when we have this variant, we establish... we have signaling phases.
What are the phases? In fact, uh, it's the period of time that a group of vehicles has The green light, or a group of pedestrians, also has the green light. What does that mean? The first phase, in our case, is for those leaving Colbison who are going north, who are going to the SV entrance and who are going to Mokolo at the same time. That's the first phase. The second phase: the one going up to the green entrance has the red light, but the one going straight keeps their green light because they don't have a conflict with other people. And the one leaving Mokolo who is going either to the green city or to Goldbisson also has the green light. That is to say, both have the green light at the same time. That's the second phase.
And when this phase ends, we have a third phase for those leaving the green city entrance to go either to Mokolo or to Colbison. They also have the green light, and with these phases, those who don't have many conflicts with the Pedestrians, meaning that, for example, in the first phase, no pedestrian has a glass because there's a conflict; pedestrians wouldn't want to cross paths with other pedestrians. But in the second phase, pedestrians crossing this lane have a green light, and in the third phase, pedestrians crossing both lanes have a green light—pedestrians and cyclists. So, we're going to establish a program with detectors.
If you see blue rectangles there, those are detectors. The detectors' role is to signal to the program that someone needs a glass. There's someone here who needs a glass, and we need to give them one quickly. So, when a vehicle passes by, it signals the program, and the program changes quickly, or it calculates after a certain time what we call the "tight loop," meaning it checks if, for those currently in use, vehicles are passing continuously or if there's a short delay. gap between a vehicle and the vehicle that is It might have created a 10-second gap. And so if it notices that there is this breach, it sends the glass to whoever wants it. The glass there and the same for this one because those are the most problematic. So this program is a kind of magnifying glass. This is a sort of first phase, the first phase is this one. So if there is no detector requesting the glass, the phase continues and it goes to the second phase, and if in the 2nd phase there is no detector requesting the glass, it also goes to the 3rd phase. If, in this way, there is no detector, it ends the phase and starts again from zero. So if, during a phase, there is a detector requesting the green light, it will therefore be interpreted as meaning that it will cancel the current phase and give the next phase to that person, that individual who needs to see a green light. So, uh, without further ado, I'm also going to maybe quickly show how, uh, when we have a var, a signaling problem with a variable or a variable, it behaves.
So open up, there's less waiting time here, if I can put it that way.
There is a slightly shorter waiting time.
There are fewer vehicles, there is less of a queue for vehicles entering the intersection. So it goes a little faster because the detector is able to quickly manage the requests of each individual who needs this glass. So, uh, to continue the presentation, uh, oh, it stopped.
So we will give the results, uh, with a signal, a signaling with a program dependent on the traffic, we therefore obtain better levels of service. We have D which is therefore the standard in Germany which is the green minimum, that is to say what we need, the minimum and the bare minimum. And for pedestrians too, it doesn't cost much. So we're already at green kills and that's already a good thing. What does that mean? that if we just adapt the traffic according to the signage according to the traffic, we can already overcome a number of problems including the problems of conjecture in some roads and we do not stop there, we try to look at another alternative and if we changed this project into a roundabout, this intersection into a roundabout, that is to say that we first had a standard intersection, now we want to have a roundabout and here I will finish with the roundabout. Uh, so we're going to do the same thing in terms of parameters, in terms of caliber, everything I did at the beginning, and we're putting in the same parameters, but we're just going to change the channels. Instead of having the roads continuing now, we are going to cut these roads and create a roundabout and therefore connect each entrance of Carot to this roundabout. And so I'm going to show another video very quickly, the last one for the roundabout, to show a little bit of the behavior of vehicles now when they arrive before the roundabout.
Uh, you can see that there's yet another new queue forming there.
This means that the roundabout is not always a solution to this problem. You can see that here there is even more of a queue. Uh, you 'll notice that the one coming out of a Colbisson going towards Omokolo doesn't have many queues. For what?
because, from his side, there is no entrance or exit here. This means that he has more free lanes when he arrives at the roundabout than those who have entrances and exits next to them. So, uh, and it should also be noted that on roundabouts, pedestrians and CP (presumably referring to a specific vehicle or service) have priority.
