Copyright © IFAC Control in Transportation Systems, ELSEVIER

Tokyo, Japan, 2003

IFAC
PUBLICATIONS
www.elsevier.comllocalelifac

A MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING
APPROACH FOR REAL-TIME CONTROL OF
SIGNALIZED JUNCTIONS

Davide Giglio' Riccardo Minciardi'

• DIST - University of Genova

Via Opem Pia, 13
16145 - Genova, Italy

Abstract: Signalized junctions are considered in this paper with the aim of
regulating traffic signals by real-time controlling of the green phases within
semaphoric cycles. This is made on the basis of the observation of traffic in the
various roads and junctions of a signalized area. The adopted macroscopic model is
presented and discussed in the paper, as well as the optimization problem directed
to the determination of optimal green phases of traffic signals. Some experimental
results, relevant to a specific test site in the city of Genova, Italy, are finally
provided in the paper. Copyright © 2003 IFAC

Keywords: Transportation control, Traffic control, Mathematical programming,

Optimal control, Real time.

1. INTRODUCTION fic systems. In particular, two main different ap-

proaches have been developed in the past, in order
to model and analyze the behaviour of vehicle
In the last decades, the most common (almost
flows in traffic networks. The former generally
the only) measure applied to regulate traffic flows
considers the whole urban network and makes use
inside cities has been traffic signalling control.
of the analogy with hydrodynamics (Lighthill and
In this framework, control strategies usually con-
Whitham, 1955; Richards, 1956); this approach
sist in changing the green time and possibly the
models the dynamic behaviour of aggregate vari-
cycle length, to modulate vehicle flows through
ables such as densities and flows in the links of
signalized road junctions according to the time-
a network, and leads to what is called a macro-
varying behaviour of the incoming traffic. In the
scopic model (Daganzo, 1993; Lo, 1999). The lat-
last years, the increasing success of techniques and
ter considers limited areas and is based on the
technologies generally referred to as Intelligent
modelling of the kinematics of each vehicle: thus,
Tmnsportation Systems (ITS) has made traffic
it is said that such an approach is based on the
control a research topic attracting the interest
use of microscopic models (Pipes, 1953; Herman
of several researchers in the control community.
et al., 1959; Gazis, 1974).
In fact, the difficult problem of controlling traffic
flows in a urban congested network is character- In this paper, signalized junctions are considered
ized by the necessity of developing strategies for with the aim of regulating traffic signals, in or-
real-time sharing of resources and for the synchro- der to improve the performances of existing in-
nization of the overall traffic system. frastructures. In particular, the main target of
the proposed approach is to develop strategies
A variety of models, methods, and architectures
for the real-time control of green phases within
have been proposed for controlling urban traf-

