MetaSync: Relaxing Synchronization Frequency in Distributed Urban Traffic Simulation

Recently, city-scale microscopic simulators are developed to analyze data-driven algorithms and strategies. Since the simulators usually require intensive computing and memory resources, distributed approaches are applied to these simulators. However, distributed simulators need to frequently synchronize workers and transmit detailed vehicle information between workers. This process consumes an unacceptable amount of time. In this paper, we speed up the simulation through lowering the synchronization frequency by MetaSync. MetaSync transmits the distributions of vehicles on roads instead of the detailed vehicle information. This allows a worker to self-generate vehicles according to the distributions without frequently interacting with other workers. We also develop a simulator using MetaSync. Results show it is 50% faster than normal synchronization and provides competitive simulation accuracy. Our strategy also enables distributed simulators to run microscopic simulations on a city-scale map with dynamic route planning in an acceptable amount of time.