Analysis of highway entrance management systems using laboratory models

The highway entrance management systems use ramp-metering in order to control the access of the vehicles on the highway in a matter that doesn´t have a negative impact on the highway vehicle traffic flow. The access is permitted on specific moments, related to the traffic values on the highway and on the entering ramp, by using a control barrier. In this article we propose a laboratory model that allows configuring and testing the controller that command the barrier´s opening/closing, and debugging the associated software, in order to assure a correct functioning of the system, without any conflicting and potentially dangerous commands.