QUASI-RANDOM SIMULATION OF DISCRETE CHOICE MODELS

Z Sandor
K Train

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2004

Subject Area

planning - methods

Keywords

Travel behavior, Simulation, Random functions, Nets, Maximum likelihood method, Logits, Logit models, Halton draws, Computer simulation, Choice models

Abstract

This paper examines ways to perform simulation of travel behavior with less computer time for a given level of accuracy, or greater accuracy for a given amount of computer time. The properties of two quasi-random draws, (t,m,s)-nets and Halton draws, are described. Four types of (t,m,s)-nets, two types of Halton draws, and independent draws are compared in an application of maximum simulated likelihood estimation for a mixed logit model. All of the quasi-random procedures are found to perform far better than independent draws. The best performance is attained by one of the (t,m,s)-nets. The properties of the nets theoretically imply that two of them should outperform the other two, and the results confirm this expectation. The two more-accurate nets outperformed both types of Halton draws, while the two less-accurate nets performed worse than the Halton draws. Since the coverage properties of the Halton draws and (t,m,s)-nets cannot be directly compared, it is not possible to determine beforehand whether a given (t,m,s)-net will perform better or worse than Halton draws.

Comments

Transportation Research Part B Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01912615

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS