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Urbanization has led to accelerated traffic congestion, posing a significant obstacle to urban development. Traditional traffic signal scheduling methods are often inefficient and cumbersome, resulting in unnecessary waiting times for vehicles and pedestrians, exacerbating the traffic situation. To address this issue, this article proposes a dynamic traffic signal scheduling system based on an improved greedy algorithm. Unlike conventional approaches, we introduce a reward function and a cost model to ensure fair scheduling plans. A constraint function is also established, and the traffic signal scheduling is iterated through the feasible matrix using the greedy algorithm to simplify the decision-making process and enhance solution efficiency. Moreover, an emergency module is integrated to prioritize special emergency vehicles, reducing their response time during emergencies. To validate the effectiveness of our dynamic traffic signal scheduling system, we conducted simulation experiments using the Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO) traffic simulation suite and the SUMO traffic control interface Traci. The results indicate that our system significantly improves intersection throughput and adapts well to various traffic conditions, effectively resolving urban traffic congestion while ensuring fair scheduling plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive traffic signal control (ATSC) is an effective method to reduce traffic congestion in modern urban areas. Many studies adopted various approaches to adjust traffic signal plans according to real-time traffic in response to demand fluctuations to improve urban network performance (e.g., minimise delay). Recently, learning-based methods such as reinforcement learning (RL) have achieved promising results in signal plan optimisation. However, adopting these self-learning techniques in future traffic environments in the presence of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) remains largely an open challenge. This study develops a real-time RL-based adaptive traffic signal control that optimises a signal plan to minimise the total queue length while allowing the CAVs to adjust their speed based on a fixed timing strategy to decrease total stop delays. The highlight of this work is combining a speed guidance system with a reinforcement learning-based traffic signal control. Two different performance measures are implemented to minimise total queue length and total stop delays. Results indicate that the proposed method outperforms a fixed timing plan (with optimal speed advisory in a CAV environment) and traditional actuated control, in terms of average stop delay of vehicle and queue length, particularly under saturated and oversaturated conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following major hazards and incidents, it is crucial to mitigate the congestion at intersections of urban traffic systems with disruptions; maximize the evacuation, rescue, and recovery efficiency; and prevent a hazard from turning into a disaster. An optimized traffic signal design strategy can effectively contribute to maintaining an efficient traffic system operation despite various disruptions. Most of the existing studies focused on static and generic congestion scenarios during the recovery stage, rather than realistic time-progressive scenarios covering the whole process following a disruption. An adaptive traffic signal control strategy in response to traffic disruptions at a single intersection is proposed by covering both the incident and recovery stages. Dynamic phase selection (DPS) technology is applied to adjust the traffic signal control plan adaptively during the incident stage, while the queue length dissipation (QLD) algorithm is adopted to carry out optimal green time calculation during the recovery stage. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by considering disruptions caused by several typical vehicle crashes at intersections. The proposed DPS+QLD traffic signal strategy is found to improve the resiliency of a typical intersection against disruptions by clearing queues faster, reducing overall traffic loss time, and maintaining stable mobility with superior performance over conventional fixed and actuated traffic signal plans. DOI: 10.1061/JTEPBS.0000671. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic congestion is becoming a serious problem with the large number of vehicle on the roads. In the traditional traffic control system, the timing of the green light is adjusted regardless of the average traffic rate at the junction. Many strategies have been introduced to solve and improve vehicle management. However, in order to handle road traffic issues, an intelligent traffic management solution is required. This article represents a self adaptive real-time traffic light control algorithm based on the traffic flow. We present a machine learning approach coupled with image processing to manage the traffic clearance at the signal junction. The proposed system utilizes single image processing via neural network and You Only Look Once (YOLOv3) framework to establish traffic clearance at the signal. We employed YOLO architectures because it is accurate in terms of mean average precision (mAP), interaction over union (IOU) values and fast in object detection tasks as well. It runs significantly faster than other detection methods with comparable performance. The average processing time of single image was estimated to be 1.3 s. Further based on the input from YOLO we estimated the 'on' time period green light for effective traffic clearance. Several