European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X Vol.32 No.4 (2009), pp.490-499 EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2009 http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.

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Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System

Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia E-mail: ridwan_64@yahoo.com Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia Azmi Hassan Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia Riza Atiq Rahmat Department of Civil and Structural Engineering. Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi Selangor, Malaysia Abstract This paper presents the development of a low cost smart traffic controller system. The proposed smart traffic controller system consists of two parts, which are the controller hardware and the software. The controller hardware is developed based on 8-kb MCS-51 microcontroller and equipped with a character LCD to monitor the internal timer, Real Time Clock (RTC) IC to generate time and date data and EEPROM IC to save the green time data at several time periods. The software is developed to enable the controller hardware interfacing with the CCTV cameras as the traffic sensors, when used to optimise the traffic flow at some junction. The software also can be used by the traffic expert to change the setting of the controller hardware and perform manually control the traffic lights through the controller hardware. Another function of the software is to perform traffic data interchange. It will enable the controller hardware to communicate with other controllers that are installed at the nearby junctions in order to optimise the traffic flow at the network junction. The proposed smart traffic controller system is able to realise three kinds of traffic flow optimisation strategies, which are green time split and time slot timing, green time extension or vehicle actuated green time and offset optimisation strategy. The proposed smart traffic controller system has been tested by installing at several busy junctions in

Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System Malaysia for more than a year, and it shows that the proposed smart traffic controller system performs better than the existing traffic controller system. When the traffic flow optimisation strategies are applied and realised using the proposed smart traffic controller system, the total vehicles queuing time is reduced by up to 30 % compared to when using the existing traffic controller system.

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Keywords: Smart traffic controller system, hardware controller, software, traffic flow optimisation.

1. Introduction
Studies on traffic flow optimisation have been widely investigated by several researchers. Most of the studies did not discuss the traffic controller system, meaning that they assumed the traffic controller system is able to realise the proposed traffic flow optimisation strategies. Actually, in the implementation phase, the capability of the traffic controller system will be one of the critical factors that must be considered. If the traffic controller system is designed with a close architecture, in which it can not interact with others equipment, then it will not be able to work smartly in realising the traffic flow optimisation strategies. It is worth noting that the traffic controller system must be designed with an open architecture and must have high independency when integrated with others equipment. The traffic controller system has to continue working even though the other equipments were down. This paper presents the development of a smart traffic controller system which can be used to realise several traffic flow optimisation strategies. The proposed smart traffic controller system consists of two parts, which are controller hardware and the software part. The controller hardware is developed based on cheaper but fulfil the industrial standard microcontroller, which is MCS-51 microcontroller. The controller hardware is able to control up to 10 phases traffic system with the traffic flow optimisation strategies that can be changed from time to time based on the actual traffic condition. The software is developed to enable the traffic controller hardware to be integrated with the CCTV cameras as the traffic sensors and to perform traffic data interchange through wireless communication to optimise the traffic flow at network junctions. The software also can be used by the traffic expert to change the traffic controller hardware setting during operation time. The following section will be divided into two sections, which are literature review and system development. In the literature review section, several researches about traffic flow optimisation strategies are reviewed in order to get the characteristics that must be provided by a smart traffic controller system. In the system development section, several manipulation techniques when developing the traffic controller hardware were discussed in detail. The explanation on software interface is also provided in this paper.

2. Literatures Review
Several studies about traffic flow optimisation have been conducted by previous researchers. Most of the researchers were concern on traffic flow optimisation at isolated junction and network junction. Technically, the traffic flow optimisations were achieved by optimising green time split, extending green time for each approach based on the actual vehicles presence and determining optimum offset at two nearby junctions. Previous researches about traffic flow optimisation have been reviewed in the following section in order to get a deep understanding about the characteristics of smart traffic controller system. Some studies about green time split optimisation show that the green time split can be determined using mathematical model that is usually developed based on the traffic historical data (McShane et al., 1998; Oda et al., 2003, Jinyuan et al., 2007) and using Artificial Intelligence technique (Taale, 2000; Murat and Gedizlioglu, 2005). The computational process is conducted by a computer and the result will be transmitted to the hardware controller to control the traffic light. Usually, the green time split is determined for a time period or for every cycle of traffic timing. For