55
semaphoric cycles, on the basis of the observation tion providing the maximum number of outgoing
of traffic in the various roads and junctions of vehicles as a function of green light duration. In
a signalized area. To this end, a mathematical this way, attention is focused on queue lengths in
programming-based approach has been developed the various links and on the number of vehicles
by the authors and here presented. which move from an input link to an output one
within a semaphoric cycle. On the contrary, the
Although in the literature about real-time control
kinematics of vehicles inside a link is not modelled.
of signalized areas most authors make use of
A schematic representation of the generic link i is
microscopic models, the real-time optimization
in figure 1.
problem which deals with in this paper is based
on the use of a macroscopic model. Such a choice
is motivated by the necessity of reducing the x,
number of variables in the model in order to make
St,(k) .i,(k) S!,,(k)
computational times compatible with a real-time
application. To this end, a macroscopic traffic
model has been developed by the authors, as
the models provided by the literature are not Fig. 1. Schematization of generic link i
completely suitable for this purpose.
In figure 1, Xi (k), i = 1, ... , I, k = 1, ... , K
The real-time control scheme proposed in this pa-
(where I is the number of links in the considered
per falls in the field of demand responsive control
signalized area and K is the number of the con-
approaches. Such a kind of control makes use of
sidered semaphoric cycles) represents the state of
the knowledge of the actual state of monitored
the generic link i of the traffic network, that is,
signalized junctions, in order to adjust the sub-
the number of vehicles which are in link i at the
sequent phase schedules of traffic signals to the
beginning of the k-th semaphoric cycle. Moreover,
present and actual traffic conditions. In particular,
Xi, ui(k), and Yi(k) represent the capacity of link
the proposed control system has the objective of
i, the number of vehicles which enter link i within
minimizing the queue lengths inside a signalized
the k-th semaphoric cycle, and the number of
area. This is accomplished by computing the op-
vehicles which leave from that link in the same
timallengths of phases within semaphoric cycles,
time interval, respectively.
through the use of a receding-horizon approach.
Traffic signal behaviour is ruled by semaphoric
This paper is organized as follows. In section
cycles and by phases inside a semaphoric cycle. A
2, the model of traffic system is presented. The
phase is here defined as the time interval during
architecture of the proposed real-time system is
which a given combination of green and red lights
described in section 3, whereas, in section 4, the
does not change in a signalized area with several
mathematical programming problem which com-
traffic signals. A semaphoric cycle corresponds to
putes the optimal lengths of phases is presented.
a finite sequence of distinct phases. Then, in this
A case study relevant to a specific test site in
model, it is assumed that a cycle is indefinitely
the city of Genova, Italy, is in section 5, and
repeated. In the following, let F be the number of
some conclusions and further research directions
phases within a semaphoric cycle, and f denote
are finally presented and discussed in section 6.
the index which identifies each phase. Note that a
traffic signal is never associated with output links.
2. THE MODEL OF TRAFFIC SYSTEM In the link schematization, SL(k) and S{d(k),
0,i, dEL, f = 1, ... , F, k = 1, ... , K, represent
The adopted model of traffic urban area consists the number of vehicles coming from the generic
of several signalized junctions. The basic element preceding link 0 and the number of vehicles which
of this model is the link which may be viewed, are transmitted to the generic following link d,
from a physical point of view, as the space between respectively, during the f-th phase of the k-th
two subsequent traffic signals, for each direction semaphoric cycle. Thus, the following equations
(the reader can refer to (Barisone et aI., 2002), hold:
F
for a more detailed description of the model). Let
L be the set of links in a signalized urban area. ui(k) = L, u{ (k) (1)
f=l
Besides, let L in and Lout (L in , Lout E L) be the
set of input and output links, respectively, of the F
area (input and output links are characterized by Yi(k) = L,Y{ (k) (2)
an infinite capacity). f=l

Traffic flows among links are influenced by traffic where

signals which constrain the number of vehicles u{ (k) = L, St)k) (3)
which can leave an intersection through a rela-

56
 yl, (k) = ' Si',d (k) (4) j within the k-th cycle; turning rotes are
L" constrained by
dEL,t,nt.

are the number of vehicles which enter link i and (10)

the number of vehicles which leave from link i,
respectively, within the f-th phase of the k-th V(i, d) : d E L~ut and k = 1,.,., K:
semaphoric cycle, In (3) and (4), Lin and L~ut
• ps{ is the state of the traffic signals asso-
are, respectively, the set of incoming and outgoing
ciated with link i during the f-th phase;
links for the i-th link,
namely, ps{ = 1 (ps{ = 0) in case of green
The proposed model is mainly described by the (red) light; the proposed approach does not
following equations: consider yellow light:
• Q{ (k) represents the number of vehicles
ii(k + 1) = ii(k) + ui(k) - Yi(k) (5) which are able to leave link i according to
the duration of the f-th phase of the k-th
S{ik) = min {Qi,d(k) , i{ (k) ,
semaphoric cycle,
Qi,d(k) , ps{ . Q{ (k) ,
The importance of Q{ (k) lies in the fact that it
Xd - i~(k) + u:od(k)+ (6) models the behaviour of traffic taking into account
the phase schedule, the precedence constraints,
- 'L" Sim,d (k) + yld (k)} and the geometry of road stretches, Thus, this
mEP,
function is in general different for each link, As
i E L, d E L~ut, f = 1"", F, k = 1"", K, a preliminarily model, it is possible to make use
In (6), i{ (k) represents the hypothetical number of the linear equation
of vehicles which can leave link i, during phase f (11)
of the generic cycle k, Such a variable is updated
i E L, f = 1"", F, where <l>i is a linear operator,
as follows
and the effective time t~ff i (k) represents the por-
ii(k) + u:oi(k) if f = 1 tion of phase which is effectively available to leave
i{ (k) = i{-l(k) + u~oi(k)+ link i in the f-th phase of the k-th semaphoric
{
+u;t~~i(k) - y{-l(k) if f = 2"", F cycle, Such a variable can be written as