real time parameters like number of vehicles (two wheelers, four wheelers), road width and junction crossing time are considered to estimate the 'on'time of green light. Moreover, we used the real traffic images to test the performance and trained the system with different dataset. Our experiments investigation reveals that the predicted vehicle counts were well matched with the actual vehicle count and proposed method apprehended an average accuracy of 81.1%. The reported strategy is self adaptive, highly accurate, fast and has the potential to be implemented in the traffic clearance at the junctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time traffic signal control has long been a critical way to improve traffic congestion. Transit Signal Priority (TSP) is seen as a cost-effective way to reduce travel time variability. Most of the previous studies develop real-time signal control systems on a vehicle basis, which is unable to efficiently provide preferential treatment on transit vehicles. Person-based signal control systems, which transform traffic delay computation units from vehicle to passenger, have been proposed to try to address this limitation. However, their models, optimizing signal plan cycle-by-cycle, cannot rapidly respond to traffic variations. This study proposes a Person-based Adaptive traffic signal control method with Cooperative Transit signal priority (PACT). In PACT, not only do Road-Side Units (RSUs) perform signal optimization, but also On-Board Units (OBUs) provide in-vehicle speed advisory to reduce delays. The interaction between RSU and OBU is conducted second-by-second, which has high adaptability to traffic variations. Experiments are performed based on real traffic data via traffic simulation platform SUMO. The results indicate that PACT can efficiently reduce delays of both bus passengers and auto passengers at a signalized intersection. Compared to preoptimized signal plans, the results show that each passenger on transit vehicles experiences 33%–70% decreases in delays, and each auto passenger experiences 3%–29% decreases in delays. PACT can reduce 80%–98% in delays when the occupancy weight factor is relatively large, showing the potential of extending PACT on performing signal preemption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerning the critical role of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) in tackling the problem of traffic congestion, and enhancing the safety, mobility and sustainability of the transport network, this paper provides a comprehensive review of recent developments in Connected Vehicle (CV) technology, its features and terminology. The real-world implementation of the CV technologies can result in a better understanding of the practical and technical issues. Given the technical and conceptual challenges, as well as novelty factors associated with CVs, many CV pilot studies around the world are reviewed, and their findings are summarized. The paper contributes to the literature by reviewing the characteristics, communication platform, multimodality, size and type of study areas of the pilot CV testbeds across the world. This research also paves the way for the better development of CV technology by comparing and discussing the pros and cons of the existing CV pilot testbeds. Moreover, we have discussed the evaluation plans and the advantages and disadvantages of different testbeds. Besides, as a main component of the CV system, the traffic signal control algorithms, as well as transit signal priority in a CV ecosystem, are also reviewed. Based on our findings, the real-time data obtained from the CV system could result in a better adjustment of traffic signal parameters which consequently enhance the traffic regulation in the network (say up to 30% in terms of travel time in comparison with an actuated coordinated traffic signal). However, a major criticism of the existing traffic signal strategies in a CV system is that they do not utilize the maximum capability of the CV system (V2 V, V2I and I2I communications). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, with increasing urban traffic congestion, there has been an upsurge in studies on reinforcement learning for traffic signal control (RL-TSC), which enables efficient traffic management. However, most existing RL-TSC research relies on simulation, and instances of real-world application are relatively scarce. Furthermore, existing RL-TSC methods employ a step-based approach, controlling traffic signals every short step. This approach can be inefficient in oversaturated traffic conditions, where large deviations in traffic demand between movements prevent traffic signals from being effectively managed based on the overall traffic situation. In this study, we aim to transform simulation-based RL-TSC into a more practical and applicable model. We have developed a RL-TSC method capable of responding to oversaturated traffic conditions, designing an action space that enables the agent to derive an optimal signal set for every cycle length, thereby understanding the traffic situation across all movements. During each cycle length, our proposed model conducts traffic signal optimization and identifies the optimal signal through an iterative exploration. To facilitate a fast and accurate strategy search process, we developed a kinematic wave-based mesoscopic model. This model estimates the density across the entire link, based on collected traffic data and derives the state and reward values. We have validated the field applicability of the proposed RL-TSC method through a real-world demonstration at a congested intersection in Seoul, Korea. The results indicated a significant improvement in traffic congestion, with the average queue length at the intersection reduced by up to 11.