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Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab, Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat

that purposes, it can be concluded that the hardware controller must be able to store the green time split data for several time periods and responding the signal about green time split for every cycle of traffic timing from the computer during operation time. The studies about traffic flow optimisation through green time extension were conducted by several researchers. Trabia et al. (1999) have conducted the research using a two-stage Fuzzy logic to optimise traffic flow at isolated junction. The first stage of Fuzzy logic is used to identify the intensity of the traffic flow at the observed approach while the second stage of Fuzzy logic is used to examine whether the current green time will be extended or terminated. Bingham (2001) has studied the use of Neural Network-based Fuzzy Logic to determine green time extension. In that study, initially the minimum green time is determined, that is 5 seconds. The green time will then be examined by considering 2 factors, which are the number of vehicles in the observed approach and the number of vehicles in the other approach. Wei and Wang (2003) have studied the use of Fuzzy-GA technique to reduce vehicles delay through responsive green time determination. In that study, the current green time extension is optimised based on several objectives in order to increase the drivers satisfaction. Based on the studies above, it can be concluded that the hardware controller must have the minimum green time data and must be able to response to the green time extension or termination signal from the computer during operation time. Usually, traffic flow optimisation at network junctions is carried out using complex model. The use of mathematical model to optimise traffic flow at network junctions have been conducted by previous researchers (Nagatani, 2008; Li et al., 2007; Chiou, 2007; Chang and Sun, 2004). The use of Artificial Intelligence model instead of mathematical model to optimise traffic flow at network junctions is also widely investigated by several researchers (Kosonen, 2003; Weng et al., 2004; Vlahogianni et al., 2005; Hernandez et al., 2002). Even though the researchers have used different models, it is worth noting that the traffic flow optimisation at the network junctions was carried out by reducing the vehicles stop time at every junction. It can be achieved by determining the optimum offset of two nearby junctions to give a green wave at the corresponding road. The optimum offset will be determined based on the traffic demand at both junctions. Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that the traffic controller system must be equipped with a communication protocol and software to perform data interchange.

3. System Development
3.1. Traffic Controller Hardware The traffic controller hardware is developed using MCS-51 with 8Kbyte microcontroller. The microcontroller has 32 pins I/O ports. The ports will be used to drive 10 phases traffic light system. Since a phase has three lights, which are green, amber and red light, and each light is driven by a relay switch, then the I/O ports will be used to drive 30 relay units. The I/O ports will also be used to drive 1 unit of character LCD, 30 LEDs to control the ports status, communicate with an industrial computer through serial communication and communicate with the Real Time Clock (RTC) IC and EEPROM IC through I2C communication. In order to perform all of the tasks, about 40 pins are required; 30 pins used to drive the relays and the LEDs, 6 pins used to drive the character LCD, 2 pins to communicate with the industrial computer and 2 pins to perform I2C communication. Hence, several manipulation techniques are needed to save the use of the microcontrollers ports. 3.1.1. Manipulation using Logic Gate IC The traffic light system to be controlled works following green-amber-red sequence. It means, at the first time, the green light will be on for several seconds. After that, the green light will be off and the amber light will be on. After 3 seconds, the amber light will be off and the red light will be on. All of

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the phases will follow similar sequence. The logic of the traffic light sequence then can be summarised as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Logic of the Traffic Light Sequence
Logic 1 2 3 Green 1 0 0 Amber 0 1 0 Red 0 0 1

Based on Table 1, the first logic shows that if the green light is on and the amber light is off then the red light must be off. The second logic shows that if the green light is off and the amber light is on then the red light must be off. The third logic indicates that the red light will be on only if the green and amber light were off. Based on that logic, it can be concluded that the green-amber-light traffic light system is following 2 inputs NOR (Not-OR) logic. The truth table of NOR logic is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Truth Table of NOR Logic
Input 2 (Amber) 0 1 0 1 Output (Red) 0 0 1 0 Real Traffic System Related Related Related Never occurred

Input 1 (Green) 1 0 0 1

In order to perform NOR logic, the IC 74LS02 is used. The IC has 4 NOR logic gates, it means 1 unit of the IC can be used to control 4 phases traffic light system. Hence, in order to control 10 phases traffic light (30 relay units), 3 units of the IC were utilised. The diagram of the IC 74LS02 is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Diagram Inside IC 74LS02

By using the IC, only 20 pins of the microcontroller were utilised to control 30 relays and 30 LEDs. The use of the microcontrollers ports can be saved up to 10 pins. 3.1.2. Manipulation using Latching IC The other way to save the use of the microcontrollers ports is the multiplexing technique. In this technique, a port, or a pin, will be used to drive more than one device independently. The latching IC, which is of the 74HC573 type, can be used for that purpose. The diagram inside the IC is shown in Figure 2.

