A Mathematical Approach to Analysis of Environmental Pollution Generated by Mixes of Transportation Modes

The problem of determining the effects of electrical interference on communications distributed over linked urban regions is studied as part of the larger problem of evaluating the effects of various types of regional pollution--atmospheric, acoustic, electrical, and spatial--generated by existing and proposed mixes of transportation modes. The techniques of statistical communication theory are used. An exploratory mathematical model is presented in which the cost, policy, and gain structure combines the costs and gains of the decisions involved in distinguishing when interference does or does not occur. The overall criterion of evaluation is average or expected cost and gain for the class of operations involved. This framework can be used to estimate the effects of possible future configurations. The introduction of time-dependence in the governing probability distributions and in the physical parameters of the model permits the needed dynamic response to daily, weekly, seasonal, and longer-term variations. 68 pp. Ref.