Improving Vehicular Traffic Light Control in A Developing Country using On-Road Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN)

Abstract

Traffic situation in some cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria, such as Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja are becoming chaotic, and resulting in needless waste of man-hour and loss of lives. Traffic lights are installed at most intersections to control traffic by authorising rite of passage to routes in an orderly manner. The order ensures that the rite of passage is often granted equally to all routes in sequence. This arrangement has been seen to introduce delay, and consequently increased travelling time of road users. The delay is attributable to equal insensitivity to the conditions of traffic approaching the intersection. Wireless sensor network (WSN) application in target detection, among others, have been applied to the modern intelligent traffic system. This research seeks to deploy findings in WSN to improve vehicular traffic light control in a developing country using on-road sensors. `A unique feature of the system is the varying time slots allotted to each route subject to traffic conditions of the highway. Time allotted for each of the routes at any time of the day is determined based on the condition of the route at that period. The route with the highest traffic at the beginning of each period determines the time slot to be allotted to it, and the other routes in relation to their comparable volume of traffic. A simulated performance appraisal shows considerable improvement in the waiting period at the intersection, and subsequent reduction in travel time by travellers using the intersection to which the system applies.