Multiple time period imputation technique for multiple missing traffic variables: nonparametric regression approach

The objective of this study is to introduce an effective and practical model, based on non-parametric regression, to instantaneously estimate multivariate imputations replacing multiple missing variables during multiple time periods. The developed model was essentially designed for system-oriented, real-world applications. In an empirical study with real-world data, the proposed model, on the whole, outperformed the seasonal auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA). The analysis of the results indicates that the introduced model was more applicable to multivariate imputation during multiple time intervals than that of ARIMA. In addition, it was revealed that ARIMA could somewhat deform the relationship between the volume (q) and speed (s), whereas the developed model reproduced the q–s relationship more similarly than ARIMA. Moreover, the proposed model is very simple and does not require system operators to input or recalibrate any external parameters because it was developed for applications of real data management systems.