Boris Kerner

Boris S. Kerner (born 1947) is the pioneer of the much-discussed three-phase traffic theory.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Life and work

Boris S. Kerner is a leading expert in intelligent transportation systems and in the theory of pattern formation in dissipative physical, chemical, biological systems. He was born in Moscow, Soviet Union in 1947 and graduated from the Moscow Technical University MIREA in 1972. In 1979 and 1986 he became, respectively, degrees of PhD and Dr Sc (habilitation) in Physics and Mathematics at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Between 1972 and 1992, his major interests include the physics of semiconductors, plasma and solid state physics. During this time, Boris Kerner together with V.V. Osipov developed a comprehensive theory of Autosolitons – solitary intrinsic states, which form in a broad class of physical, chemical and biological dissipative systems.

After emigration from Russia to Germany in 1992, Boris Kerner worked for the Daimler AG company in Stuttgart. His major interest since then was the understanding of highway traffic. The experience with autosolitons, helped B. Kerner to revolutionize the understanding, theory and modelling of highway traffic. Empirical spatiotemporal features of traffic congestion understood by Boris Kerner are the basis for Kerner's three phase traffic theory, which he introduced and developed in 1996–2002. Between 2000 and 2013 B. Kerner was a head of a scientific research field Traffic at the Daimler AG company. In 2011 Boris Kerner was awarded with the degree Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. After his retirement from the Daimler company on January 31, 2013, Prof. Kerner works at the University Duisburg-Essen.

Publications

• B. S. Kerner, Introduction to Modern Traffic Flow Theory and Control: The Long Road to Three-Phase Traffic Theory, Springer, Berlin, New York 2009
• B. S. Kerner, The Physics of Traffic, Springer, Berlin, New York 2004
• B. S. Kerner, V.V. Osipov, Autosolitons: A New Approach to Problems of Self-Organization and Turbulence (Fundamental Theories of Physics), Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1994

See also

• Three-phase traffic theory
• Traffic congestion: Reconstruction with Kerner’s three-phase theory
• Kerner’s breakdown minimization principle

References

• Gao, K., Jiang, R., Hu, S-X., Wang, B-H. & Wu, Q. S., "Cellular-automaton model with velocity adaptation in the framework of Kerner's three-phase traffic theory" Phys. Rev. E 76,026105 (2007)
• H. Rehborn, S. Klenov, "Traffic Prediction of Congested Patterns", In: R. Meyers (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, Springer New York, 2009, pp. 9500–9536
• H. Rehborn, J. Palmer, "Using ASDA and FOTO to generate RDS/TMC traffic messages", Traffic Engineering and Control, July 2008, pp. 261–266.
• L. C. Davis, A review on the book by B. S. Kerner, "Introduction to Modern Traffic Flow Theory and Control" in Physics Today, Vol. 63, Issue 3 (2010), p. 53.

Notes

1. ↑ The article in "The New York Times" titled “Stuck in Traffic? Consult a Physicist“ on Webpage
2. ↑ Science News Online, Volume 156, Number 1 (July 3, 1999). Stop-and-Go Science. By better understanding traffic flow, researchers hope to keep down highway congestion
3. ↑ Article by Davis in "APS News" titled “Physicists and traffic flow”
4. ↑ The Economist: Traffic jams – Adapting to road conditions – Jul 1st 2004 – From The Economist print edition
5. ↑ Physics Today – November 2005 by Henry Lieu (Federal Highway Administration, McLean, Virginia), Reviewer of the book “The Physics of Traffic: Empirical Freeway Pattern Features, Engineering Applications, and Theory” by Boris S. Kerner
6. ↑ Article "Curing Congestion" in Discover Magazine, 1999