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Smart Traffic Management System

Smart Traffic Management System

Abstract: Millions of vehicles pass via roads and cities every day. Various economic, social and cultural
factors affect growth of traffic congestion. The effect of traffic congestion has major impacts on accidents,
loss of time, cost, delay of emergency, etc. Due to traffic congestions there is a loss in productivity from
workers, people lose time, trade opportunities are lost, delivery gets delayed leading to increasing cost. In
providing solutions to these congestion problems, a new robust and smart solution that is based on
Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technology capable of addressing road accident and traffic management in
Nigeria’s mega cities is proposed. In this paper, the proposed system serves as an alternative to the
existing traffic management system with an intersection control station that communicates with vehicles
approaching the intersection through the V2I network. The vehicles are equipped with Dashboard Traffic
Light (DBTL) sensors that communicate with the infrastructure. A Safe-to-Pass-First (SPF) algorithm was
designed that considered real time speed, vehicle position and data to decide when to allow the vehicle to
pass through the intersection. The algorithm checks the status of conflicting lanes to ensure that vehicle
pass the intersection safely. This method has been found to be more efficient than the existing methods as
the average waiting time at the intersection is reduced by 23% and improved throughput recorded, Python
code and SUMO were used for the simulation.

Keywords: Dashboard, Junction, Jam, V2I, Smart Traffic.

• Introduction

Most of the densely populated city in this country Nigeria has an average population of about
3,931,300. This number keep increasing day by day while infrastructure like road networks grow at a
slow phase when compared to the population increase. Furthermore, statistics revealed that the
number of vehicles continue to increase 2 fold thereby causing huge traffic jam in most part of the
cities. Faulty traffic systems, inadequate manpower, narrow road spaces and unnecessary overtaking
by drivers, create traffic congestions. Due to traffic jam, a substantial portion of working hours have to
be spent on streets that causes serious air and noise pollution and thus worsens the overall
environmental condition. This problem could also

be attributed to the mistakes made by traffic personnel that might suddenly stop a line in order to
give preference to some class of individuals. Furthermore, in some cases at times, the traffic light
allows traffic in all directions and causes confusion that leads to traffic jam as well. Drivers reckless
speed even when they are approaching a junction, may lead to accident and traffic jam when such
vehicle collides another vehicle.
Traffic jam is a problem on many roads in the cities because it has caused most of the automobile
accidents, incremental delay, and vehicle operating costs such as fuel consumption, pollution
emissions and stress that result from interference among vehicles in the traffic stream, particularly
as traffic volumes approach a road’s capacity [1, 2]. Due to traffic problems economic activities
suffer. Looking at these numerous problem and challenges, there is need to design and implement
an efficient traffic management system that is intelligent enough to control major intersections to our
big cities so as to minimize or reduce the average commute time.
Thousands of vehicles pass via roads and cities of kano every day. Various economic, social and
cultural factors affect growth of traffic congestion. The effect of traffic congestion has major impacts
on accidents, loss of time, cost, delay of emergency etc. Due to traffic congestions there is a loss in
productivity from workers, people lose time, trade opportunities are lost, delivery gets delay, and
thereby the costs goes on increasing [2]. To solve these congestion problems, it is better to build
new facilities and infrastructure that adopts smart technology.
Many traffic light systems operate on a timing mechanism that changes the lights after a given
interval. Smart traffic light system senses the presence or absence of vehicles and reacts
accordingly. The idea behind the systems is that drivers will not spend unnecessary time waiting for
the traffic lights to change and the system detects traffic in many different ways.
Traffic control is an essential part of today’s society. It is necessary to have a set of rules in place
that regulate the millions of vehicles that are transporting goods, services, and people all over the
world. Traffic control ensures the safe flow of vehicles in and around a specific location. Traffic
control can be used to manage the movement of

Copyright notice (978-1-7281-5160-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE)

automobiles, train, and any other kind of transportation system. Without traffic control, these vehicles
could travel as they pleased, and accidents would inevitably occur. It is crucial that highly trained
personnel are monitoring the traffic control structure. Traffic signals are extensively used to regulate the
flow of traffic at both high volume urban intersections, and suburban low volume intersections where
safety rather than capacity and efficiency is the major concern.