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Systematic review on urban traffic control under mixed traffic with CAVs. • Cover signal timing, CAV trajectory/route planning, and their cooperative control. • Summarize mixed traffic control methods at intersections with CAV-dedicated facilities. • Outline promising research directions and challenges. Efficient traffic control can alleviate traffic congestion, reduce fuel consumption, and improve traffic safety. With the development of communication and automation technologies, regular vehicles (RVs), connected vehicles (CVs), and connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) will coexist on urban roads in the near future. In this paper, we systematically review the studies on urban traffic control under the mixed traffic environment, which utilize CVs and CAVs to improve the performance of urban traffic control. We first give a glance at the evolution of urban traffic control with the deployment of CVs and CAVs to identify the important and promising research fields in the mixed traffic control. We then review the recent advances in traffic signal timing with CAV/CV trajectory data, CAV trajectory/route planning, and the cooperative control of CAV trajectories and traffic signals from the intersection level to the network level under the mixed traffic environment. Besides, we summarize two types of studies on mixed traffic control at intersections with CAV-dedicated facilities: 1) traffic signal timing and vehicle trajectory planning at intersections with CAV-dedicated lanes, and 2) deployment of CAV-dedicated facilities including CAV-dedicated lanes, links, and zones. Finally, the future research directions and challenges are discussed. We hope that this review could provide researchers with a helpful roadmap for future research on urban traffic control under the mixed traffic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic congestion in urban environment is one of the most critical issue for drivers and city planners for both environment and efficiency reasons. Traffic lights are one of the main tools used to regulate traffic by diverting the drivers between different paths. Rational drivers, in turn, react to the traffic light duration by evaluating their options and, if necessary, by changing direction in order to reach their destination quicker. In this paper, we introduce a macroscopic traffic model for urban intersections that incorporates this rational behavior of the drivers. Then, we exploit it to show that, by providing additional information about the expected red-time duration to the drivers, one can decrease the amount of congestion in the network and the overall length of the queues at the intersections. Additionally, we develop a control policy for the traffic lights that exploits the reaction of the drivers in order to divert them to a different route to further increase the performances. These claims are supported by extensive numerical simulations. • A traffic-flow macroscopic model of the drivers' rational decision-making. • It considers origin-destination pairs and the ability to show the red time duration. • Numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness of showing the red time duration. • A novel control policy that exploit the drivers' reaction to the red time duration. • The increased efficiency of the controller is validated with extensive simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of fuel consumed in traffic on urban arterials is related to driving in congested traffic, characterized by frequent speed fluctuations and stops at signalized intersections. A range of traffic control strategies was suggested in the past to decrease fuel consumption and emissions in urban networks. The research presented in this study aims to fill the gap in the existing knowledge by proposing a novel combination of an ecology-based performance index and an evolutionary method for optimization of traffic signal settings. An optimization problem is defined to find the best values for traffic light control parameters on the street network. The ecology-based performance index is used as the criteria for optimization. The defined problem is solved by the Bee Colony Optimization (BCO) technique. The geometry of the subject network has been inserted into a Vissim model calibrated by using relevant traffic demand and field-measured travel times. The Vissim has been used as the tool for the evaluation of the proposed BCO, TRANSYT-7F (T7F) and field signal timing plans. The methodology is tested on the field-real-like network of the City of Kragujevac, Serbia. Results show that in the case of the overall network ecology performance index, BCO makes a decrease of 11.95 % and 8.47% compared to the signal timings from field and T7F, respectively. • Proposed an ecology-based fixed-time control logic for street networks. • The model uses a BCO algorithm and derives control parameters. • A VISSIM simulation estimates the quality of the proposed control algorithm. • TRANSYT-7F and field signal plans are used for comparison with the BCO algorithm. • The model is tested on the field-real-like network of the City of Kragujevac. