International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 1, January - 2014

Design of Dynamic Traffic Signal Control System

Shabnam Sayyed Prajakta Date Richa Gautam Gayatri Bhandari

Department of Department of Department of Department of
Computer Computer Computer Computer
Engineering, Engineering, Engineering, Engineering,
BSIOTR(W) BSIOTR(W) BSIOTR(W) BSIOTR(W)

Abstract and machinery are the key factors which influence the
industrial development of any country [1]. Also, the
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Traffic lights are source of signalling device for road drastic/rigorous changing condition of road traffic is
junctions. Traffic light controllers are programmed to rising as a serious problem for people to move,
assign timely directions to road users in Red, Yellow infrastructure wise and as nation’s economic point of
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and Green. Present Traffic Light Controllers are based view. Hence traffic congestion leads to long waiting
on microcontroller.TLC have limitations as it uses pre- hours along with fuel and money wastage. So, the
defined hardware, which functions according to Traffic management on road is crucial to reduce these
program that does not have flexibility of modification problems. Now, control and management of city traffic
on real time basis. As the numbers of road users’ has become a major problem in many countries even
increases, resources provided by current though Regional Traffic Office has found solutions to
infrastructures are limited, thus control of traffic overcome these traffic issues. One way to improve
becomes very important. To mange traffic flow, traffic flow and safety of current transport system is to
introduction of new technique ‘Dynamic Traffic Signal apply automation and intelligent control methods to
Controller’ emerged. Thus, optimization of traffic light road infrastructure [1]. Also, measures like new roads,
switching; controls road capacity traffic flow and flyovers, ring roads, city trains are applicable for traffic
prevent congestions. The unique aspect is that web management. But as the number of road users increase
application is provided over mobile phones to road and resources provide by current infrastructures are
users who wish to access the traffic management limited dynamic control of traffic is need of hour.
application for traffic news. The application displays
the traffic status. The proposed system has simple The drawbacks of the traditional traffic light
architecture, ease of implementation and user controller are highlighted below:
friendliness.
Heavy Traffic Jams

Under ordinary conditions when the traffic lane

1. Introduction waits for the green light, time setting is same and fixed.
Presently, modern lifestyle consists of fast and With increasing number of vehicles on roads has
rapid transport mediums which play a vital role in substantially increases congestion. This is observed
economic development for any nation. All developed usually at main junctions in morning, office hours and
nations have a well developed transportations system after office hours. Hence the main effect of this
with efficient traffic control on road, rail and air. increases the waiting time of people on road. Thus a
Transportation of goods, industrial products, manpower solution for this matter can be given by different delays

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 1, January - 2014

to traffic lanes which is called as normal mode along with gamut of other problems too. Thus need
operation [1]. arises for simulating and optimizing current system for
the traffic controllers to better accommodate this
No traffic, but need to wait increasing demand by road users around the world.
Traffic lights are commonly used devices to regulate
At certain junctions even if there is no traffic when roadway intersection traffic with a view to both safety
the traffic light remains red the road users have to wait and smoothness of vehicle flow, for generations where
until the light turns green. And if rule is broken fine has it is still considered the best practices [2]. Various
to be paid [4]. The solution of this problem is by methods and approaches are suggested in literature for
developing the system which detects traffic density on solving the traffic control problem. It includes rule
each road and then sets signal timing accordingly along based learning to the modern fuzzy and neural network
with synchronization of the adjacent junction’s traffic approaches. In this section, the various solutions to the
signal. traffic control problems suggested in the literature are
discussed, along with their merits and demerits [1].
Emergency car case (one or more than one)
Since the traffic light was invented ages ago, there
During traffic jam an emergency vehicle like have been significant revolutions lined down in various
ambulance, fire brigade, police are stuck and have to aspects about same. The most common revelation
wait for the traffic light to turn green. Hence this which we can visualize is the displays of traffic light
critical problem may further complicate that costs itself. The other revolution which is being enhanced
human life. So solution to this problem can be given by and improved is the traffic light controllers [2]. The
having priority for emergency vehicle to flow rapidly various traffic congestion problems and solutions
through the traffic while other vehicles are instructed to suggested in literature are as follows:
be still (i.e. traffic signal light is red).
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2.1. Expert System
Inadequate traffic information to users
An expert system uses the set of rules to decide the
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Present conventional traffic system fails to provide next action. In traffic Light control such an action can
traffic status about congested roads, alternate routes etc. change some of control parameters that means the
A remedy for this issue is to design a user web totally new system implementation required. Findler
application to road users who shall access the URL of and Stapp describe a network of roads connected by
the web application. traffic light-based expert systems [5]. For each traffic
light controller, the set of rules can be optimized by
The dynamic traffic signal controller is introduced analyzing how often each rule fires, and the success it
in this project with efficient functions and hardware has. The system could even learn new rules.
interface. The traffic jam will be reduced by increasing Researchers have shown that their system could
green signal time for busy lanes and decreasing red improve performance, but they had to make some
signal time for non busy roads. In other words dynamic simplifying assumptions to avoid too much
signal switching can be achieved by when vehicle computation.
density of the four way junction road is known.
Secondly, traffic news is provided through the website 2.2. Prediction Based Optimization
design for users ease. Therefore, improvement of town
traffic condition is largely dependent on the modern Prediction based optimization based Traffic Light
ways of traffic management and control. Advanced Controller was described by Tavladakis and Voulgaris
traffic signal controllers and control system contribute (1999). In this system, Measurements taken during the
to the improvement of the traffic problem. current cycle are used to test several possible settings
for the next cycle and the setting resulting in the least
2. Literature Survey amount of queued vehicles is executed. Since it only
Nowadays, vehicles on road are increasing each day uses the data of one cycle, it could not handle strong
like growing cities of this world. Traffic Management fluctuations in traffic flow well. The system seemed
on road has become the need of hour in today’s urban highly adaptive. In this case, the system would adapt
lifestyle. Efficient techniques are needed to reduce too quickly, resulting in poor performance [1] [5].
travel time, usage of money, fuel and waiting hours