i E L, f = 1, .. "F, k = 1, ... ,K, where u:oi(k)

(7)
t~ffi(k) = tl - ( 2: Sf",z(k), ~m,:) (12)
mEP, rn.",-
and U;toPi(k) are, respectively, the number of zED,."

vehicles entering link i during phase f of the k-th
cycle, which are able to leave the link during the
same phase, and the number of vehicles entering
link i during phase f of the k-th cycle which
are allowed to leave that link only during the
subsequent phases (and then remain in link i at
the end of phase J). Such terms can be computed
as
I tl(k)-tti. I vehicles having right of way over them.
u:oi(k) = u i (k) . tl(k) If tti ::; t (k)
{
o iftti>tl(k)
U;toPi(k) = u{ (k) - u:oi(k)
i E L, f = 1, ... ,F, k = 1, .. "K, where tl(k)
represents the length of phase f within the k-th
semaphoric cycle, and tt i is the trovelling time
of link i, Note that (7) to (9) hold only if it is
assumed that the travelling time of a link is never
grater than the length of two subsequent phases
(this assumption is not restrictive owing to the
configuration of typical signalized areas in Italian
cities),
Moreover, with reference to (6),
• Qi,d(k) is the percentage of vehicles which
arrive from link i and turn towards link
i E L, f = 1"", F, k = 1"", K, where Pi is
the set of links m having right of way over link
i, D m is the set of successor links z of link m,
and where Xm,z and Vm,z are, respectively, the
distance covered and the average speed from link
m to link z, In this way, t~ffi(k) takes into account
the reduction of time available to vehicles leaving
link i, due to the time spent in the junctions by
Analogously, the third element of minimum ex-
pression (6) takes into account the reduction of
(8) the available room for vehicles moving from link i
(9) to link d, due to the room occupied in the link d
by vehicles having right of way over them,
Summing up, the first element in the minimum in
(6) represents the number of vehicles directed to
link j which are present in link i at the beginning
of the considered phase; the role of this term
is to model the behaviour of vehicles in a link
in presence of non-congested traffic, The second
term represents the maximum number of vehicles
transmitted to link j which succeed in crossing
the intersection during the f-th phase, The role of
this term is to model the situation in which traffic
signals have a very short green phase, and then it
is necessary to limit the number of vehicles which

57
 PS PS

y.(k) 1I.(k)
g(k + I) Model of
Real-Time {"(k)
Signalized i(k + I)
Regulalor
1I.(k+Nc -l) Junclions
i;(k)

;c.(k)

Fig. 2. The real-time control system.

optimization horizon
<ll----------------[>

l)clcrmination l)ctcrminalum
of of
{"(k) i(k + 1)
<l [Xl [>
t--------+I-------jll- - - - - -tl---;I
k-I k k+l k+N-l k+N
J)ch:rmimnion l)cfcrminauon
of ul
nk + 1) i;(k + 2)
<l [Xl [>
1-1------+1------11- - - - - --11:------1
k k+l k+2 k+N k + N+ 1

Fig. 3. The receding-horizon approach.

