Control and allocation at an intersection with traffic lights

Abstract

Managing road infrastructure in highly urbanized areas during the Industry 4.0 era poses a significant technological challenge for traffic engineers. Steadily growing traffic volume, both of motor vehicles and pedestrians, cyclists or scooters, necessitates the development of advanced traffic control algorithms and systems. Improvement of the efficiency and capacity of intersections without any intervention into the physical structure of roadways is one of the two aspects of today's traffic engineering. In this paper, however, emphasis is placed on the aspect of coordination of conflicting flows of motorized and pedestrian traffic. Consideration is given to ensuring that each traffic light phase at an intersection is maximally utilized while maintaining the required safety factor. The empirical part of the study consists in identifying inefficiencies in the traffic light cycle. The analysis of traffic phases has revealed that there were certain periods in the cycle during which pedestrians were given the right of way while, in fact, it was not necessary. The study proposes a solution to optimize the green signal timing for conflicting vehicular and pedestrian flows in real-time. By eliminating delays in traffic signal phases as a result of not having to give a green signal for pedestrians, the proposed solution will improve the efficiency of urban networks with respect to an aspect whose potential has not been exploited so far. Coordination and adaptation of each light phase to the most effective extent is a feasible answer to the needs and requirements of modern urban areas.