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 1, January - 2014

Liu introduce a way to overcome problems with Furthermore, a somewhat other form of RL, SARSA
fluctuations. Traffic detectors at both sides of a junction (State-Action, Reward-State Action) was used with
for vehicle identification are used to measure delay of eligibility traces and others used a model-based RL [5].
vehicles at a junction. This is projected to an estimated
average delay time using a filter function to smooth out 2.5. Using Magneto-Resistive Sensors
random fluctuations. The control system tries to
minimize not only the total delay, but the summed Author Cai Bai-gen et.al. (2009) designed a vehicle
deviations from the average delay as well. Since it is no detection system based on magneto-resistive sensor
longer beneficial to let a vehicle wait for a long time, composed by wireless traffic information collection
even if letting it pass would increase the total waiting nodes which are set on two sides of road to detect
time, this introduced a kind of fairness [6]. vehicle signal. The magneto-resistive sensor is costly
and maintenance cost of the system will be more if the
2.3. Fuzzy Logic system fails [3].

Fuzzy Logic Traffic Light Controller described by An intelligent traffic light monitoring system using
Tan (1995). The fuzzy logic controller determines the an adaptive associative memory was designed by
time that the traffic light should stay in a certain state, Abdul Kareem and Jantan (2011). The research was
before switching to the next state. The order of states is motivated by the need to reduce the unnecessary long
predetermined, but the controller can skip a state if waiting times for vehicles at regular traffic lights in
there is no traffic in a certain direction. The amount of urban area with 'fixed cycle' protocol. To improve the
arriving and waiting vehicles are quantized into fuzzy traffic light configuration, the paper proposed
variables like many, medium and none. In experiments monitoring system, which was able to determine three
the fuzzy logic controller showed to be more flexible street cases (empty street case, normal street case and
than fixed controllers and vehicle actuated controllers, crowded street case) by using small associative
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allowing traffic to flow more smoothly, and reducing memory. The experiments presented promising results
waiting time. A disadvantage of the controller seems to when the proposed approach was applied by using a
be its dependence on the preset quantification values program to monitor one intersection in Penang Island in
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for the fuzzy variables. Malaysia. The program could determine all street cases
They might cause the system to fail if the total with different weather conditions depending on the
amount of traffic varies. Furthermore, the system was stream of images, which were extracted from the streets
only tested on a single junction. Lee et al. studied the video cameras [5].
use of fuzzy logic in controlling multiple junctions [5].
Choi et al. also use fuzzy logic controllers, and adapted The efficiency of the traffic light in the queue
them to cope with congested traffic flow. Comparisons model however, was affected by the occurrence of
with fixed fuzzy-logic traffic light controllers indicated unexpected events such as the break-down of a vehicle
that this enhancement can lead to larger traffic flow or road traffic accidents thereby causing disruption to
under very crowded traffic conditions [1]. However in the flow of vehicles. Among those techniques based on
the most complicated cases where the numbers of lanes the queue model was a queue detection algorithm
are large and may be not only one but more road proposed by Fathy, M. and Siyal, M. Y. (1995). The
intersections and railroad take part, it does make sense algorithm consisted of motion detection and vehicle
to use fuzzy methods containing hierarchy and apply detection operations, both of which were based on
interpolation to decrease the complexity [5]. extracting the edges of the scene to reduce the effects
of variations in lighting conditions. A decentralized
2.4. Reinforcement Learning control model was described Jin & Ozguner (1999).
This model was a combination of multi-destination
Reinforcement learning for traffic light control had routing and real time traffic light control based on a
first been studied by Thorpe. The system designed, concept of cost to- go to different destinations [5].
used a traffic light-based value function. Thorpe used a
neural network for the traffic-light based value function 3. Proposed Model
which predicts the waiting time for all cars standing at The primary objective of this project is to design a
the junction. This means that Thorpe’s traffic light user interface program and implement hardware for
controllers have to deal with a huge number of states, dynamic traffic light control system that is suitable for
where learning time and variance may be quite large. real life implementations. The project implementation