can cross the signalized intersection. Finally, the In time [k - L k] the regulator solves an opti-
third element in (6) represents the maximum mization problem in order to compute the optimal
number of vehicles which can be accommodated phase lengths within all cycles, over an optimiza-
in the downstream link j during the considered tion horizon of Ne cycles, namely to(k), e(k+ 1),
phase; the role of this last term is to model the ... , to (k + Ne - 1) (figure 3). This is accomplished
behaviour of vehicles in case of congested traffic. on the basis of the knowledge of:
• an estimate of the number of vehicles enter-
ing roads which lead to the signalized area
during the considered Ne semaphoric cycles,
3. THE REAL-TIME SYSTEM namely y.(k), y.(k + 1), ... , y.(k + Ne - 1);
ARCHITECTURE • a forecast of the state of the links at the be-
ginning of the k-th semaphoric cycle, namely
In this section, the real-time control system allow- i.(k). i.(k) is a vector whose generic element
ing the regulation of traffic signals is presented. Xi (k) represents the number of vehicles which
The overall system consists of a real-time regulator are in the queue relevant to the i-th traffic
having the function of determining the optimal signal at the beginning of the k-th cycle; such
phase lengths. At each control step, the regulator a vector is obtained through the simulation
requires the solution of a mathematical program- of the model of the signalized area during
ming problem stated in connection with the model the time interval [k - L k]; note that such a
represented in the previous section (figure 2). simulation does not require the knowledge of
any of the control variables to be determined;
The real-time regulator adjusts the length of • the pre-defined nominal phase schedule of
phases within a semaphoric cycle to the traffic traffic signals, namely, PS. PS is represented
condition, making use of the knowledge of the by a stage matrix (a boolean matrix whose
actual state of links (queue lengths) in the con- generic element ps{ is relevant to the state of
sidered signalized area, and of an estimate of the i-th traffic signal during the i-th phase);
state of road junctions entering the area. This • the phase lengths of the pre-defined nominal
is accomplished by repetitively solving a mathe- phase schedule, namely f The choice of mak-
matical programming problem whose objective is ing use of both PS and i is motivated by the
to minimize the queue lengths inside the consid- need of determining a solution which is not
ered area, by computing the optimal lengths of too distant from the drivers' practice.
phases within a semaphoric cycle, and adopting a
receding-horizon scheme.

58
At the beginning of the k-th semaphoric cycle,
the optimal phase lengths taCk) are applied to the
model of the considered area in order to simulate
and then compute ~(k+ 1). In the same time, taCk)
is also applied to the real system in order to set
the phase lengths of traffic signals to the optimal
value.
Then, ~(k+ 1) is used, during time interval [k, k+
1]' together with 1!(k+ 1), 1!(k+2), ... , 1!(k+Nc),
PS, and I, in order to determine the optimal
lengths of phases within the next semaphoric
cycle, namely e(k + 1), and so on.
4. THE OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM
The real time control action is obtained through
the solution by the regulator of a mathematical
programming problem. Such a problem has the
objective of minimizing the overall number of ve-
hicles in the links, over the optimization horizon,
with respect to the choice of the phase durations
tl(k). Then, in time interval [k - l,k], the regu-
lator solves the following minimization problem
1 [k+NC-l
~(I~ Ne l: l: Xi(j)
1=1, .... F j=k iEL\L"ut
j=k, ... ,k+Nc -I
where Ne represents the length of the optimiza-
tion problem.
The minimization of (13) is subject to constraints
(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), (11),
and (12).
Moreover, the length of a phase tl(k) cannot be
too different from its nominal length which has
been a-priori determined, since drivers can find
difficult to adapt themselves to too significant
changes in the phase durations. For this reason,
the following constraint is introduced
(1-0)·i!:::;t l (j):::;(1+0)·il (14)
f = 1, ... ,F,j = k, ... ,k+Ne -l, where
o is the maximum percentage variation and if
is the nominal length of phase f. Such a value
is obviously independent of k since the nominal
value is the same in all semaphoric cycle; in some
cases it changes twice or three times a day but
it can be assumed constant. in any case, over the
considered optimization horizon. Finally. a further
constraint is added to the problem in order to
leave unchanged the length of each semaphoric
cycle since the goal is to vary the phase durations
but within a fixed-length cycle
F sis of different values of the maximum percentage
l: tl (j) = C
1=1
j = k, ... , k + Ne
- 1, where C is the a-priori
given length of semaphoric cycles.
5. A CASE STUDY
The validation of the proposed real-time con-
trol scheme is still in progress but some results
have been obtained through the application of
the mathematical programming approach to some
test sites in the city of Genova, Italy.
The considered area is that of Piazza Sturla, a
signalized area in the East part of Genova (figure
4). It represents a very important and strategic
node in the road network of Genova, since several
vehicles pass through Piazza Sturla in the morn-
ing (evening) hours to go to (come back from)
work. For this reason, the considered signalized
area presents several traffic congestion phenom-
ena, especially in the East-West direction in the
morning peak hours (from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.),
and in the West-East direction in the evening peak
hours (from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.). Till now, the only
actions applied to reduce congestions have been
that of considering different semaphoric plans, or
different phase lengths within fixed semaphoric
cycles, in the different hours of the day. It is
worth noting that such actions do not produce
any improvement to the circulation of the area.
]
(13)
(-_ .... _--
Fig. 4. A schematization of Piazza Sturla, Genova,
Italy
From a modelling point of view, Piazza Sturla
consists of 18 links, 5 of which are input links and
4 output links. 14 traffic signals are in the area
and each semaphoric cycle consists of 6 phases,
each one characterized by its own length and
combination of green and red lights. Each cycle
lasts 110 seconds.
The tests have been carried out taking into ac-
count a time horizon equal to 17 semaphoric
cycles, that is, 31 minutes and 10 seconds. In
particular, the half hour from 7:00 a.m. to 7:30
a.m. has been considered.
Three main tests have been carried out on the ba-
(15) variation 0:
• 0 = O. This test is relevant to the un-
controlled case since no variation of phase
lengths is allowed. The value of the objective
59