• RELATED WORKS
Many techniques have been used including, above ground sensors like video image processing,
microwave radar, laser radar, passive infrared, ultrasonic, adaptive fuzzy logic control, and passive
acoustic array. However, these systems have a high equipment cost and their accuracy depends on
environment conditions. Another widely-used technique in conventional traffic surveillance systems is
based on intrusive and non-intrusive sensors with inductive loop detectors, micro-loop probes, and
pneumatic road tubes in addition to video cameras for the efficient management of public roads [3].
However, intrusive sensors may cause disruption of traffic upon installation and repair, and may result
in a high installation and maintenance cost. On the other hand, non-intrusive sensors tend to be large
size, power hungry, and affected by the road and weather conditions; thus resulting in degraded
efficiency in controlling the traffic flow.
Efforts to reduce road accidents in developing countries are yet to produce significant results. For
instance, the conventional solutions offered by different traffic managements such as the vehicle speed
monitoring through the CCTV cameras among others are not yielding substantial outputs as the
number of road crashes and traffic jams keep increasing. Weigao and Bo [4] suggested the use of
safety management plan with the help of technology to reduce road accidents in China. Gothane and
Sarode [5] analysed the factors leading to road accidents in India and suggested the use of WEKA tool
to manage the situations around the identified dangerous hotspots. Abramowski [6] suggested the use
video recorder in accident management as well as traffic cameras. In a study conducted by Universiti
Putra Malaysia [7], the authors make a comparison between time- based and sensor-based traffic light
control systems. In their research, they modulate the light timing based on a set platoon size. More
specifically, their algorithm checks the number of vehicles waiting to cross the intersection to determine
the amount of time the green light should stay on. If the number of vehicles waiting to cross the
intersection is small, the resulting green light durations will be short. If the number of vehicles waiting
increases, so does the green light duration.
With such an algorithm, they reduced the vehicle average waiting time by 62% under moderate
traffic conditions and 15% under heavy traffic conditions. While such results sound very promising,
the fact is that vehicles are still required to stop even if no other vehicles are present since the
system is dependent on a light timing model. Figure 1 below serves as evidence of how
intersections with installed sensors still require that vehicles stop even when other vehicles are
headed to non-conflicting lanes. By looking at the picture, we can see how under the current
conditions vehicle A and vehicle C could possibly be able to cross the intersection without having to
stop. The sensors installed at the intersection are circled in red to provide clarity.

Figure 1: Vehicle Waiting at an Intersection with Sensors

Furthermore, the simulation conducted in this study does not consider different types of vehicles
and the different time required for each to clear the critical zone. Lastly, with the development of
wireless networks, the use of sensors has become somewhat a thing of the past. The use of
wireless technologies to obtain data directly from vehicles approaching the intersection has become
a more valuable approach to modulating traffic controller light timing.

• Methodology
The system follows a client-server communication structure to connect vehicles to the intersection
control station. The intersection control station represents the server node that make the decisions
for the vehicles that are passing the intersection, and the vehicles represent the clients of the
system. Each vehicle is treated as a job that needs to be scheduled through the intersection.

• Proposed Dashboard Traffic Light

In this paper, the proposed system replaces the traffic light signals with an intersection control
station that communicates with vehicles approaching the intersection through the V2I network.
These vehicles are equipped with a DBTL (Dashboard Traffic Light) component that shows

the signal color for the driver along with the counting down timer in seconds.
The paper presents an algorithm, which is called the Safe to Pass First (SPF) algorithm, that make use
of per-vehicle real time speed, position, and direction data to decide when to allow the vehicle to pass
through the intersection. The algorithm checks the status of conflicting lanes, to ensure that vehicle will
pass the intersection safely.

Algorithm:

Input: Vehicle X

Let I(LX) be an indicator for the existence of vehicles on the conflict lanes of L X, where I(LX)=1 if
one or more of the conflict lanes is busy or I(LX)=0 if the conflict lanes are empty.
Let Gtime be the time for green light comes on after red light.