They are not waiting. If you saw, they go straight through and the vehicle waits. Therefore, vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists have priority. They arrive, they get to work immediately, they don't wait for anyone. This is the vehicle that's waiting. If you've noticed, the vehicles wait and then they pass.
So, to return to the end of the presentation, we have these results.
Uh so with the circle for remark, we come back again to E, that is to say we call this schè F qualityed uh because we have more than 110 seconds waiting for vehicles. We had it in some places but in others I in other movements such as the one who leaves from the west to the north to the west, that is to say the one who leaves Colbisson for Mokolo he hardly waits so he has enough he has 45 seconds to wait on average and the one who leaves for example from Cité Ver to go to Mokolo, he waits a lot, he has 79 seconds. So that makes all the difference, we have an E because E is the lowest value. And you have noticed that pedestrians and cyclists have a significantly lower waiting time. They have less than a second on average, sometimes a second sometimes, and so here they are all in A because they have less than 30 seconds to wait. So to conclude a little first on this aspect, roundabouts greatly favor pedestrians, therefore non-motorized vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, and in some cases they disadvantage motorized vehicles.
Uh, and uh, in our specific case, uh, what we need to remember is that signage with traffic adapted to the volume, uh, with a program adapted to the volume of traffic, is advantageous or perhaps will be a recommended solution for the situation and the problem we currently have at the intersection of the green city. And uh, to tell you something else, when you are now in an intersection and there is a traffic light, if you wait more than 70 seconds, know that the intersection there has some problems and it might be necessary to find a solution to this. Uh, to conclude, so I'll just conclude generally on the software, uh, the microscopic simulation, really, as I said earlier, this helps to analyze these problems, these urban congestion problems. uh, this evaluates different solutions for development or traffic management and uh, so that means before even intervening on the ground, as I said earlier, before starting to invest large sums to redo everything that needs to be done. So we already have several points of conflict that we can identify, several scenarios that we can test, and we can already propose solutions to our clients. So that's actually what we already do when we do project studies, feasibility studies and all that.
So we try to say that well, here is what we have tested and here is what we recommend, and uh, the client gets this as a solution and they come back to us if they would later like to redo the road planning or even the signage in general. So that's where I'll end, and thank you very much for listening.
Thank you for the very technical presentation, a very electrifying presentation.
Uh, we're going to take a refreshment break before continuing with the Q&A section. Hm hm. So for the refreshment break, we're going to take a little stroll in the Secret Garden. From the very beginning of the presentation, you talked about football, you often play with your colleagues and all that, so we like to know. What exactly is your position on a football pitch?
Do I actually already have the job?
We're playing the small goals. So everyone is everywhere. Um, but if I had to choose a position, I would have really wanted to be a defender. I love, love defending. I really love blocking someone who thinks they're going to come across the field and score, you know.
So you like to defend things, just like when you defend your projects in front of clients.
Yeah, I can put it that way. It's always interesting to give your opinion and explain why you chose this or that in everything. Yes, I really enjoy defending. For me, that's my best thing, actually.
All right. All right. And you have, you have, if we'll say, a particular role model in football who inspires you in terms of defense and in the professional field, in fact. If we go to the defense in fact in uh in football and in the professional world in fact, if you have if we will say uh figures that you have admitted in these two fields uh in the professional field uh much more in the research of my field that I do, it is the one I mentioned there, it was Geoffrey Avers uh I really liked what he had to achieve in this field particularly in the calculations of this kind of limits of problems uh that we have and that we have on a daily basis. Sometimes Cameroonians have this kind of problem.
They don't even know that it can be fixed just by making these small approaches. So also, as I said earlier, he was also my dad. He is truly a figure I have greatly respected because, as I said, it is thanks to him, or perhaps it is because of him, that I am today a civil engineer. He knows it, everyone knows it, everyone else knows it too. And uh now, if you look at football, oddly enough, my role model in football is not a defender.
He is Lionel Messi, that's clear.
He is, he is rather an attacker.
And after him, of course, uh, I'm going to say that the one I also really liked, perhaps as a defender, would be Cares Pouyol. He was a Barça defender. I think that already says which is my favorite team.
