Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9
A Review of IoT devices for Traffic
Management System
N. B. Soni1, Jaideep Saraswat2
1
Head of Department, Department of Electrical Power & Energy, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies
2
M. Tech. Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies
jaideepleo31@gmail.com
Abstract— In recent times, traffic congestion has increased
at a breakneck speed especially in metropolitan cities.
Traffic congestion leads to increase in noise pollution,
traveling time, pollution, and fuel wastage etc. There are
short term and long term causes of traffic congestion.
Short term causes include traffic signal failures, inefficient
law enforcement, inadequate road infrastructure,
accidents etc. Long term causes are attributed to economic
growth of the society, changes in lifestyle of people etc. As
a result, traffic management has become one of the vital
areas to be looked into. It includes monitoring of traffic
density, communication, rerouting of traffic to avoid
further delay. Internet of things can help in smooth
implementation of traffic management system. There are
different methods of traffic management – video analysis,
wireless sensor network, adaptive traffic control system
that are closely knit around IoT devices.
Index Terms—IoT, Wireless Sensor Network, Traffic
Management System
I. INTRODUCTION
I Internet of things or IoT was first introduced by Kevin
Ashton. IoT refers to system that involves all the physical
objects around us and their communication with each other
over the internet. The data that is communicated can be
analyzed to generate meaningful analytical results. The main
motive of IoT is to simplify the day to day life of human
beings. Intelligent IoT related to traffic can be divided into
three layers – Application, Network and Acquisition.
Acquisition Layer comprises of sensors like RFID, IR etc.
Network layer includes Wi-Fi, cellular mobile network,
Zigbee, Bluetooth etc. Application layer makes use of
information collection and analysis, intelligent traffic and
driver management etc. [1]
Traffic congestion has become the newly generated
conundrum in metropolitan cities of India. Traffic congestion
on roads is the slower speed or halt of vehicles causing longer
trip times and increased queues. Traffic congestion is said to
occur when the number of vehicles on road is greater than the
capacity of the road. There is an increase in passenger vehicle
registration in Delhi by 9.23% in April-March 2017 as
978-1-5386-1959-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
compared to same period in the previous year. [2] Freight
volume in India is increasing at an alarming rate of 9.08% and
that of vehicles at 10.76% whereas that of road by 4.01%. [3]
Moreover, it has been seen that the conventional ways of
curbing traffic congestion by signaling system with pre-
defined set time for signals is not efficient and is failing to
achieve its objectives. Hence, the idea to make the traffic
signaling system adaptive depending upon vehicle density on
the road was introduced first in USA in 1982. [4] Many
researchers have come up with a model to deal with traffic
congestion in a real-time scenario. Kok Mun Ng et al. have
emphasized on control and intelligent systems to address
traffic congestion. [5] Wen has proposed model in which the
number of vehicles and their speeds are provided by sensors to
a backend server to alter the traffic signal pattern as a traffic
decongestion strategy. [6] Syed has come up with a strategy to
provide traffic signal control to onsite traffic police officer
with the help of smart phone as a traffic response strategy. [7]
Traffic management system is the only way one can address
the problem of traffic congestion in Indian cities where the
scope for augmenting road infrastructure is very minimal. IoT
can help in altering traffic signal patterns, providing real-time
traffic information and alerts to the drivers. This will
ultimately save time and money of the driver.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Methods of Traffic Management
Video Data Analysis: Video data analysis system comprises
of video camera or sensors, communication and a central
monitoring station. Traffic is incessantly monitored using the
camera and the video is then transmitted to central monitoring
station after compression. In some scenarios there can be real-
time transmission of video between camera and central
monitoring station. This video analysis helps in computing
traffic statistics like average speed of vehicles, frequency of
vehicles, lane occupancy etc. Video Analysis can also reduce
crime rates as it can be used as a piece of evidence as well.
