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Amir 2017
Amir 2017
Amir 2017
Abstract— This paper depicts the design of an automated Additionally, mere simulation results [2], fail to illuminate the
traffic control system with a distinctive attribute of emergency full scenario of traffic control systems. Also systems that employ
vehicle control. Upon being interrupted by an emergency signal, Emergency signal detection based on specific radio frequency
the system automatically retains the state of the normal sequence transmission can contradict with broadcasting regulations of a
and gives the corresponding road a green light signal as long as the country [6].
emergency signal is high. As soon as the emergency signal becomes
low, the system instantly jumps back to the retained state of the RFID tags have long rad range, no line of sight requirement,
normal sequence. Emergency Signal detection is RFID based. The and can withstand harsh environments and can track objects in
system is designed using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) real time. In the proposed system, a PLC based traffic control
ladder logic program. The system was implemented in a PLC system is developed. RFID tags are used to detect emergency
simulated environment. Later, it was tested in a hardware vehicles and activate the emergency protocol. In normal
prototype. The test results indicated that it can be implemented in operating conditions, the normal signal sequence is maintained,
the real world without altering the original code. This PLC based when the emergency protocol is activated, the state of the system
system can be used to replace the conventional traffic control just before emergency override is retained, when emergency
system. By including additional input and output modules into the state passes, the system returns to the exact state before the
PLC system, this system can be easily extended to dynamically emergency override. This ensures that none of the roads miss
manage the traffic system of an entire city. their signal sequence after the emergency sequence. Moreover,
a paradoxical situation arises when considering a situation when
Keywords—Traffic Jam; Traffic Control; Programmable Logic
Controller (PLC); Emergency Vehicle
two or more roads have emergency vehicle to clear because that
would turn on traffic flow for more than one road at the same
time. This problem has been resolved by implementing High
I. INTRODUCTION Priority Encoder in the system. The system was first simulated
Traffic congestion is a severe problem in many cities of the and then a prototype was developed
world today. The problem is particularly severe in developing
countries. Traffic congestion severely disrupts emergency II. SYSTEM DESIGN
vehicles especially Ambulances. Every year many patients die
on the way to hospitals as a result of wasted time in traffic jams. This paper attempts to design a traffic light control system
Other emergency vehicles like Fire Truck, Police patrols also for crossroads of four roads. The primary focus is to add a
struggle in their line of duty. Many researchers focused on traffic special feature of emergency control after developing a general
signal control system [1-7]. Many traffic control systems do not purpose traffic control system. The system has 12 lights
have special provisions for emergency vehicles [1,4,5]. Even operating. The sequence for each road is always green(G) to
though some systems employ emergency vehicles management, yellow(Y), then to red(R) and to green(G). On first startup, the
they do not retain the state before emergency resulting in turn system starts from road 1 with green light and all the others roads
loss in some roads of a junction [3,6]. In modern day scenario, with red light. Then sequentially, the green light moves from
this is a very important feature, especially for urban road 1 to road 2, then to road 3 and finally to 4. There is a timer
environments. Some systems require manual control which which resets after every cycle. When a Road is green, the traffic
introduces scope for human error [5]. Moreover, some systems flow is assumed to be as illustrated in the fig. 1. The green light
use mechanisms like weight machines to detect traffic density stays activated for 10s. The yellow light stays activated for 3s.
[5]. These mechanisms are expensive and require high As the system is a prototype, the timing limit of the lights can be
maintenance, which makes the system impractical for large scale changed accordingly without changing the program. On each
implementation. There are many different methods to road, there is a RFID sensor which will track any emergency
implement traffic control system. Some systems are PLC based vehicle with a RFID tag. The sensors are connected to the PLC
[1,2,4,5] while others are microcontroller based [3,6]. Both in such a way that they act as input signals to the PLC. There are
methods have their own advantages but PLC offers a wide area two scenarios in which an emergency vehicle can be detected in
expandability which is essential for traffic control systems. a road. For example, let us assume that in the first scenario, road
From the timing diagram it can be seen that for the first 10s
G1 is active, followed by 3s of Y1, R1 stays off for the entire
13s. Next, G2 stays on for 10s and the cycle continues. From
this, 8 different states can be identified that can explain this
cycle. State 1 is when G1 is on, State 2 is when Y1 is on, State
3 is when G2 is on etc. So, 8 different states and their transitions
are identified as shown in fig. 4. S1 through S8 represent State 1
through 8 and T1 through T8 represent Transitions 1 through 8.
Additionally, S1 has a First Pass arrowhead which dictate that
whenever the system is powered on the system will always start
from S1.
Fig. 2. Traffic flow when road 1 is green.
The state table is then derived and is shown in Table 1. It ܵͶ ൌ ൫ܵͶ ܵ͵ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ʹ͵ݏሻ൯ ቀܵͶ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ ʹݏሻቁ
shows the state of all the 12 light outputs and their corresponding
state 0 = Off, 1 = On. During state 1 G1 is on, G2 through G4 (12)
are off. R1 is off. R2 through R4 is on and all yellow lights are ܵͷ ൌ ൫ܵͷ ܵͶሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ʹݏሻ൯ ቀܵͷ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ ͵ݏሻቁ
off. In the same manner the state table is derived from the timing (13)
diagram.
ܵ ൌ ൫ܵ ܵͷሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ͵ݏሻ൯ ቀܵ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ ͵ͻݏሻቁ
TABLE I. State Table
(14)
State G Y R G Y R G Y R G Y R ܵ ൌ ൫ܵ ܵሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ͵ͻݏሻ൯ ቀܵ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ Ͷͻݏሻቁ
4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1
(15)
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
ܵͺ ൌ ൫ܵͺ ܵሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ Ͷͻݏሻ൯ ቀܵͺ ሺܶ݅݉݁ݎ ൏ ͷʹݏሻቁ
2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
3 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 (16)
4 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
5 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 A simple algorithm is used to implement the emergency
6 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 protocol.
7 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Algorithm 1 Algorithm for Emergency in road n
ܵͳ ൌ ൫ܵͳ ܵͺሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ͷʹݏሻ൯ ቀܵͳ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ ͳͲݏሻቁ A block diagram of the High priority encoder is shown in fig.
ݏݏܽܲݐݏݎ݅ܨ (9) 5. The emergency road priority can be assigned as required.
Priority has been assigned according to road number, but with
ܵʹ ൌ ൫ܵʹ ܵͳሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ͳͲݏሻ൯ ቀܵʹ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ ͳ͵ݏሻቁ
the help of statistical data from actual implementation site,
(10) higher priority can be assigned to roads that are frequented by
ܵ͵ ൌ ൫ܵ͵ ܵʹሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ ͳ͵ݏሻ൯ ቀܵ͵ ሺܶ݅݉݁ ݎ൏ ʹ͵ݏሻቁ emergency vehicles.
(11)
A. Hardware Setup
An Alan Bradley Micrologix 1200 PLC system is used to
prototype the system. Additionally, two Lab Volt Traffic Light
Module 3291 (fig. 7) has been used to simulate a 4 junction
traffic system.
B. Software Setup
RSLogix 500 is used to to develop the ladder logic code of
the system. Additionally, RSLogix Emulate 500 has been used
to test and troubleshoot the ladder logic program in a simulated
environment. A portion of the ladder program is shown in fig.
8.