Yeah. Taking a break, just getting to this point. Okay, okay, okay, good, we're going to take a few turns. We've finished our refreshment break, so we're going to move on to the question phase.
Okay, during the presentation I noted many questions. The presentation was very interesting.
The advantage that an interviewer has intervened with a guest from the community is that I have direct access to the guest's knowledge. So if you want to have this advantage, we are open to welcoming you to the Community. So uh I have quite a few questions and we will also take questions from internet users who are following us on the live chat.
The software was already very interesting.
I think that quite a few students in Cameroon or elsewhere might be interested in doing this kind of modeling for their local country. So we would like to know if the software is free or if it is not free, how we can get it if students have a special license. Well, because in general, I imagine that for good reasons some companies offer special licenses for students. In short, we want to understand the conditions of accessibility to the software in question.
All right. Well, the software itself, like all software, is paid for, uh, it costs a lot of money. Well, we have the advantage that in a company it's already offered to everyone on their personal computer. Well, those who work on this type of software, because not everyone in a company does it. Well, as a student of course, we are entitled to a student license. We are even entitled to a research license.
This means that the student license has this uh limitation that you can't necessarily put all types of parameters. This is a demo version.
It's just really to learn the basics, the fundamentals of the software. Uh, besides that, we have a license, I could send the link to get licenses.
Uh, we can have licenses as a research student, in a master's program, perhaps in a bachelor's program or in PHT, uh, to perhaps work on any problem. And very often even after you have done a search, the company contacts you.
PTV contacts you and asks if you agree to publish your search. For me, for example, it was my final year project for my Master's degree.
So I used this software at the end of the year to also evaluate the difference between a change in driving speed between 30 km/h and 50 km/h. What are the impacts, what are the positive and negative aspects? And uh, at the end of what, I was contacted by them because they found the project interesting but they asked if I could share it and unfortunately uh, I didn't have that permission from the school. So, uh, if the school allows it, you can also allow them to share your project.
All right. And just, uh, given that some students cannot access this software, do you have any alternatives that you can share that are free or less restricted?
Uh yes yes, I have alternatives for simulation software insofar as for this particular software in some cases students were unable to access this software.
Uh, I think that uh, the Autodex group also has almost the same software. It is probably, I don't know if it's Navis, uh, I don't know exactly off the top of my head, I haven't used any other software, but I think CPOEDX also has a traffic simulation tool and uh, I don't know if they have free licenses or if it's possible to find it online? But uh, another alternative would be ISA Plus, but also all these ignition software programs are very often paid. It's difficult to access this type of software. But as a student, as I said, I think we can get a free license for 6 months. The 6-month license.
Yeah.
All right.
Uh, another question, I'd like to know, uh, when specifying the variables that will influence the simulation, is it possible to have external variables? Okay, I'm going to say, uh, I imagine things like strikes, for example, uh, the price of fuel. Well, I mean, in a situation where there is, for example, a fuel shortage, that's a variable that is external to the simulation, but it can influence traffic in fact, insofar as people will drive less because of this huge price of fuel. That's just one case, but I want to know if it's actually possible to model external phenomena that can be encapsulated in stocastic processes that can be injected into the simulation.
OK, agreed. Uh, of course, I think that when you talk about fuel shortages, uh, people will still travel.
They will always find a way to get around. If not by car, perhaps by bicycle, perhaps on foot, or perhaps by public transport. And so, as a result, this will now increase the flow of traffic depending on these differences from other road users. That is to say, where there were perhaps, let's say, something like 20 feet crossing this road per hour, we might end up with 50. We might have more cyclists, we might have more public transport buses, perhaps more tram lines, more trams, and sometimes, uh, that can cause yet another problem. That is to say, if there is more demand, the company that allows people to travel by public transport will have to either provide more buses or more tram lines or more trams. So these things can also influence, uh, all simulation processes. Well, obviously on our route from Yaoundé that we took, there may not be a dedicated road for public transport, but if we had had that and had fewer vehicles perhaps because of a shortage of fuel vehicles, we might have had completely different results as well.
All right.
Earlier in the presentation, we discussed the artificial intelligence aspect. I think that more and more, uh, automatic driving, that is to say, we have cars that come with the functionality of automatic driving.