Add vehicle X to the queue Q While Q is not empty, do

Consider the earliest waiting vehicle in the queue
Check conflict lanes in

Add vehicle X to the queue Q While Q is not empty, do

 Consider the earliest waiting vehicle in the queue
Check conflict lanes in S(LX):

if I(LX) = 0

else:

S(LX):

if all conflict-lanes are empty: I(LX)=0

Return (Green, TX)

I(LX)=1
Check set B for lane timers

else:

Return (Green, TX)

Tempty = the time required for all conflict lanes to be empty

If Tempty – TX < 4: Gtime = 4

I(LX) = 1

else:

Gtime = Tempty – TX

Check set B for lane timers

If Tempty – TX < 4:

Gtime = 4

else:

Gtime = Tempty – TX

Return (Red, Tempty, Gtime)

Algorithm Explanation

Input: Vehicle X with attributes:

 SX: The speed of the vehicle
GX: The location of the vehicle
DX: The direction for which vehicle is travelling
LX: The lane on which vehicle is travelling TX: Required time for the vehicle to pass the
intersection

Let Ax be the arrival time of vehicle X

Let S be the set of conflict lanes presented as tuples: (Lane, set of conflict lanes) where
S={(0,{2,5,6,7}), (1,{2,3,4,7}),
(2,{0,1,4,7}), (3,{1,4,5,6}), (4,{1,2,3,6}),
(5,{0,3,6,7} (6,{0,3,4,5}), (7,{0,1,2,5})}

Let B = {Br: the time required for lane r to be empty, r ϵ [0…7]}

Return (Red, Tempty, Gtime)

To calculate the required time for a vehicle to pass the intersection, the intersection control
station will use the following formulas.

Sdec , L = seeed − 10......................(2)

Sdec , R = seeed − 15......................(3)

If a vehicle X is in lane L i.e Left lane, decelerated speed will be calculated using equation 2
and for the Right lane R will be calculated by equation 3.

T: the required time for the vehicle to pass the intersection.

Distance: the distance between the vehicle and the edge of the intersection when the control
station receives the request message.
Speed: the speed of the vehicle
D: the required distance for the vehicle to pass the intersection after reaching the edge of the
intersection
DS: Decelerated Speed for the vehicle to pass the intersection which is represented in formulas
(2) and (3).

• Vehicle DBTL Device

In this system, every moving vehicle is assumed to be equipped with a DBTL device. The DBTL device
consists of a communication component to send/receive messages to/from the intersection control
station, and a display component to be placed on the dashboard. The display component can be
configured to show signals in various ways. Here, it is configured to exhibit the signal color along with
the counting down timer in seconds, which represents the given time for the current signal color before
it changes. For the display component shown in Figure 2, the red light signal will be ON for 7 seconds
then go off. The green light will be ON directly after the red light being OFF and will countdown for 5
seconds.
The communication components connect to the intersection control station when the vehicle enters the
communication range of the intersection control station. The communication component issues a
request message to the intersection control station as soon as the vehicle side is connected to the
intersection control station in order to reserve a time slot at the intersection for the vehicle to pass
safely.

Figure 2: DBTL Display Component.

The vehicle system waits for one of two expected response from the intersection control station. The
first response is the green light decision with countdown timer. The second expected response is the
red light decision with two countdown timers; one for the red signal duration, and the second for the
green light duration that comes after the red light countdown timer is done. After passing the
intersection, the vehicle communication component informs the intersection control station with an exit
message containing the lane on which the vehicle was travelling.

• Intersection Control Station

The intersection control station is the decision maker of the system. As shown in Figure 3, an
intersection control station is installed at the intersection to communicate with the vehicles approaching
the intersection. This system keeps track of the vehicles trying to pass through the intersection by
storing information about the number of vehicles at each lane in the intersection

and the required time for each lane at the intersection to be clear.

Figure 3: Typical Four Way Road Cross

The intersection control station receives requests from all the vehicles approaching the intersection.
The system calculates the required time for the vehicle to pass the intersection and then compares
it with the status of the intersection.

• Communication System

For the purpose of this system communication, the paper presents a simple message exchanging
protocol as depicted in figure 4. The presented protocol defines two groups of messages. The first
group is the client side messages group, this group consists of two types of messages, request
messages and exit messages. The client sends the request message when it enters the
communication range of the intersection control station to reserve a spot in the intersection. The
request message contains the following data:

Request: indicating message type;

A vehicle ID, A unique system-wide ID: this ID can be the MAC address of the communication
component or the VIN number of the vehicle;

Lane ID, as specified in Figure 3;

The current vehicle location at the time of request; The speed of the vehicle; Direction, as S (go
straight), L (turn left), R (turn right); Timestamp, both intersection control station and vehicle DBTL
assumed to be synchronized with the global clock; Once the vehicle is out of the intersection, it
sends an exit message to the server indicating that this vehicle has passed the intersection safely.
The exit message contains the following data:

Exit: Indicating message type;

Lane ID, as specified in Figure 3: the lane on which the vehicle was travelling.