c: !5fJ t------------------:;"L,:-=
o duced in the paper in order to manage congested
"t; !W 1---------------7-----7"-'----
~ !~ 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , ' ' ' - - - - _ " " 7 ' ' ' ' - - -
'">
.~ -'(Mo
"E'I."II
o problem remain open, such as the determination
=: IIJU
.1 ~ • I) I S y II1 1I I~ I' 1-1 I'
Semaphoric Cycle
Fig. 5. Preliminary results
function in the different semaphoric cycle of
the considered time horizon is that of the
upper line in figure 5;
• {) = 1. This test is relevant to the determi-
nation of the optimal phase lengths when a
100% maximum percentage variation is al-
lowed. Such a test is very important since
the considered maximum percentage varia-
tion allows a certain flexibility in the determi-
nation of the optimal phase lengths, without
upsetting drivers' practice. In this case, the
value of the objective function is that of the
middle line in figure 5:
• {) = 00. In the last test, constraint (14)
has been discarded by setting the maximum
percentage variation equal to infinity. In this
way, the optimal phase lengths may assume
any value, even O. This is the least con-
strained case which obviously provide the
best results (the value of the objective func-
tion in such a case is that of the lower line in
figure 5).
In conclusion, by analyzing the value of the ob-
jective function in the three cases, it is possible
to observe a potential improvement of about 30%
when {) = 1, and of about 60% when {) = 00.
6. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER
RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
In this paper, a system architecture for real-time
control of signalized junctions has been introduced
and discussed in details. The overall system con-
sists of a real-time regulator and is founded on
the model of signalized junctions. The real-time
regulator adjusts the phase lengths within each
semaphoric cycle, by solving a mathematical pro-
gramming problem in a receding horizon scheme.
Such a problem is constrained by a set of equa-
tions which model the behavior of flows within
the traffic network. In the proposed system, the
authors make use of a macroscopic model; this is
motivated by the need of reducing the number of
variables and then making the proposed architec-
ture compatible with real-time applications. The
model takes into account the flows which affect
the signalized junctions and the links connecting
them: in particular, suitable equations are intro-
traffic as well as non-congested one.
It is worth observing that several aspects of the
of effective techniques for the introduced mathe-
matical programming problem in order to reduce
16 11
computational times, thus making the proposed
approach applicable to a large set of real signalized
area. Moreover, new characteristics will be added
to the model in order to better manage the habits
of drivers travelling through the traffic network.
These are the objects of the present research and
will be the subjects of forthcoming publications.
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