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 1, January - 2014

also aims to have efficient and safe traffic flow control are used. The DTLC unit generates output signals for
along with reduced waiting time at signal junction, Red, Green and Yellow Signal and monitor their
priority for emergency case, heavy traffic jams and timings taking into consideration the length of vehicles
provision of information to road users instantly. The on each road [1]. The information as input to
traffic jam will be reduced by increasing the green microcontroller will be given in form of already
signal time on busy road and decreasing the red signal prepared database entries for typical model working,
time on non busy road. Infra Red–Light Emitting Diode which would determine vehicle density on each lane.
(IR-LED) transmitters and receivers are used to Therefore, the on and off signal time at the four
measure the traffic flow [1]. The proposed Dynamic junctions will be calculated by the microcontroller.
Traffic Light Control (DTLC) operations have Infrared
Sensors mounted on road to detect frequency of the The figure 3 i.e. pictorial representation of dynamic
vehicles. The presence or absence of a vehicle is sensed signal time evaluation gives the clear concept of how
by the sensor assembly mounted on each road, which the dynamic time objective can be implemented. A very
acts as an input to the DTLC unit. This input signal important point is that time allocation to each lane is
indicates the density of vehicles on each road. In this done as per the threshold value taken. In an emergency
system the basic operations are implemented using consider figure 1, if an emergency vehicle is passing
Microcontroller89c51AT. through the route ABC, the signals on those junctions
which are along this route will be immediately made
The heart of the system is microcontroller red to stop other vehicles. This is a very useful feature
AT89c51. For communicating with the external signals, in case of emergency.
additional ports like computer links and pull up array
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Figure1. Basic concept of proposed Dynamic Traffic Signal Control System

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 1, January - 2014

Figure2. Block Schematic of Dynamic Traffic Control System

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Figure3. Flowchart for Dynamic evalution of Signal time

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 3 Issue 1, January - 2014

4. Conclusion
The optimization of city traffic scenario is an
important issue to be considered. Hence modern
techniques of traffic management contribute to
optimization of traffic problem. The dynamic
traffic signal controller is introduced in this project
having specific functions along with hardware
interface. The first part is designing of program
which consists of data collection, sorting,
calculation of percentage and therefore automatic
evaluation of signal time. After that the second part
is web application which is designed to provide
traffic alerts for road users and take measures to
avoid congestion. So problems such as wastage of
fuel, emergency case could be overcome through
this proposed system. This system aims at saving a
large amount of waiting hours caused by traffic
deadlocks, where control can save time and
property.

5. References
[1] Chunyu Yang, Yong Cao, Zaiqing Nie, Jie Zhou, and
Ji-Rong Wen, “Design Of Intelligent Traffic Light
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Control Using Embeded System”, IEEE, 2012.
[2] S. K. Subhramaniam, M.Esro, F.L. Aw, “Self-
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Algorithm Traffic Light Controllers for Heavily

Congested Urban Route”, WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on
CIRCUITS and SYSTEMS, Volume 11, Issue 4, April
2012.
[3] Osigwe Uchenna Chinyere, Oladipo Onaolapo
Francisca, Onibere Emmanuel Amano, “Design And
Simulation Of Intelligent Traffic Control System”,
IJAET, Volume 1, Issue 5, Nov 2011.
[4] Dinesh Rotake, Prof. Swapnili Karmore, “Intelligent
Traffic Signal Control System Using Embedded
System”, IISTE, Vol 3,2012.
[5] Vishakha S.Thakare, Snehal R.Jadhav, Sananaj
G.Sayyed, Poonam V. Pawar, “Design of Smart Traffic
Light Controller Using Embedded System”, IOSR-JCE,
Volume 10, Issue 1 (Mar. - Apr. 2013).
[6] Sarika B. Kale, Gajanan P. Dhok, “Design of
Intelligent Ambulance and Traffic Control”, IJITEE,
Volume-2, Issue-5, April 2013.

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