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guaranteeing the quality of transit service is of great importance to promote the attractiveness of buses and alleviate urban traffic issues such as congestion and pollution. Emerging technologies of automated driving and V2X communication have the potential to enable the accurate control of vehicles and the efficient organization of traffic to enhance both the schedule adherence of buses and the overall network mobility. This study proposes a novel network-level control scheme for heterogeneous automated traffic composed of buses and private cars under a full connected and automated environment. Inheriting the idea of network-level rhythmic control proposed by Lin et al. (2021b), an innovative rhythmic control scheme for heterogeneous traffic, i.e., RC-H, is established to organize the mixed traffic in a rhythmic manner. Realized virtual platoons are designed for accommodating vehicles to pass through the network, including dedicated virtual platoons for buses to provide exclusive right-of-ways (ROWs) on their trips and regular virtual platoons for private cars along with an optimal assignment plan to minimize the total travel cost. A mixed-integer linear program (MILP) is formulated to optimize the RC-H scheme with the objective of minimizing the weighted travel costs of both buses and private cars. A bilevel heuristic solution method is designed to relieve the computational burden of MILP. Numerical examples and simulation experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the RC-H scheme under different scenarios. The results show that the bus punctuality can be guaranteed and the traveler delay can be minimized under various demand levels with transit priority. Moreover, compared with traffic signal control (TSC) strategies, including those with fixed timing and those with bus priority, the RC-H scheme shows significant advantages in handling heavy traffic demand, in terms of both reducing vehicle delay and enhancing network throughput. • An innovative network-level control scheme for heterogeneous automated traffic. • Different realized virtual platoons for accommodating vehicles to pass through the network. • An optimal design model of RC-H scheme considering bus priority. • A bilevel heuristic solution method to relieve the computational burden. • Simulation experiments to test the performance of RC-H scheme and compare with TSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signal control strategies for congested urban road networks designed in a centralized framework require many communication links, serious processing power, and infrastructure for the centralized coordination. As a result, strategies based on a centralized framework are not scalable. The use of decentralized signal control strategies for large-scale urban traffic networks is a solution to this problem, since it allows for the implementation of such strategies on networks whose centralized solution is not easily scalable. This paper addresses the problem of designing a decentralized traffic-responsive signal control solution, proposing two methods based on different formulations of the store-and-forward model: (i) the Decentralized Traffic-responsive Urban Control (DTUC) method; and (ii) the Decentralized Decoupled Traffic-responsive Urban Control (D2TUC). The decentralized configuration is such that each intersection is associated with one computational unit, with limited computational power and memory, which controls the traffic signals of the incoming links. Sufficient conditions for the controllability of the considered store-and-forward models are also presented. Both methods are validated resorting to numerical simulations of the urban traffic network of Chania, Greece, for two demand scenarios, and their performance is compared with the performance of the Traffic-responsive Urban Control (TUC) centralized strategy. One of the proposed decentralized methods, D2TUC, is shown to match the performance of TUC. • Design of decentralized signal control solutions based on the store-and-forward model. • Sufficient controllability conditions for the store-and-forward model are presented. • Two decentralized solutions are synthesized considering the network globally. • Validation resorting to numerical simulations of the traffic network of Chania. • One of the proposed decentralized solutions, D2TUC, matches the performance of TUC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the limitations of data transfer technologies, existing studies on urban traffic control mainly focused on isolated dimension control such as traffic signal control or vehicle route guidance to alleviate traffic congestion. However, in real traffic, the distribution of traffic flow is the result of multiple dimensions whose future state is influenced by each dimension's decisions. Presently, the development of the Internet of Vehicles enables an integrated intelligent transportation system. This paper proposes an integrated intelligent transportation model that can optimize predictive traffic signal control and predictive vehicle route guidance simultaneously to alleviate traffic congestion based on their feedback regulation relationship. The challenges of this model lie in that the formulation of the nonlinear feedback relationship between various dimensions is hard to describe and the design of a corresponding solving algorithm that can obtain Pareto optimality for multi-dimension control is complex. In the integrated model, we introduce two medium variables—predictive traffic flow and the predictive waiting time—to two-way link the traffic signal control and vehicle route guidance. Inspired by game theory, an asymmetric information exchange framework-based updating distributed algorithm is designed to solve the integrated model. Finally, an experimental study in two typical traffic scenarios shows that more than 73.33% of the considered cases adopting the integrated model achieve Pareto optimality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]