The second group is the server side message group that consists of two types of messages, the green-
decision message and the red-decision message. The server sends these messages as a response to
the request message. The green- decision message is the response for requests from vehicles that can
pass the intersection safely.
The Green-decision message contains the following data: Green, indicating that the driver can proceed
through the intersection; Countdown value; indicating the decision duration. The red-decision message
is the response for requests from vehicles that cannot pass the intersection safely due to the existence
of vehicles on the conflict lanes at the request moment. Those vehicles will receive a red signal for a
specific time that is indicated from the server side based on the intersection status. The signal will then
turn into green after the end of the specific period for red.
Red- decision message contains the following data: Red, indicating that the intersection is not clear for
the vehicle to pass through at the current time;
First countdown value, indicating the period that the vehicle has to wait at the intersection; A second
countdown value, indicating the duration of time that the vehicle can safely pass through the
intersection.
Figure below shows the flow of messages between the system entities with respect to time.

Figure 4: Messages Exchange Sequence

• RESULT .
The outcome of the simulations shows promising results for the proposed system. The test scenario
considers a situation of uniform vehicles’ flowing through the intersection. Two different cases are
considered. The first one considers a heavy load traffic flow through the intersection where the
difference in time between each vehicle and the next is either zero or one second, and the second case
considers a normal traffic load through the

intersection where the difference between each vehicle is in the range of zero to five seconds. The
following sections show the results along with some notes and observations about the results.

Busy Hour Analysis

The importance of rush hour analysis to ensure that the system allows for a smooth vehicle flow
through the intersection with the least waiting time. The results are shown in Figure 5 for the
average waiting time, Figure 6 for the longest waiting time, and Figure 7 for the throughput of
vehicles passing through the intersection. The results show significant improvement considering the
average waiting time of vehicles at the intersection. From Figure 5, results for the average waiting
time of the vehicles that are using the traditional traffic light systems is of 67 seconds. From the
same figure, it can be noted that average waiting time for the proposed intelligent DTL system is
almost 14 seconds.

Figure 5: Average Waiting Time for Busy Hour Traffic

Figure 6 shows the results for the longest waiting time that occurred while testing systems, the
proposed system and the traditional system. The figure shows a huge difference between the
results of the proposed system compared to the traditional system. The test of the traditional
system shows an average of 225 seconds for the longest waiting time, which is eight times greater
than the results of the proposed system, for which the results are an average of 31 seconds.

Figure 6: Longest Waiting Time for Busy Hour Traffic.

From figures 5, and 6, we can note that the difference between the longest and the average waiting
time for the traditional system is significant, around 160 seconds. This large difference implies the
unfair distribution of waiting time between vehicles at the intersection. The case is different
considering the proposed system. As noted in the mentioned figures, the difference between the
longest waiting time and the average waiting time is around 15 seconds. This difference implies a fair
distribution of waiting time between vehicles at the intersection under the same circumstances.
Intersection throughput shows good improvement, as vehicles flow through the intersection with less
waiting time. The reduction of waiting time for the vehicles flowing through the intersection leads to
more vehicles flowing per a unit of time, which in turn increases the throughput of vehicles flowing
per a unit of time.

Figure 7: Throughput for Busy Hour Traffic at an Intersection

•
• CONCLUSION

The work suggests the use of a Smart traffic system that deploys the Dashboard Traffic Lights with
the aid of V2I network technology to enhance the existing Traffic systems. Simulation scenarios
were conducted to show the benefits of using this technique. Simulation results show significant
reduction in the average waiting time at the intersection, the number of stopped vehicles at the
intersection, number of vehicles that are passing the intersection simultaneously and the vehicles
throughput at the intersection is improved. This reduces fuel consumption and pollution emitted
CO2 from moving vehicles. The study covers the use of DBTL for standard traffic light intersection.
This work could be further improved by synchronizing more than one traffic light Intersection to
cover a whole region.

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