Adaptive Traffic Control

Votes: 9
Views: 4966
Transportation

We all know the timed traffic signs with big digital screens. But also most of us get bored when we wait until the count down finish to move our car even though the road is already empty and many seconds are wasted for nothing. What about adaptive times that intelligently adjust the countdown values according to traffic density so we can live happily ever after ?

 The idea is very simple but very effective at the same time. Putting a sensor on the traffic sign that counts passing cars from this point and connects to the next traffic sign with another sensor that also counts passing vehicle. Using a very simple equation we can calculate the count of cars in between these 2 sensors, hence we can get the density of this section of the road. By making every sensor connect to its neighbor, we can make a complete network that acts according to a simple algorithm that can adjust the countdowns for each and every traffic sign according to traffic density. For example, if the first section density is high and next section is low the system will increase the countdown for the beginning of the first section (i.e. decrease the rate of cars that enter that section), decrease the countdown for the end of first section (i.e. increase the rate of exiting the section) and finally averaging the countdown for the end of next section (because the rate is already low so you can wait a bit more). This is applied as a chain reaction effect. so every change in countdown of one section, hence density will probably change most of the successors of this section.

 The system will use traffic sign power source and will communicate using power lines or wireless distribution system.

The legend for the attached state diagram is as follows:
The slash delimited action happens when moving from section with certain to another state and divided in 3 parts:
1- first part affects the traffic sign of the beginning of first section
2- second part affects the traffic sign of the end of the first section
3- third part affects the traffic sign of the cross road section
For example: when moving from a "high density" state to "low density" state the action performed by the algorithm will be -1/1/0 which means:
-1 --> increase the countdown for the traffic sign at the beginning of the section
1 --> decrease the countdown for the traffic sign at the end of the section
0 --> averaging the countdown for the traffic sign at the end of the next section.

Using this algorithm will make the cars flow is stable through the day hence prevents the deadlocks and traffic jams.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Ahmed Saber
  • Type of entry:
    individual
  • Profession:
    Engineer/Designer
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    2
  • Ahmed's favorite design and analysis tools:
    Visual Studio 2008, 3D Max 2009, Photoshop CS3,
  • Ahmed's hobbies and activities:
    Embedded Systems Design, Reading,
  • Ahmed belongs to these online communities:
    CE2008, Embedded,com, NASA techbriefs, ComputerWor
  • Ahmed is inspired by:
    Problems I see around me everyday make me think about solving it through my expertise.
  • Software used for this entry:
    Microsoft Word 2007, MS Paint
  • Patent status:
    none