Abstract: Based on the kinematic characteristics of the vehicle start wave propagation,a kinematic model for the vehicle start wave which accords with the reality and whose parameters are explicit was built.The data acquisition scheme and the data processing method were designed.The model was calibrated by the survey data in Changchun city and the velocity of the vehicle start wave propagation was calculated by the model.The observed velocity of the vehicle start wave propagation was obtained from the survey data directly and the corresponding derived propagation characteristics of the vehicle start wave.The relative error between the two wave velocities obtained by the kinematic model and the direct observation is about 5%.The proposed model can provide a theoretical basis for the urban traffic signal control.

Key words: engineering of communications and transportation system, traffic flow, vehicle start wave, kinematic model