Certain problems associated with this system are high capital
cost, high operation and maintenance cost, loss of reliability of
system during fogs and rains as well as during night time. The
latter issue can be addressed using infrared cameras which can
augment the visibility during night time. But the system cost
increases further due to high cost of infrared cameras.
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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9
Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS): In this kind of
approach the traffic is diverted from the main streets where
traffic congestion is frequent. This is followed mostly in USA,
San Jose, and Portland etc. [8] One of the main drawbacks
with this approach is that it increases traffic on residential
streets.
Wireless Sensor Network: Sensor is the basic element of
wireless sensor network. Sensors are the elements that record
changes in the physical environment like temperature,
pressure, wind speed etc. Sensors can then transmit the
recorded data across the gateways like Ethernet or cellular
mobile network. Cellular mobile networks come with an
advantage of placing the sensors anywhere there is an
availability of cellular service. These sensors need not be in
the wireless range of network gateway because of their mesh
connection. One node or sensor can transfer the data to the
nearby node and so the data can be transmitted to the network
gateway.
Figure 1: Sensor Mesh Network
Wireless sensor network can be classified in three architecture
models for Traffic management system – ad-hoc,
infrastructure based, hybrid. Ad-hoc architecture includes
three types of sensor communication networks – on road
sensor, on vehicle sensor, on road and on vehicle sensor.
Infrastructure based architecture emphasizes on improvement
of on road infrastructure while hybrid architecture is a
combination of both. [9]
Types of Sensors:
Inductive Loop Detector: Inductive loop Detector works on
the principle of electromagnetic induction. A single turn or
loops of insulated wire is placed in the vehicular passage such
that the presence of vehicle changes the voltage induced in the
loop. This change in voltage is detected by the electronic
circuit located in the controller cabinet which is connected to
the loop using a lead wire. Hence, inductive loop detection can
be used to detect vehicular presence, occupancy, and counting
the number of vehicles passing through the area etc. Some of
the problems associated with this system are lack of reliability
in areas where frequent digging is carried out or application of
sealant over the cutout in the roadway where the loop was
placed.
Load cell: A load cell is a type of transducer that converts the
force applied into electrical signals. Piezoelectric load cells are
frequently used for traffic management system. Load cells are
applied on road infrastructure which converts the force of
gravity of vehicles into electrical signals. This electrical signal
978-1-5386-1959-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
is then read by electronic circuit connected via a lead wire to
the load cell. Thus load cell helps in determination of number
of vehicles present on the road which in turn helps in
determination of traffic density. This information is then
transmitted to central monitoring station for further actions.
IR Sensor: IR sensor or infrared sensor contains two packages
– Transmitter and receiver. Transmitter emits the infrared
waves that travel through space. In case of the presence of an
object the waves transmitted by the transmitter are reflected
back and are detected by the receiver. The receiver sends a
command to the further electronic circuitry about the presence
of an object in the near vicinity. Vehicles on-board with IR
sensor can intimate the driver about vehicles in the near
vicinity and avoid collision.
Figure 2: Working of IR sensor
Radio Frequency Identification:
It is termed as radio frequency identification as it uses radio
waves for object identification. It is not a line of sight
technology. Multiple objects can be detected through this
technology. RFID system mainly consists of RFID reader and
RFID Tag. RFID tag is attached to the object. The RFID
reader is continuously sending radio waves. Whenever a RFID
tag comes in the vicinity of radio waves, it sends a feedback
signal to RFID reader. This feedback signal contains the
information contained in the RFID tag. RFID tags are of two
types – Active and Passive. Active tags have a dedicated
battery for themselves whereas as passive tags doesn’t.
Passive tags get their required power from the radio waves
sent by the RFID reader. Non-volatile memory is generally
used for storing tag information. RFID can be extensively
used for traffic monitoring, parking management as well as
toll collection.
