A Novel Adaptive Signal Timing Control Approach for Signalized Intersections

Abstract

Vehicular traffic congestion is a severe global problem, leading to a range of issues such as increased travel times, increased fuel consumption, and increased pollutant emissions. The signal timing of traffic lights is one of the major factors that we can change to reduce traffic congestion at signalized intersections. Most traffic lights used in real life are hard-coded which means the fixed timing is applied for traffic control. In these hard-coded signalized intersection models, we do not have much to do to deal with real-time congestion, especially for large traffic volumes. In this study, we propose an adaptive signal timing control approach to reduce traffic congestion according to real-time traffic flow situations. In this novel approach, the signal timing can be changed over time based on real-time information about traffic flows. The Eclipse SUMO is used to simulate traffic conditions at real-world intersections to optimize road traffic light control and reduce real-time traffic delays for signalized intersections. Simulation results show that the proposed method obtains better performance than typical traffic light timing control strategies.