I'd like to know, uh, well, when you make a projection into the future, with the adoption of automated driving and optimized route calculations, for example, do you think that traffic will be more optimal than it is now? Because now if we say everyone drives in their own way, calculates their own route, do you think it's actually possible to integrate, because well, this adoption of automatic driving and automatic route calculations is a trend. Do you think, uh, well, I'd first like to know if it's possible in the current software, or uh, is it possible to have an overall view of the journeys of the uh passengers you simulate? Once you have an overview of all the journeys, it's possible to calculate the optimal route for each passenger, in order to avoid congestion. That is to say, if we have an overall view of the movements of all users within the area we have defined for the simulation, we can automatically calculate the optimal route to avoid congestion.
and with the adoption of automatic driving. Okay, I'd like to know if it's possible to simulate things like that in the current version of the software and how you perceive the adoption of automatic driving and the automatic route calculations in decongestion, in fact, of routine journeys?
Okay, I didn't quite understand the second question. The first question is clear. The second question is about how automatic calculations influence... uh, I didn't quite understand what you can.
Yes, that is to say if you think, uh, if you actually think that the adoption of automatic driving and automatic route calculations could lead to less congestion than now, in fact. That is to say, they can cause less congestion than now.
OK. When you talk about automatic route calculations, you're talking about setting that up in the software and getting it to work, right? Yes, it's very possible, as we have configured, uh, I'll start with the first question, we can have an overview of this type of software because it doesn't just do microsimulations, it also does MOS as I mentioned earlier. So you're saying these are mesoscopic designs, mesoscopic designs of a global view of a certain area, and perhaps to calculate exactly the route of an average person from area X to area Y. So that's possible, and even to determine the variants or random routes that this person could take when moving on this route, you see, or to get to this destination. So, with the mesoscopic module of this software as well, we can do it. Now for the second question, which is about optimization, you said to automate the movement of vehicles, is that right, or not to automate, but to know what you actually think about the combination of automatic driving and automatic route calculations.
Yeah, if it can, if yes, if it can improve, well, it can prevent congestion.
Exactly. I, I am, I even think that the answer is already key. It can, since it's automatic, because here we're trying to represent, uh, uh, a little bit of humanity, how it understands itself. That is to say, we tried to create even problems of slowdown, I don't know, it's already a bit automated. We are really trying to make this project truly reflect the realities of Tnar, as we say in German. And uh, if it was now a question of having, how do we say, cases, a favorable case, a better case, an optimal case, it's about doing it really automatically, as you said. And of course, well, we can't directly determine what the advantages will be if we don't do simulations, but of course, it will have a big influence and it will inevitably make waiting times perhaps also less enormous as we saw earlier. And uh also, it could even directly provide a kind of route that is perhaps less busy or uh the user could directly uh arrive at their destination. I hope I've answered your question.
Yeah, absolutely. THANKS. Um, I have another question.
Um, I suppose the software was designed according to standards that are valid in Germany. Okay, if we're talking generally in the EU.
Yeah. And if we try to look at the occurrence of random phenomena and also the types of random phenomena, that is to say the quality of the type of accident we have, it is not the same as on the road, let's say the city of Méline for the virtuous city.
No, I'm going to find out if in the current version of the software, we can model random events like accidents, because, well, they happen in everyday life and being able to inject this type of random event would also be good for a simulation. Well, uh, if it's possible, and also, uh, well, it's humans who are driving, so even if they've had to pass the highway code and all that, it's possible that, uh, an individual violates a red light, runs a red light. So we would like to know if it is possible to inject these variables into the simulation, that is to say, not strictly follow the highway code but have, let's say, these stoichiometric processes that are sampled at a given frequency.
Yeah. Uh, it's just that with the time allotted I can't really go into detail about the software, but I think I even said it in my presentation, the software really does everything. You can really fake even a mistake. You can even ask a vehicle to turn, uh, cross a solid line and make a U-turn on a solid line even though it's prohibited.
So you can really, with a microscopic simulation, you can really give each vehicle its own unique behavior. Uh, you don't necessarily need to give it a general random behavior.
