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Smart Traffic Management System

Conference Paper · December 2019

DOI: 10.1109/ICECCO48375.2019.9043219

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15th International Conference on Electronics Computer and Computation (ICECCO 2019)
Smart Traffic Management System
Abubakar M. Miyim
abubakar.miyim@fud.edu.ng
1
Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Computing, Federal University Dutse.
P.M.B.7156 Dutse, Jigawa State - Nigeria
1, 2
Computer Science Department, Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic Hadejia, Jigawa State - Nigeria
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.
I. 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
Copyright notice (978-1-7281-5160-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE)
Mansur A. Muhammed
mansurmaibeni4@gmail.com
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
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.
II. 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.
III. 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.
A. 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. Let I(LX) be an indicator for the existence of
The paper presents an algorithm, which is called vehicles on the conflict lanes of LX, where
the Safe to Pass First (SPF) algorithm, that make I(LX)=1 if one or more of the conflict lanes is
use of per-vehicle real time speed, position, and busy or I(LX)=0 if the conflict lanes are
direction data to decide when to allow the vehicle to empty.
pass through the intersection. The algorithm checks Let Gtime be the time for green light comes
the status of conflicting lanes, to ensure that vehicle on after red light.
will pass the intersection safely.
Add vehicle X to the queue Q
Algorithm: While Q is not empty, do
Consider the earliest
Input: Vehicle X waiting vehicle in the queue
Check conflict lanes in
Add vehicle X to the queue Q S(LX):
While Q is not empty, do
if all conflict-lanes are empty:
Consider the earliest waiting vehicle in the I(LX)=0
queue Return (Green, TX)
Check conflict lanes in S(LX): else:
I(LX)=1
if I(LX) = 0 Check set B for lane timers
Tempty = the time required for all conflict
Return (Green, TX) lanes to be empty
else: If Tempty – TX < 4:
Gtime = 4
I(LX) = 1 else:
Gtime = Tempty – TX
Check set B for lane timers Return (Red, Tempty, Gtime)

If Tempty – TX < 4: To calculate the required time for a vehicle to pass

the intersection, the intersection control station will
Gtime = 4 use the following formulas.

else:

Gtime = Tempty – TX

Return (Red, Tempty, Gtime) ܵ݀݁ܿ , ‫ ݀݁݁݌ݏ = ܮ‬− 10 ……………. (2)

ܵ݀݁ܿ , ܴ = ‫ ݀݁݁݌ݏ‬− 15 ……………. (3)
Algorithm Explanation If a vehicle X is in lane L i.e Left lane, decelerated
speed will be calculated using equation 2 and for
Input: Vehicle X with attributes: the Right lane R will be calculated by equation 3.
SX: The speed of the vehicle
GX: The location of the vehicle
T: the required time for the vehicle to pass the
DX: The direction for which vehicle is
intersection.
travelling
Distance: the distance between the vehicle and the
LX: The lane on which vehicle is travelling
edge of the intersection when the control station
TX: Required time for the vehicle to pass
receives the request message.
the intersection
Speed: the speed of the vehicle
D: the required distance for the vehicle to pass the
Let Ax be the arrival time of vehicle X
intersection after reaching the edge of the
Let S be the set of conflict lanes presented
intersection
as tuples: (Lane, set of conflict lanes)
DS: Decelerated Speed for the vehicle to pass the
where
intersection which is represented in formulas (2)
S={(0,{2,5,6,7}), (1,{2,3,4,7}),
and (3).
(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]}
 B. Vehicle DBTL Device and the required time for each lane at the
In this system, every moving vehicle is assumed to intersection to be clear.
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 Figure 3: Typical Four Way Road Cross
time slot at the intersection for the vehicle to pass
safely. 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.

D Communication System

For the purpose of this system communication, the

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.
C 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
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
IV. 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
V. 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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