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Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab, Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat
Figure 2: Diagram of IC 74HC573

Based on Figure 2, it can be seen that the D and Q pins are the input and output pins respectively. The input pins will be used to capture the data from the microcontrollers ports. The LE (Latch Enable) pin is the latching door, when the pin is in high state then the latching door will be opened and the data at the D pins enter the latches. In this condition, the latches are transparent. The latch outputs (Q) will change every time corresponding to the D pins. When the LE pin is in low state then the latching door will be closed and the data at the D pins will not affect the Q pins. Another pin to be controlled is the OE (Output Enable) pin. When this pin is in low state then the content of the latches are available to be transferred to the Q pins. When the OE pin is in high state then the Q pins will go to the high impedance OFF-state condition. Based on the explanation above, by utilising the IC 74HC573, several pins of the microcontroller can be used to drive the relays, LEDs and the character LCD in a time. The schematic diagram for that purpose is shown in Figure 3. By using the manipulation technique, the use of microcontrollers port can be saved up to 6 ports.

Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System

Figure 3: Schematic Diagram of Using Latching IC to Drive Relays, LEDs and Character LCD

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The number of microcontrollers pins required to drive the 30 relays, 30 LEDs and character LCD is 20 pins. Another 4 pins are required to perform serial communication with the industrial computer and I2C communication with the RTC and EEPROM IC. Hence, the total number of microcontrollers pins to perform the entire task is 24 pins only. The manipulation techniques are required not only to save the using of microcontrollers pins but also to reduce the microcontrollers load in order to prolong its life cycle. 3.1.3. Processor Programs The microcontroller as the processor needs to be programmed to work smartly with high independency. The controller system is designed to be able to optimise the traffic flow using 3 kinds of strategies, which are green time split and time slot, green time extension, and offset optimisation strategy. In order to execute the entire strategies, except the time slot strategy, the controller must be integrated with the CCTV cameras as the traffic sensor through industrial computer. The time slot strategy is the backup strategy when the industrial computer and/or the CCTV cameras were down. The green time data for the time slot strategy is saved in the external EEPROM IC. Basically, there are three main tasks that must be handled by the processor, which are clock and time slot data reading, timing and incoming data monitoring from the industrial computer. The first task is performed at the beginning of every traffic cycle while the last two tasks must be handled in real time. In order to handle the real time tasks, the internal timer interruption of the processor needs to be activated. In the proposed traffic controller hardware, the timer interruption was set to 250 ms, it means the timing and data monitoring process are executed 4 times per second. It will allow the tasks to be carried out thoroughly. By using the technique, the processor will have a very high probability of capturing the serial data from the industrial computer successfully. The complete program inside the processor can be explained using Figure 4.

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Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab, Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat
Figure 4: Flow Chart of the Programme inside the Processor

3.1.4. The Software Actually, the controller hardware can work independently, without the need for integration with the software. Since it optimises the traffic flow using CCTV cameras as the traffic sensor, the interface software is needed. The software has the interfaces for displaying and changing the time slot timing

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data, adjusting the internal clock of the traffic controller hardware, sending the green time data for the next phase and extending the current green time with both + (prolong) and (shorten) value. Communication with the microcontroller is performed through serial communication with the setting of baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits, and flow control is 9600, 8, none, 1, hardware. The interface of the software when has been ran to control 4 phases traffic system is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Interface of the Software

4. System Testing
The proposed smart traffic controller system has been tested by installing at several busy junctions in Malaysia for more than a year. It shows that the performance of the proposed control system is better than the performance of the existing traffic control system. The proposed smart traffic control system can realise the traffic flow optimisation strategies when used during free or busy hours. By using the proposed smart traffic controller system, the total vehicles queuing time can be reduced up to 30% compared to when using the existing traffic controller system.

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Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab, Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat

5. Discussion
The proposed manipulation techniques to save the use of microcontrollers pin cause the microcontroller to drive fewer numbers of pin. It can reduce the microcontrollers load and the use of internal memory of the microcontroller. Other techniques proposed to reduce the microcontrollers load are the use of external ROM and clock. Data on time slot strategy will be saved in the external EEPROM IC instead of the internal memory of the microcontroller, and also the microcontroller does not have to handle the clocking process. The process will be handled by the external RTC IC. Through the proposed techniques, the traffic controller system that has been installed in a real traffic system, it has shown a remarkably stable performance.

6. Conclusions
This paper proposed the development of the smart traffic controller system. The use of a microcontroller instead of other controllers, such as the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), makes the smart traffic controller hardware a low cost system. The proposed manipulation techniques to save the use of microcontrollers pin also can be implemented. The programme downloaded into the microcontroller enables the microcontroller to have a high accuracy timing, high independency and consistently successful in performing data interchange with the industrial computer. The developed software also works well as the interface between the traffic controller hardware with the traffic sensors and the traffic expert. The software can be used to perform traffic data interchange and it enables the proposed smart traffic controller system to realise several traffic flow optimisation strategies at a single or network junctions.

References
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