You can really say, "Don't respect the red light, the red light, he's going to cross," and you see the impact that will create.
So we also have projects where we calculate errors, we evaluate driving errors even in the software. So it really depends on the project, it depends on the end goal and there you go, it's really possible as I said with this software.
All right. Uh, the last question I have in my notebook, well, in some scientific fields, simulations are used to derive new laws in fact. That is to say, we can have stoastic processes that govern the evolution of a phenomenon in fact, but in reality realizing these processes can be very costly in fact. So what some people do is create simulation environments like the software you presented; they simulate phenomena, and then they observe, and from there it is possible to derive new laws. So, I'd like to know if you think that in the current state of the software, because I imagine the standards have evolved because of the phenomena we've encountered on the road, in fact.
That is to say, we realized that they were behaving like that. We created a standard to avoid that, that is, to limit the risk in fact. In other words, as things stand, do you think it's possible to run simulations that will lead to new standards, modifications to the road pass, or something like that? In short, uh, on the evolution of standards, but through simulations.
Of course, I think it's possible. Uh, I'm not perhaps an expert in that, uh, since I limit myself much more to obtaining results, giving a certain type of parameter setting that I want, and uh, in the end, it's about being able to uh, give a recommendation to the clients.
So I think for an expert who is perhaps more focused on researching how to develop new solutions and not just identifying problems and perhaps giving solutions, for an expert who really does it as a research goal and finding solutions, maybe coming up with mathematical formulas and all that. Of course it's possible. I believe it has already had to be done and I believe it will continue to be done. Of course, it's possible. Yeah.
All right. All right. Thank you for the answers to the questions. That was the last question I had in the register.
So we'll see if there are any other questions in the live chat.
Ah, we'll see.
Okay, I see, I don't know if I can read a question or if so, go ahead.
OK.
Then, this simulation can be done with real data taken from the client in Cameroon. I think that's what you did.
Of course, of course. Well, admittedly the data is not necessarily accurate, or the problem is not exact, but I am trying to make hypotheses, to state a problem and to find a solution to that problem. So that's pretty much what usually happens when you get out of a project.
All right. THANKS.
Um, I have another one, there's another question.
Yes, I saw a question. Uh, how is BIM, I think it's MGA Nolga Nolga, uh, how does BIM come into play in transport infrastructure projects, uh, on the German side, and what are the most common uses of BIM in this context? Um, I don't know if I should even answer you myself. Yeah, you can go there, uh, the BIM, uh, in the field of roads, actually, even in Germany it's still really behind. Uh, on the other hand, in the field of China Railway, what we call here what is like the railway, in planning and implementation it is a little more advanced than in road transport. Um, how does that come into play? Firstly, it is important to know that working in BIM very often requires different specialties. This means that you don't only work with people from your own field.
Sometimes you work with people who have external fields, let's say maybe in electricity, in electrification, in gas and uh uh maybe people who only deal with bridges.
Because in Germany, you should know that there are departments and companies that deal exclusively with the construction of bridges, the design and construction of bridges, or the planning of bridges. There are those who deal solely with the construction and design of roads. So, currently, there are many projects in Germany, including the bypass around the city of Ninbok. It is a city in the Ax Nest in Germany where they are applying BIM in the planning and execution of a road project.
So what happens is that bridge engineers work, how to say, in coordination with road engineers, those who deal solely with the road, the pavement. And uh, after each advance, each step, if I want to put it that way, what happens is that there is therefore a cloud, obviously, if someone knows a little bit about BIM, there is therefore a cloud where all this data is stored and where the work is done really simultaneously. So there is not a huge wait between the completion of such a thing before that of the person following their project. It has a sort of symbiosis. That is to say, you really work in a divided group on the same project. So that's roughly how it comes into play. So at the same time, when there is this area or department that works only on bridges, there are also areas of people who are only there for water drainage or perhaps electricity supply, perhaps the lights, what we call road lamps. So they too have their uh compartment in the cloud where they work in symbiosis, therefore simultaneously with the engineers. So that's exactly how it is on the transport side in Germany, but in the road sector it's still really behind, but on the other hand the railways, in fact, the rail projects are a bit more advanced, and so I think that by saying that I have given a bit of an idea of the most common uses of BIM, so really working in a way, well, with all the different disciplines on the same project in a really structured and simultaneous way.