Figure 3: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Applications of RFID:
1. Automatic collection of toll charges: Each country
follows a different path to address toll charge
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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9
collection. In case of RFID, RFID reader installed at
the toll booth continuously send radio signals. The
data stored in the RFID tag is then sent to RFID
reader using the radio waves. This information from
the RFID card reader is sent to the central monitoring
station for further analysis and actions. Information
includes vehicle number, date of registration, amount
present in the tag etc. Accordingly toll charges are
calculated and new amount after detection is updated
in the tag. Dynamic toll charge collection algorithm
is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Dynamic Toll Charge Algorithm using RFID
2. Parking Guidance – RFID sensors can be
implemented to send the status of the parking space
to the central monitoring station. Instead of travelling
the whole parking space in search of parking, the
driver can directly request for the vacant parking spot
to a dedicated URL through his smart phone. This
will intimate the driver about the nearest vacant
parking spot.
3. Automatic vehicle speed detection- RFID reader
continuously sends the radio waves. The time it takes
for the radio wave to be received with information is
used to determine the speed of the vehicle.
III. COMMUNICATION & ADDRESSING OF IOT DEVICES
With advent of time numerous smart devices like sensors,
network adapters will be installed at the primary level. These
smart devices must communicate with each other through
certain protocol. Protocol is a set of rules that define how a
communication task is performed. A collection of protocols
leads to protocol stack. TCP/IP or Transmission control
protocol/Internet protocol is one of the easiest and most
widely used protocol architecture today. TCP/IP is a result of a
project called ARPANET funded by USA Defense Agency in
1970s. [10]
Each of the devices is provided with a unique IP address for
communication with others. There are two type of IP address
978-1-5386-1959-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
versions- IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 is 32 bits long. Due to personal
computing we are already running out of IPv4 addresses. IPv6
address is 128 bits long and was launched in 2012. [11] IPv6
provides internet protocol security called IPsec and can meet
large number of IP address requirement.
IV. SECURITY OF IOT DEVICES (PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL)
Often in developing countries, installation of high-end
infrastructure comes with a risk of physical security. There
occur numerous instances round the year where a device
installed for public benefit is found missing the very next day.
With unavailability of sensors installed at the primary level the
system becomes non-functional. To restore the system, new
sensor need to be procured which further adds to the cost and
delay to the system. Moreover, it reduces the interest of the
investors which might affect the future development projects.
Wireless communication often compromises on cyber
security. Dedicated communication link between a transmitter
and a receiver increases the cost and time of installation of
system. But it does come with an added advantage of cyber
security. Wireless sensor network has weaknesses like
encrypted radio signals, factory default username and
password used by network devices etc. This enables any
intruder to control intelligent traffic signal system for their
personal gain or can cause traffic congestion. Implementation
of cloud server for data storage can provide three levels of
security – device security, connection security and cloud
security.
V. CONCLUSION
Current traffic signal controlling method has turned obsolete
in addressing different traffic situations arising in the course of
a day. Also, it has been observed that some sort of control
must be provided to onsite traffic police officer for emergency
situations.
Traffic congestion has an adverse impact on financial health of
a country. It leads to enormous fuel wastage, irreparable
damage to the environment and inferior quality of life
Moreover, hefty man hours are also lost behind the wheel
which could have been utilized for productive work. . As per a
report, congestion on Delhi roads cost about Rs 60,000 crore
annually. [12] It can be seen that using IoT for traffic
management system can address traffic congestion effectively.
IoT can enhance the efficiency of information transmission,
traffic monitoring and management. This will augment vehicle
efficiency, reduce trip times, reduce fuel wastage and ensure
cost effectiveness. It can also provide higher priority to
emergency vehicles.
It should also be clear that a certain traffic management
algorithm successfully implemented in a particular region
might not be successful in other regions. Data collected from
the sensors must be stored on the internet via techniques like
cloud computing etc. This stored data must be analyzed and a
region oriented algorithm must be developed. Moreover, it is
necessary to implement this algorithm for test periods to fine
tune them for implementation in real life scenario.
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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors will like to thank Prof. Ranjan Mishra for help
and assistance during the tenure of the paper, Electrical Power
and Energy department, UPES for their incessant support.

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