Student Profile: Merkebe Getachew Demissie, Transportation Systems

Merkebe Getachew Demissie is a second-year PhD student at IST, under the MIT Portugal Program, in the field of Transportation Systems. He is  part of the research team that focuses on Intelligent Transportation Systems, working under the project CityMotion (Data Fusion for Mobility Consumers, Providers, and Planners).  He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Textile Engineering at the Engineering Faculty of Bahir Dar University, in Ethiopia. Right after finishing his bachelor’s degree, in July 2005, he became a professor and research assistant at that same institution. Two years later, he joined the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, where he was awarded a scholarship for the Masters’ Programe for Key Personnel in Developing Countries (MKP) by the Swedish Institute and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to pursue a Masters’ degree in Transportation Systems. His masters’ thesis was on ‘‘Simulation Based Performance Assessment of Mini Roundabout’’.

MPP: What is your hometown?
MGD: I was born and raised in a city called Debre Birhan, Ethiopia.

MPP: What is your research project about and what do you hope to achieve?
MGD: I am working in the area of Intelligent Transportation Systems, which focuses on road traffic parameters estimation and prediction with information obtained from multiple sources.  Road network data collection coverage plays a significant role in the success of any Intelligent Transportation System application. However, due to the expensive installation and maintenance cost, primary data collection methods such as human observation and different forms of remote sensing (e.g. embedded magnetic loop detectors, automatic video feed-based counts, etc.) haven’t been extended to the entire transportation network. My research project proposes as a solution to use additional sources of information where there is limited road network sensor coverage to estimate and predict road traffic parameters. It considers information and data from facilities that are not primarily dedicated to traffic data collection purpose:  GPS-equipped regular buses and taxies, and cellular networks. Potential contributions and achievements of this thesis work include engaging already existing facilities for traffic data collection purposes, which reduces installation and maintenance costs, and deployment of data and information from different sectors that will improve the quality of estimated traffic parameters.

MPP: What are the major benefits of this project on peoples’ lives?
MGD: Of all the project benefits worth mentioning, the most valuable one is the possibility of improving the quality of estimation and prediction of traffic parameters, which in turn gives a clearer picture of how traffic behaves in urban road network. This will guarantee travelers are able to plan their trips and get where they need with the least possible amount of interruption.

MPP: How do you see this area evolving in the future?
MGD: My research uses heterogeneous information as an input that is obtained from different companies (cell phone operators, taxi operators, bus operators). There are enormous advantages that could be obtained by parsing the data from different sources. However, great effort will be needed to bring these different companies to the table to pursue common goals. I hope this will be the solution as more research like this is carried out in the future.

MPP: How do you think this kind of research project/ international partnership can contribute to positively impact Portugal’s economic development?
MGD: MPP is one of the high profile programs that exist. Most of the research projects are innovative and the institutions involved are prestigious and of excellent quality. I believe the outcome of the research and partnership with industries and MIT will bring sustainable development, push the frontier of Portuguese economy further, and that the positive impact will be stretched globally.