All right. Thank you for answering the question.
Uh, I think there are no more questions in the chat.
So, uh, this marks the end of our Q&A section.
Well, I think we've already answered that question. I think I can do this simulation with real data, uh, in Cameroon. Yeah, I think we've already answered that question.
Yes yes yes, it's possible, it's possible, it's very possible. What I've already done is just a small example. That means if tomorrow maybe the Yaoundé city hall of the two, I don't know, realizes after seeing this live stream and says maybe this is something we can achieve, huh. And uh, maybe he would really like to know how their engineers there, or perhaps the companies carrying out the project in Cameroon, would like to know a little more about how to find solutions adapted to the real problems that citizens in Cameroon experience on a daily basis. Uh, of course, they can use this software. They can, uh, it's not software that is only made for Germany. No, because uh when I was working on my program, on my final year project uh master's, uh I had therefore contacted a student who was good an engineer who was I believe in Latin America. It was a country, yes, if I'm not mistaken, it was French Guiana. And he had also worked on this project on this software and he had done practically the same things as me. So, uh, it's not really unique to Europe.
You can enter all types of parameters, it's really open to all types of environments as well. Okay, sir.
Uh, I think that was the last question.
So, we're going to close the Q&A session.
So we hope our users have been very attentive and if there are any further questions, you can leave them on the summer interfaces and we will take care of answering them on the platforms where you leave your questions.
Uh, we will once again thank our guest for this sharing of knowledge that he has done, and dear, dear guests, do you have a final word to conclude your sharing? Okay then. Thank you very much, uh, Engineer, uh, Quat. So what I just want to say is really maybe a little piece of advice, maybe for those who are still in Cameroon not to be afraid to take responsibility really to be able to take on much more responsibility, to be able to manage several tasks simultaneously and also not to be afraid of failing because that is also a problem, uh, of course, failure is not necessarily negative. Well, an error isn't necessarily a bad thing either.
Uh, I remember when I had just started, uh, my first or second month, uh, I was given a small project, uh, to do a sizing calculation and then, uh, uh, to give the result afterwards and make a small quote on that calculation.
And me, coming from university high school, I was so enthusiastic and excited. I said no, I know that, it can't take me any time, it's easy. We did that every time. And so when you start to do uh I made a mistake without realizing it and I was in such a hurry to finish that the same evening I went back to see my boss, I told him I'm finished. He was happy and taken at the same time. He said, "But how did you finish so quickly?" He said no, really, it was too easy. It didn't bother me, it didn't bother me, it didn't bother me at all. So after a few days, he came back with a wrinkled face. He told me, "Uh, Mr. Kenier, this isn't right." What you've done there, there's a small mistake you've missed, something you've omitted, and you'll have to correct that. And what hit me immediately was, I was so scared, I was thinking, hey, I messed up my first month like that, I just made mistakes like that, guys, you're going to kick me out.
So, uh, I didn't give up. What I did was just go to the staff and ask why I didn't understand why there would be an error here, what might be missing, and all that. And there, they opened my mind to something that you really do n't learn in school. So, these are things that sometimes you learn on the job. And uh, it was just a calculation error like that. And when I quickly found the solution or applied the solution and left with the work done, uh, he was happy. And I myself was happy because that's what took me the most time to complete this project. But what it taught me is that sometimes failure, I was afraid, I was really scared that I would fail early, but failure is not always negative. The mistake there is not always negative. Well, it improves your work method, it helps you avoid that mistake in the future, and it makes you go even faster and maybe further and have a better output. So what I might say is that you really shouldn't be afraid of mistakes because mistakes build you up, they help you grow. Of course.
All right. THANKS. No. Thank you for this final word. We thank our guest for the time he has given to share this. We thank our online users, the summer community who follow us.
We thank Étit for organizing this sharing of experience. And we tell our online readers to see you next Sunday for the next edition.
We have surprises for you and we continue to have surprises for you. So, uh, be there for next Sunday's edition. Thank you for your attention. Take care.
Thank you as well.
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